FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

blue4now · January 19, 2009, 12:28:12 PM

Sorry to hear about Scott Coy and Darren DeMelo. My son had a similar fall between his Jr and sr football seasons while at Mentor. He went 4 stories off a roof while working and landed on concrete as well. He broke his T10/11 vertebrae and had spinal fusion surgery the next morning. Ive asked myself a million times why he survived and how he didnt have any brain damage.

We were told his athleticism took over during the fall and he put his body into the only position he could to take the hit on impact. Hopefully these two subconsciously or not were able to do the same. While they all suffered life threatening injuries, Tim returned to the playing field 4 months to the day of the accident. He has been a starting WR for CWRU since walking on campus.

While Scott and Darren's playing days are over lets hope they recover as well as my son has....

Good luck gentlemen

HScoach · January 19, 2009, 05:01:09 PM

From the desk of The Ric:

Mount Union College and the Alliance Area Chamber of Commerce invites the community to celebrate the football team's 10th NCAA Division III National Championship with the "Raider Rally" Monday, January 26th at 6:00 p.m. at the Hoover-Price Campus Center in Alliance.
The event starts at 6:00 p.m. with an autograph session with the team in the East Room.

Joe Tait, longtime voice of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Purple Raiders, will emcee the program that starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Kresge Dining Commons.

National Championship merchandise including a commemorative poster will be available for sale and the 2008 highlight film will be unveiled at the event.

The event is free and open to the public.

reality check · January 19, 2009, 07:02:22 PM

An update on Coy and Demelo

Demelo's father said in the article that his son is in a back brace after breaking a vertebrae but hopes to be back to work in a week or so. Coy remained in critical but stable condition according the article posted January 17th and also suffered a broken leg in addition to the pelvis There is a mention eluding to the fact that Demelo could have been hurt more badly if he wasn't in such great shape at the time of the fall.

It was also written that the two were horsing around and not in a fight; unfortunate situation but some more details coming to light in this article. Let's hope Coy gets better and gets to go home sooner rather than later.

frank uible · January 19, 2009, 07:14:04 PM

Re Coy/Demelo, google Fay Vincent - for those interested.

reality check · January 19, 2009, 09:31:41 PM

Quote from: frank uible on January 19, 2009, 07:14:04 PM
Re Coy/Demelo, google Fay Vincent - for those interested.

Thanks Frank. We can always count on you to take us young whippersnappers back a couple/dozen decades.

Interesting read.

seventiesraider · January 20, 2009, 08:21:34 AM

Check Ric's site for information on the almost annual (Championship years) Raider Rally. come greet the players and coaches. Get your program, football, hat, shirt or whatever autographed by the players. Celebrate the amazing accomplishment that is a National Championship. (and quietly smile about the other 9.)

Some of these guys were in grade school when this started and if you count the La Crosse game, some were just out of diapers.

HScoach · January 20, 2009, 12:05:18 PM

Quote from: seventiesraider on January 20, 2009, 08:21:34 AM
Check Ric's site for information on the almost annual (Championship years) Raider Rally. come greet the players and coaches. Get your program, football, hat, shirt or whatever autographed by the players. Celebrate the amazing accomplishment that is a National Championship. (and quietly smile about the other 9.)

Some of these guys were in grade school when this started and if you count the La Crosse game, some were just out of diapers.

And for those that haven't seen Jim Ballard in a few years, there are some guys looking like they aren't too far from being back in diapers.

reality check · January 20, 2009, 10:05:18 PM

Bored with little to do and came across the United National Gridiron League @ UNGLeague.com

This is one of the startups hoping to give college prospects that would have gone to Arena and NFL Europe a chance. They have a player filter and apparently there will be a team in Ohio. I am still checking out the site but it appears there are a number of players and names I recognize from Division III including UWW's Danny Jones, MUC's Jason Lewis and UMHB's Derrick Williams to name a few.

I don't know much more in the way of details but it's a cool website and apparently they just held their draft for a February startup.

Check it out.

