On This Date in College Football History

Well, tomorrow, to be accurate, give or take 45 minutes ...

Oct. 1, 1904: Baseball Hall of Fame member, and Ohio Wesleyan alum, Branch Rickey coaches his first game at Allegheny (Pa.) - a 5-0 win over Warren (Pa.). Rickey guides the Gators to a 5-5 record in ’04 and coaches the 1905 squad to a 3-8 mark before going back to baseball. He later breaks the modern Major League Baseball segregation barrier by bringing former UCLA football standout Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame

Around the NCAC

** The Columbus Dispatch reports the site of the very first Ohio State football has been found on the OWU campus. The Buckeyes upset Ohio Wesleyan, which had been playing for a few years, 20-14 on May 3, 1890. Dick Gordin, former athletic director, whom the Dispatch calls OWU's unofficial sports historian, helped pinpoint the site with a letter from the Ohio Wesleyan archives.

Incidentally, the Dispatch notes an interesting trivia question: Who are the only two Ohio Wesleyan graduates who became athletic director at their alma mater?

Answer: Branch Rickey and Gordin.

** Wabash senior Gary Simkus skipped the second half of his basketball season last winter. While the timing might have been a blow to the Little Giants on the basketball court, the travel was a boon to the student-athlete who explains to the Crawfordsville Journal Review that the opportunity for such trips was one of the reasons he chose to attend Wabash. Part of Simkus' travels included a summer internship in Chiapas, Mexico.

**Hiram volleyball tied a school record with its 14th straight victory, 3-0 over Allegheny, last night.

** Oberlin men's soccer extended its home win streak to 15 games with a 1-0 win over Allegheny in the Yeomen's NCAC opener last night.

** Ohio Wesleyan field hockey is experiencing breakthrough success this fall.

In the Polls

Several NCAC teams are making their presence known on national and regional stages:

Women's Cross Country: Oberlin is 28th in the U.s. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III poll. Ohio Wesleyan is 31st. Allegheny is fifth in the Mideast Region. In the Great Lakes, Oberlin is fourth, followed by Ohio Wesleyan in fifth and Kenyon in eighth.

Men's Cross Country: Allegheny is 23rd in the U.s. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III poll. The Gators are second in the Mideast Region. Wabash is ninth and Denison is 10th in the Great Lakes Region.

Football: Wabash is 20th in the latest AFCA poll and 18th in the D3football.com Top 25. Allegheny junior linebacker Craig Lawrence was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week after he had a hand in three separate turnovers, recovering two fumbles and causing another in the Gators' 24-21 victory over Carnegie Mellon last week. He also had seven tackles (four solo) and two sacks.

Women's Soccer: Wittenberg is ranked ninth and Denison 15th in the national NSCAA/adidas poll. The Tigers are first in the Great Lakes Region, followed by the Big Red in second, Kenyon in fifth and Ohio Wesleyan in ninth. Wooster also received votes in the regional poll. D3Kicks.com ranks Denison 18th in their national Top 25. Wittenberg received votes in the poll.

Men's Soccer: Ohio Wesleyan is 13th in the national NSCAA/adidas poll. The Battling Bishops are second in the Great Lakes Region, followed by Wittenberg in fourth, Kenyon in seventh, Hiram in eighth and Oberlin in ninth. Allegheny also received votes in the regional poll. NCAC schools fill half of the 10 spots in the Great Lakes Top 10. D3Kicks.com ranks Ohio Wesleyan 12th in their national Top 25. Wittenberg received votes in the poll. Ohio Wesleyan senior midfielder Nick Skoczen was named to the D3Kicks.com Team of the Week after he scored twice and added two assists as the Battling Bishops rolled to a 3-0 record last week. He helped OWU kick off its NCAC title defense when he put away the game-winner in a 2-1 win over Wabash with less than seven minutes left in regulation. He then collected a goal and two assists in a 5-0 defeat of Otterbein.

Volleyball: Wittenberg is ranked second nationally for the second straight week. The Tigers, who received seven first-place votes, are 18-0. Wittenberg and Haverford (15-0) are the only undefeated teams listed in the Top 25. Hiram is ranked 24th.

Around the NCAC

** Ohio Wesleyan senior Xander Jones is building an usual sporting career during his tenure with the Battling Bishops. This year, Jones has pitched shutouts for both the baseball team (a no-hitter against Wittenberg on March 25) and the men’s soccer team (six saves against Alma last Sunday). Last weekend, Jones was there as the men’s soccer team blanked Medaille on Friday night, kicked off for the football team against Catholic on Saturday, and went the distance in goal for the men’s soccer team against Alma on Sunday.

** Wittenberg volleyball has rolled to an 8-0 mark after two season-opening tournaments. The Tigers efforts have been rewarded with the #1 ranking in the first American Volleyball Coaches Association poll of the season and junior outside hitter Jackie Williams earned Sports Imports/Division III National Player of the Week. She was named to the all-tournament team at the Washington National Invitational after she pounded out 56 kills on a .475 attack percentage, to go with 14 digs and 11 total blocks as the Tigers won the tournament with a perfect 4-0 record. Three of the victories came over nationally ranked foes: #4 Washington (MO), #12 Concordia Moorhead and #15 Ohio Northern. The Tigers also defeated Central (IA). The Tigers are the defending NCAC champions and opened their title defense with a pair of straight set victories over Kenyon last night.

