Tradition • Character • Service

Tradition • Character • Service

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Xplosion Update: Skelton throws TD to.....Himself in Blowout Win

The Kalamazoo Xplosion of the Continental Indoor Football League moved to 8-1 last Saturday night with a 75-20 win over Summit County. Former Charger Bill Skelton completed quite a feat while engineering the drubbing that clinched a home playoff spot. In the 3rd quarter Skelton snagged his own pass out of the air after it was tipped by a defender and rambled the length of the field for the score. On the night, Skelton completed six of 10 passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns, including the one to himself. He also ran for another.

Kalamazoo is at Port Huron Saturday night in a showdown against the first place Pirates.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Great Muddy Waters Article

I missed this article at the time of Muddy's passing, but pass it along now.

By Joe Rexrode
Lansing State Journal

He was there when Clarence "Biggie" Munn took over the Michigan State football program in 1947, a hard-driving fullback who helped Munn build a national powerhouse.

He had tremendous success as a small-college coach, watched his son play for Duffy Daugherty at MSU and eventually got the head coaching job at his alma mater. He's a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. But all these things are secondary for the people who truly knew Frank "Muddy" Waters.

"He was a super guy, I can't even describe it," said former MSU great Don Coleman of Waters, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 83. "He took a humanistic approach to everything, he was a very sensitive person. No one was classier. He was a hell of a football player, too. He was a team leader, an outstanding leader."

Waters died in Saginaw of congestive heart failure, said his son, Frank "Murky" Waters III. Funeral arrangements are pending. Waters, who was born Jan. 30, 1923 in Chico, Ga., is survived by three sons, their wives and seven grandchildren. His wife, Mary Lou, passed away in 2003.

MSU plans to honor Waters in some way before Saturday's home game against Notre Dame. It was already certain to be a night filled with emotion and tradition, considering the 40th anniversary of the 1966 "Game of the Century" 10-10 tie between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 MSU, and the retiring of Bubba Smith's number.

Spartan from the start

Waters has been a part of MSU's tradition for 60 years. He arrived in 1946 to play for Charlie Bachman, fresh out of World War II and after shunning an overture from Michigan.

Munn replaced Bachman in 1947, and in 1948 Waters scored the lone touchdown in a 13-7 loss to Michigan that signaled great progress for the Spartans. Coleman - the star tackle on Munn's 1951 unbeaten national championship team, and one of two Spartans to have his number retired - was a freshman on that 1948 team.

"I have tremendous memories of him," Coleman said of Waters. "When I was a freshman he would always give advice and help me whenever he could. People gravitated toward Muddy."

Waters idolized Munn and began a career in coaching. He got the head job at Hillsdale in 1954 and went 138-46-5 in 20 seasons there. Then he built Saginaw Valley State's football program from the ground up, managing a 25-26-2 record there in five seasons. In 1980, the MSU job opened up after Darryl Rogers left for Arizona State.

Waters was the surprise hire, at an annual salary of $47,000. He inherited a program that was short on talent, thanks to the scholarship limitations of NCAA probation dating back to the 1970s. He had to put his staff together hastily.

"The cupboard was bare when he got here," said Sherm Lewis, the lone member of Rogers' staff retained by Waters, "because we hadn't recruited well in the years prior to that."

And violating NCAA rules to get players was never an option. Waters spoke out near the end of his short MSU tenure, telling the Detroit News: "I realize this is big-time football and sometimes I'm referred to as a 'Pollyanna,' but there are ideals and principles I can't compromise. And if I have to compromise them, I'll get into another profession."

Class to the end

Waters went 10-23 in three seasons at MSU. He was fired before the final game of the 1982 season. After that 24-18 loss to Iowa at Spartan Stadium, Waters was actually carried off the field by adoring players and students.

"MSU never had a classier coach or someone who loved the school more," said Jack Ebling, who broke the news of Waters' firing for the State Journal. "And there's no question, he was a great football coach. ... He wouldn't cheat, it just wasn't in his lexicon, and that probably hurt him."

The firing stung Waters, but he stayed in East Lansing and close to MSU for the rest of his life.

"He never held a grudge against anybody," said son "Murky" Waters, a member of MSU's 1966 team.

"I'll never forget him standing side by side with (athletic director) Doug Weaver to make the announcement (of his firing) at the International Center," said MSU spokesman Terry Denbow. "I was pretty new here, and I recall being moved by a man who wanted to show Spartans that leaving home didn't mean leaving the family."

Ebling attended Waters' 2000 College Football Hall of Fame induction and said about half of Waters' players over 30 years of coaching showed up - making it the largest single turnout for an inductee.

That explains why former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian, who was there as a presenter, said: "I want to thank Hillsdale College for inviting me to the Muddy Waters enshrinement festival."