Kira & Jaxon's Dad · January 21, 2009, 05:49:00 AM

Quote from: reality check on January 20, 2009, 10:05:18 PM
Bored with little to do and came across the United National Gridiron League @ UNGLeague.com

This is one of the startups hoping to give college prospects that would have gone to Arena and NFL Europe a chance. They have a player filter and apparently there will be a team in Ohio. I am still checking out the site but it appears there are a number of players and names I recognize from Division III including UWW's Danny Jones, MUC's Jason Lewis and UMHB's Derrick Williams to name a few.

I don't know much more in the way of details but it's a cool website and apparently they just held their draft for a February startup.

Check it out.

Check out this dude. He looks a bit "pumped".

Chase Adams

pradierguy · January 21, 2009, 08:51:23 AM

There is a Louis Irizarry sighting on the Virginia team.

http://network.ungleague.com/profile.php?user=LouisIrizarry

Knightstalker · January 21, 2009, 11:55:10 AM

I saw D-III schools from across the country on the different rosters, from Ithaca to Linfield, Texas schools to MIAC schools.

beenhit2hard · January 21, 2009, 05:37:41 PM

Just read that Alex Grinch ,,former Raider DB, is now coaching at the Univ of Wyoming

Kira & Jaxon's Dad · January 21, 2009, 06:36:56 PM

Quote from: beenhit2hard on January 21, 2009, 05:37:41 PM
Just read that Alex Grinch, former Raider DB, is now coaching at the Univ of Wyoming.

It looks like he has a connection with the new HC at Wyoming from his days as a GA at Missouri:

Grinch Hire

reality check · January 22, 2009, 06:44:13 PM

Since it's slow I don't feel bad about posting this:

I've always been a fan of ESPN.com's Page 2 UniWatch column in which the topic is always about the good, the bad and the ugly of sports uniforms. The articles are always entertaining and the links to photos often get a good laugh out of me.

Well the newest installment focuses primarily on All Star
uniforms. But there are some random blurbs towards the bottom of the article about uniform-related stories in all of sports. And one of those stories happens to feature a couple NAIA Ohio basketball programs: Mount Vernon Nazarene and Cedarville University. It seems that Cedarville travelled to Mount Vernon and left their jerseys at home by mistake. So they played their game on January 13th in some old MVNU road jerseys. The game featured the Cougars vs. the Cougars and even got a YouTube moment thanks to Mt. Vernon's SID. Pretty funny.

reality check · January 22, 2009, 07:11:36 PM

And this story, which I have had forwarded to me from a few friends absolutely has to be shared:

Charlie Moore honored after 44 yrs and over 5 millions footballs

Hopefully most of the OAC posters already know about the football factory in Ada but I must admit that even as a student there, I didn't appreciate the details. The building is unassuming. I'd bet two-thirds of the students don't even know where it is in town. Yet this factory has played such an intricate part in football in this country for decades. It's even more impressive when you realize there aren't other factories like it. This is Wilson's only football factory. Ada is indeed a no-frills place. We all know that. And thatt's why it is the perfect place for Wilson to call it's production home; the hard-working attitude of the people in the village of Ada exemplifies everything that is still right about football. Mr. Moore did the same thing in that factory for 44 years of his life turning cowhide into game-ready footballs over 5 million times, 600 balls a day. His wife sewed footballs for 25 years right down the production line from him. A few of his kids worked there along over the years. Heck, I remember Steve Vagedes working there while trying to catch on with a pro team after his ONU days. The stories to come out of this place are amazing. Just google "Wilson factory Ada" and you'll find articles from USAToday, from Wilson's website, from all over. There's one that talks about the workers' longevity. I'm amazed and humbled by the commitment of some of these people that were there decades before me and remain there today, doing something they've done literally millions of times. I marvel at their dedication and the fact that I took for granted what they did/do for my four years. The workers at the Wilson football factory are what small-town, middle-America is all about. Cheers to Charlie Moore (44 yrs turning), Deb Ferguson (34 yrs cutting), Loretta Hicks (39 yrs stamping), Glenn Hanson (36 yrs sewing) and the 150 or so other Wilson employees that make Ada and the NFL a better place.