Post by Sly Fox on Jul 30, 2005 8:26:38 GMT -5
www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=LNA%2FMGArticle%2FLNA_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031784152998&path=!news!sports
A surprisingly well written article on the continuing tragedies surrounding the programs in the Big South over the past year or so from the fishwrap.
_____________________________________________
CSU suffers the worst type of loss
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
July 30, 2005
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - It was appropriate that Charleston Southern football coach Jay Mills recited a prayer before lunch was served Friday at the Big South Conference football media day. Religion plays a profound role in Mills’ life, much like it does for Liberty University coach Ken Karcher.
It’s not the only thing the two men have in common.
In April 2004, Liberty defensive back Marlon Roman fell 50 feet from a railroad trestle over the Blackwater Creek Bikeway and slipped into a coma, leaving Karcher and the rest of the Liberty football family to mourn.
Karcher, for one, understands the pain that Mills and the Charleston Southern football family feel today. Last month, CSU wide receiver Eddie Gadson, the Buccaneers top receiver in 2004 as a freshman, was killed in an auto accident near his home in Stockbridge, Ga.
“Words can’t say it,” Karcher said. “You really don’t know what to say to Jay other than ‘We’re praying for you.’ Hopefully, the team will rally around each of you. The game of football is important, but when you start talking about loss of life, it puts football in perspective real fast.”
Karcher and Mills have another ally in the Big South coaching fraternity when it comes to coping with tragedy. Virginia Military Institute coach Cal McCombs had to deal with the loss of defensive lineman Adrian Cmerek, who was killed in an auto accident near his hometown of Baltimore last December.
Gadson caught 69 passes for 792 yards as a freshman and earned all-conference honors, something he was expected to do again this fall. Gadson’s death hit especially hard for CSU junior quarterback Collin Drafts, who was named the conference’s preseason co-offensive player of the year on Friday. Quarterbacks and receivers often build a special bond, and Drafts and Gadson were no different.
Gadson was one of the team’s most popular players, mostly because of his will to improve and earn his way onto the CSU roster. He came to CSU as a walk-on who was simply searching for a spot on the depth chart. By the end of his redshirt year, he had shown enough to convince Mills to grant him a scholarship.
“He was a good guy, on top of how good of a football player he was,” Drafts said. “He was probably the most popular guy on the football team. Him not coming back to play football was the least of our thoughts. We’re trying to deal with it, but it’ll be tough when we step on the field for the first day of camp and there’s no Eddie. I’m really going to miss him.”
After the accident, Mills began to piece together funds for an Edward A. Gadson scholarship, which will be awarded at the 2006 CSU spring football game. The award will go to a non-scholarship player, who similar to Gadson, earns a scholarship through a superior work ethic.
“Eddie was loved,” Mills said. “Although he’ll be absent in body, I really believe in spirit. The team will sense an obligation they have to him to represent what all Eddie was about on the field and off the field - his competitiveness, his drive, his heart and his attitude.”
Though a memorial service was already held for Gadson, Mills said another will take place Aug. 31 in Charleston, so players and friends who were not able to attend the family’s service will be able to memorialize Gadson as well. Many of CSU’s players made the trip to Georgia to attend the initial memorial service, just as many of VMI’s players did in December to honor Cmerek.
That outpouring of support floored McCombs, whose Keydets were coming off an 0-11 season. Cmerek was a three-year football letterman who started three games at the end of year and had 25 tackles - five for loss - and two sacks. He also was a standout defenseman for the VMI lacrosse team.
McCombs said the news of Cmerek’s death hit him hard.
“It’s my first time in 37 years of coaching that I had ever been as close to a player and a family as I was with Adrian and his mom and stepdad,” McCombs said. “It was a very tragic thing and it really grabbed hold of me.”
McCombs decided to not force Cmerek’s VMI teammates to make the trip to Baltimore for the funeral. Instead, he let the players make that decision. When more than half of his players showed, it made him aware of how popular a young man the Keydets had just lost.
“What it showed to me is that we did have a team that cared about each other,” McCombs said.
Certainly, the three coaches will spend much of the season finding ways to beat each other on the football field, but they have a honed sense of perspective.
All three have dealt with tragedies and have been supportive of each other.