And it helps explain why Waters' passing so affected those who knew him.

"I can't say too much really, except I'm sorry he's gone," said a tearful George Guerre, an MSU teammate of Waters' and one of his closest friends. "He was dear to me and a lot of us."

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Striking Fear

Defenses around the GLIAC better take notice that this dude is gunning for them. We have concealed his identity for his parents' sake.

Thank God they hadn't made digital cameras available to the masses when I went to college.

Monday, May 21, 2007

Drunk Driver Kills Former Hillsdale QB and Celebrated Director Bob Clark

A man who emerged from the poorest of poor Southern families to direct such cinematic classics as "A Christmas Story" and "Porky's", Bob Clark was tragically killed this past April by a drunken driver on California's Pacific Coast Highway.

Clark came to Hillsdale on a football scholarship in the late 1950's and played quarterback for the Dales under coach Muddy Waters. He would later transfer to the University of Miami before launching his film career.

Bob Clark is remembered by the Hollywood community as being an engaging and genuinely kind person.

Bob Clark Wikipedia Entry
E! News - Christmas Story Director Killed in Car Crash

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

People, not laws, will prevent campus tragedies

People, not laws, will prevent campus tragedies
'We all have to ask ourselves: How could we have intervened?'
Lauren Grover
Detroit News 5/09/07

The Virginia Tech massacre is nearly a month gone, but I'm still locked on the faces of the 32 victims. I recognize them; I pass them every day on the sidewalks of my campus.

Their story is my story, and the story of the students at my college. They are the ambitious, bright-eyed young people who fill campuses across the country. We've lost 32 of our own, and I've cried over them.
The Virginia Tech tragedy was met with grief and shock for a short time before the cold discussion of laws and new policies took over. The ensuing blame game has kept politicians and writers busy for weeks.

Beyond the law

I'm disappointed by their short-sighted perspective. While only in college, it's plain to me that new laws won't prevent the desperate acts of a troubled man.
Maybe it takes being on a campus to understand.

Two years ago, a student from my college -- who would be graduating with my class next week --committed suicide. It was devastating. It didn't garner national news, but like Virginia Tech, our small campus mourned.

We students had lost one of our own, and we felt responsible. His parents spoke at a memorial service on campus -- they had lost their son, and they felt responsible.
Our football team and coaches had lost one of their players, and they felt responsible. Our administrators and faculty had lost one of their students, and they felt responsible.

Those affected by the death had a new resolve. It wasn't law-related, rule-related or protocol-related. It was a personal resolve. Together, as students, parents and administrators, we hadn't cared enough, been close enough or been alert enough to help this young man.

The resolve to intervene
Last spring another student began showing signs of suicidal depression. I was one of the first people to call the dean. Other students committed to staying with the student day and night. The student's parents were notified, a counselor was brought in, administrators met with friends of the student, and together a plan of action was developed. That student is alive today.

As much as we'd like to believe he was born a monster, Seung-Hui Cho was human. His story is a personal one. He was a troubled young man. He was isolated, shy, alone. He was hurt and desperate. He was angry. And those around him knew that.

Cho was not destined to be a monster; his life held the possibility of hope.
When someone within our circle resorts to a violent, desperate act, we all share the blame. And we all have to ask ourselves: What could we have done? How could we have intervened?

Finding the right answers to those questions and resolving to become better connected to those around us will do more to prevent future tragedies than will new laws.

Lauren Grover is a journalism student at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale. She graduates next week. Fax letters to (313) 222-6417. E-mail comments to letters@detnews.com. For the full names of Virginia Tech victims, go to www.vt.edu/tragedy/list.php.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Newest Design

This shirt has nothing to do with Charger Football, but I thought I would share my latest brainstorm just as well. Wear it proudly because as a Hillsdale supporter, you obviously know the difference.

Buy it now.

Collegian: Informing the Masses

Informing the masses: Division II Web site keeps fans updated

By Sarah Ishak
Collegian Freelancer
May 3, 2007

Division II football is riveting, competitive and blessed with loyal fans, but Division I football is still the media’s darling. Division II fans are often frustrated by the limited and scattered information available for teams and conferences.

One fan changed that when he launched d2football.com, a site geared towards Division II teams and conferences. Brandon Misener, a graduate of Division II Northwest Missouri State, said he encountered problems finding information about his alma mater and the teams in its conference. Misener said he quickly learned major news outlets have no interest in covering Division II because the money and following is not as strong as Division I sports.

“They deliver more hits and deliver more money,” Misener said of Division I. “It’s all about the money. You have to work a lot harder for it [at Division II].”

Misener believed there would be a demand for a site that gathered all the scattered Division II information in one spot. In 2000, with the help of a web designer, Misener launched d2football.com.

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