Hiram, the 2006 NCAC Tournament winner, has also gotten off to a quick start so far this season with an 8-1 record. The Terriers posted a perfect 4-0 record at the annual Hiram Invitational last week topped Wooster 3-1 in their conference-opener last night. Hiram is ranked 23rd in the national AVCA poll.

** Denison juniors David Curtis and John Geissinger are featured in Swimming World Magazine's "On Campus" features. Head coach Gregg Parini is also the focus of a Q&A on training methods. Click here for a .pdf of the article.

** Wabash linebackers got a taste of the business world this past summer as part of Wabash’s business immersion program.

** Ohio Wesleyan men's soccer coach Jay Martin also serves as the editor of the Soccer Journal, the magazine of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. In the September-October issue, Martin mounts a defense of college soccer and its value. Click here for a .pdf of the editorial (posted with permission).

** Saturday's Oberlin at John Carroll women's soccer game will be televised by SportsTime Ohio in a delayed broadcast on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.

Wittenberg Set to Volley for the Cure

When you think of Wittenberg, you naturally think of the color red, the color most Tiger athletes sport. The official colors of Wittenberg are red and white. But this weekend, visitors to the HPER Center will behold a sea of pink as all eight volleyball teams in the third annual Border Battle will be sporting the rosy hue.

Inspired by the life of former Wittenberg women's basketball head coach and associate director of athletics Pam Smith, who died in June after a courageous 17-year battle with cancer, the Wittenberg volleyball team has organized an all-day breast cancer awareness effort on Saturday to coincide with event which begins the day before.

Pink Border Battle/Volley For The Cure T-shirts will be on sale in the lobby throughout the weekend, with proceeds going to breast cancer research. The event is based on a tremendously successful Ohio High School Athletic Association event in 2006. Two Cincinnati-area high school students organized a well-attended Volley For The Cure match, and just one year later the program is being adopted state-wide.

Fans attending the event are encouraged to wear pink in support of the athletes' and coaches' efforts to raise awareness of this tragic disease.

For more information, click here
For a Border Battle schedule, click here

Wabash SID Earns Praise

It's not often that sports information directors get noticed. Well, I guess they garner a lot of attention, usually for not very good reasons: a mistake in game stats - genuine or perceived, no game story in the local newspaper, web sites not updated fast enough, complaints that they do more work for one sport over another, and the list goes on.

What most people don't see is how hard these individuals work. They are the first to arrive and the last to leave an event, working behind the scenes to set up, to record and showcase the actions of others. Heck, sometimes their busiest time of day is after the last whistle clears the fields for the day/evening. In our conference it's not unusual for an SID to have to host five or six events, some taking place all at the same time.

That's what makes an article in today's Crawfordsville Journal-Review so unusual. The paper ran a column about Wabash SID Brent Harris.

We in the NCAC Office have had many opportunities to work closely with Brent. He is a huge help to our office and also willingly helps out his SID colleagues throughout the league. He works very hard at telling the stories of Wabash and its Little Giants. He never wants to draw attention to himself, preferring to let the student-athletes and the College take center stage. The story sheds a little light on the way Brent goes about his job:

Now, many years later, Brent has become the public face of the Athletics Department. But it’s funny because he’s not as public as I was; he puts our coaches and student-athletes out in front and tells their stories admirably.

Brent works in close collaboration with Athletic Director Vernon Mummert, and together they have lifted our intercollegiate athletics program to new heights, within our conference and nationally. Brent has put an emphasis on hospitality and professionalism for our visiting teams, officials, and media. Vernon has emphasized sportsmanship, class, and fair play.

I applaud them both; I’m proud of them and all the Little Giants.

When reporters come to campus to cover our games, they’re treated with the same respect as if they were covering the Colts’ home opener for Sports Illustrated. Trust me when I say this is rare, if not unique in Division III.

Saturday we kicked off our 121st season of intercollegiate football. I feel safe saying that anyone across the country who cares about Division III football knew about our game with Franklin. Brent does his job that well. In fact, it was one of the featured games nationally thanks to Brent’s promotional efforts. That kind of effort helped land three of our football players on preseason All-America teams.

He applies the same level of passion and professionalism to all of our sports. He has computer-generated statistics printed and ready for coaches and media poolside, on the track, soccer pitch, and baseball diamond. He prints the programs, sets up the sound system, provides meals for media, and has even sung the National Anthem once or twice.

Last week Brent was honored for his feature writing. His article for the Wabash Magazine about long-time football clock operator Rob Tomey’s battle with cancer received second place in the Fred S. Stabley Sr. National Writing Contest from the College Sports Information Directors of America. The story was honored as the best general feature in the nation and also swept the district judging. For the full column click here or here.

In addition to the story in the Journal-Review, Brent was featured in the September issue of the CoSIDA Digest, talking about how he came to the SID profession and how he performs his job at the Wabash. For the full column, click here (pdf - scroll to page 50).