“They’ve been very good and very positive, and very supportive as well,” Mills said.
A surprisingly well written article on the continuing tragedies surrounding the programs in the Big South over the past year or so from the fishwrap.
_____________________________________________
CSU suffers the worst type of loss
By Chris Lang
Lynchburg News & Advance
July 30, 2005
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - It was appropriate that Charleston Southern football coach Jay Mills recited a prayer before lunch was served Friday at the Big South Conference football media day. Religion plays a profound role in Mills’ life, much like it does for Liberty University coach Ken Karcher.
It’s not the only thing the two men have in common.
In April 2004, Liberty defensive back Marlon Roman fell 50 feet from a railroad trestle over the Blackwater Creek Bikeway and slipped into a coma, leaving Karcher and the rest of the Liberty football family to mourn.
Karcher, for one, understands the pain that Mills and the Charleston Southern football family feel today. Last month, CSU wide receiver Eddie Gadson, the Buccaneers top receiver in 2004 as a freshman, was killed in an auto accident near his home in Stockbridge, Ga.
“Words can’t say it,” Karcher said. “You really don’t know what to say to Jay other than ‘We’re praying for you.’ Hopefully, the team will rally around each of you. The game of football is important, but when you start talking about loss of life, it puts football in perspective real fast.”
Karcher and Mills have another ally in the Big South coaching fraternity when it comes to coping with tragedy. Virginia Military Institute coach Cal McCombs had to deal with the loss of defensive lineman Adrian Cmerek, who was killed in an auto accident near his hometown of Baltimore last December.
Gadson caught 69 passes for 792 yards as a freshman and earned all-conference honors, something he was expected to do again this fall. Gadson’s death hit especially hard for CSU junior quarterback Collin Drafts, who was named the conference’s preseason co-offensive player of the year on Friday. Quarterbacks and receivers often build a special bond, and Drafts and Gadson were no different.
Gadson was one of the team’s most popular players, mostly because of his will to improve and earn his way onto the CSU roster. He came to CSU as a walk-on who was simply searching for a spot on the depth chart. By the end of his redshirt year, he had shown enough to convince Mills to grant him a scholarship.
“He was a good guy, on top of how good of a football player he was,” Drafts said. “He was probably the most popular guy on the football team. Him not coming back to play football was the least of our thoughts. We’re trying to deal with it, but it’ll be tough when we step on the field for the first day of camp and there’s no Eddie. I’m really going to miss him.”
After the accident, Mills began to piece together funds for an Edward A. Gadson scholarship, which will be awarded at the 2006 CSU spring football game. The award will go to a non-scholarship player, who similar to Gadson, earns a scholarship through a superior work ethic.
“Eddie was loved,” Mills said. “Although he’ll be absent in body, I really believe in spirit. The team will sense an obligation they have to him to represent what all Eddie was about on the field and off the field - his competitiveness, his drive, his heart and his attitude.”
Though a memorial service was already held for Gadson, Mills said another will take place Aug. 31 in Charleston, so players and friends who were not able to attend the family’s service will be able to memorialize Gadson as well. Many of CSU’s players made the trip to Georgia to attend the initial memorial service, just as many of VMI’s players did in December to honor Cmerek.
That outpouring of support floored McCombs, whose Keydets were coming off an 0-11 season. Cmerek was a three-year football letterman who started three games at the end of year and had 25 tackles - five for loss - and two sacks. He also was a standout defenseman for the VMI lacrosse team.
McCombs said the news of Cmerek’s death hit him hard.
“It’s my first time in 37 years of coaching that I had ever been as close to a player and a family as I was with Adrian and his mom and stepdad,” McCombs said. “It was a very tragic thing and it really grabbed hold of me.”
McCombs decided to not force Cmerek’s VMI teammates to make the trip to Baltimore for the funeral. Instead, he let the players make that decision. When more than half of his players showed, it made him aware of how popular a young man the Keydets had just lost.
“What it showed to me is that we did have a team that cared about each other,” McCombs said.
Certainly, the three coaches will spend much of the season finding ways to beat each other on the football field, but they have a honed sense of perspective.
All three have dealt with tragedies and have been supportive of each other.
“They’ve been very good and very positive, and very supportive as well,” Mills said.