Oberlin Homecoming Returns to Campus

Oberlin hasn't celebrated a traditional Homecoming in a long, long time. That will change in three weeks when the Yeomen and Yeowomen prepare to show off Philips Gymnasium, Savage Stadium, and the newly constructed Robert Kahn Track and Fred Shults Field to alums, fans and all friends of the college on Sept. 29.

A full day of activities is planned, with a little something for everyone:

* Swimming and Diving Alumni/ae Meet (Carr Pool) -- 10:00 a.m.
* Volleyball Alumnae Game (Philips Gymnasium) -- 10:30 a.m.
* Live Remote Radio Broadcast by WOBL Radio (Outside Savage Stadium) -- 11:00 a.m.
* Heisman Club Tailgate (Tailgate Alley - Outside Philips Gymnasium) -- 12:00 p.m.
* Women's Soccer vs. Denison University (Fred Shults Field) -- 12:00 p.m.
* Football vs. Hiram College (Savage Stadium) -- 1:00 p.m.
* Fred Shults Field Dedication -- 2:00 p.m.
* Men's Soccer vs. Ohio Wesleyan University (Fred Shults Field) -- 2:00 p.m.

For complete schedule, hotel and registration information, check out Oberlin's Homecoming site

Twins Return From Matching ACL Tears

The Springfield News-Sun tells the amazing story of Derrick and Desmond Braziel, twins on the Wittenberg football team who each tore their right anterior cruciate ligaments, a little more than a month apart.

It sounds like a joke, but the twins suffered identical injuries, Derrick in a preseason scrimmage on Aug. 23, 2006 and Desmond in practice Sept. 26.

The story, thankfully, has a happy ending, as both Derrick and Desmond returned to the field in last week's Capital game.

Read more here and here.

Youth Football Clinic and Community Days

Wabash held its annual Football Youth Clinic yesterday. More than 300 children from kindergarten through sixth grade met members of the Little Giant football team, learning new techniques, and most importantly, having a lot of fun. The kids participated in a variety of passing, running, receiving, kicking, and tackling drills with members of the college team. The day concluded with the "Hammer Hit." Kids run through a line of players and hit a tackling dummy at the end of the line while landing on safety mats. A photo album has been posted on the Wabash site.

Festivities on the Wabash campus continue with free admission to today's 1:00 p.m. football home opener against Franklin for Community Day.

Ohio Wesleyan is also celebrating Community Day today, with free admission to all athletic events: the Battling Bishop football team takes on Catholic at noon, women's soccer hosts Capital at 1:30 p.m., field hockey welcomes Wooster in its NCAC home opener at 4:30 p.m. OWU's men's soccer team rounds out the day with the second round of its annual adidas® Invitational, with Capital taking on Medaille at 5 p.m. and Ohio Wesleyan facing Alma at 7:30 p.m.

Kenyon senior Allison Johnson is featured in Swimming World Magazine's "On Campus" feature. Aside from the usual questions about swimming, Johnson talks about how she chose Kenyon and offers some sage advice for future collegiate student-athletes:

What advice would you give to a high school swimmer with your talent looking at colleges?

I think the main thing is to keep your options open. There are a lot of really good schools out there, whether it's DI, DII, or DIII. High school swimmers need to remember that there is much more to a college than swimming. They will spend far more time away from the pool than at the pool.

That last sentence, in particular, is striking. While the NCAC takes great pride in the athletic achievements of our student-athletes, we really try to focus on the big picture. We're just as proud, if not more so, about successes earned in the classroom and in other extra-curricular activities as we are of those earned on the field or in the pool. It's wonderful to realize these sentiments are echoed by our student-athletes.

Around the NCAC

Recent items of interest around the NCAC:

** Ohio Wesleyan Athletic Director, Roger Ingles, speaks in a podcast about the upcoming season, new facilities and more.

** Wooster alum, and 2006-07 NCAC Player of the Year, Tom Port has signed a contract to play professional basketball for the Thor Basketball Club in Iceland. The club is located just outside the capital city of Reykjavik and is a powerhouse in the Express League. You can follow the league on Eurobasket.com. The Daily Record ran a story yesterday.

** Earlham football welcomes its, and the NCAC's, first female football player to its roster. Hillary Carter, a former All-NCAC women's soccer player for the Quakers, has decided to give football a try. Says Carter, ""I'm not out to prove I can hang with the boys. I view my role as the same as the other players."

She scored 19 goals with six assists for the Quakers in 2005 earning the NCAC Newcomer-of-the-Year award, while setting several school records that season. However, injuries played a significant role in the switch to football after Carter played in 12 games in 2006 with just two starts leading to no goals and one assist during her sophomore year. Acceptance of Carter as a member of the squad was easy for her teammates because of her athletic history even though she may be the only female student-athlete in college football. "I knew what type of athlete she is so I was excited," said senior linebacker Eric Sturgeon. "I think the entire team felt that way because we know what type of competitor she was on the soccer field. I admire her for have the guts to come out." Read the full story