LIVE from the Turtle: HOCO Edition

Hawk Talk rings in its 80th episode live from The Green Turtle for Homecoming week. Tom Frank, with co-hosts Greyson and Jaden, kicks things off with a full South River sports rundown—boys’ and girls’ soccer, field hockey, volleyball, and a 4–0 football start—before previewing a neon-soaked Rave Night vs. Severn with Coach Erxleben. Then it’s alumni time: Mitch Suplee, David Foust, Mike Sammeyer, and Ron Rossi drop stories about boom-boom pregame chants, “Legacy Field,” and rivalry lore. Tradition doesn’t graduate—press play, feel the lights, and keep it 1–0.

Hawk Talk is hosted by Tom Frank, Jaden McDuffie and Grey Frank, and brought to you by Chad's BBQ, Merrick Creative, and Maryland Remodeling Expert. Don’t hesitate to contact us through Instagram @SRHawkTalk or by email at [e-mail]. Please reach out, send updates after games, let us know about fundraisers, big events, etc. This show is only as good as what we know. So get involved! Subscribe, Listen and Share the show on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts, leave us a rating on Apple, help support the show at https://srhawktalk.buzzsprout.com, and spread the word Seahawk Nation. #WERSR

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_05 (00:00):
All right, welcome back to the Ock Nation.
I'm Tom Frank.
I'm Grayson, and I'll Jaden.
And we are talking all thingsSouth River High School support.
Hawk Talk is brought to you inconjunction with the Athletic
Department at South River HighSchool.
Merit Creative, your end-to-endcreative agency dedicated to
amplifying brands' authenticitythrough branding, marketing, and
public relations.

(00:21):
Chad's Barbecue and MarilynRemodeling Expert.
Now this is my crew right here.
For those who don't know, we'vebeen, you know, Gray, you've
been on every week.
Right.
Jaden, I think the last week youhad to go home because you
smelled a little too much.
But but we got you back.
He's consistent, he'sconsistent.
We got an interesting showtoday.
We have today marks our 80thepisode of Hop Talk.

SPEAKER_02 (00:43):
That's a lot of episodes.

SPEAKER_05 (00:44):
80th.
That's a lot of episodes.
How many football games have youplayed for South River?
Not 80.

SPEAKER_02 (00:50):
Like 37.

SPEAKER_05 (00:52):
37.
Yeah.
Alright.
I got you.
I got I'm W.
Just to make sure.
And then we're live from theGreen Turtle.
It's homecoming week.
And we got one of our favoritealumni, Mitch Sablay.
How are you, Mitch?
Good, good Tom.
How are you doing?
And then we got the captain.
We got the coach.
Steve Ursley.

SPEAKER_04 (01:11):
Hello, everybody.
Let's do this.

SPEAKER_05 (01:13):
Alright, fellas.
Before we dive into all thisalumni stuff, because I see a
lot of alumni here, we gotta rundown all of our sports.
I need my co-host to help mehere a little bit.
So let's start.
We got boys soccer.
In a year plagued by a lot ofinjuries.
Some bad breaks.
We're 3-5-1.
We dropped one to broadneck 5-2last Friday, but bounced back

(01:35):
with a 3-2 win at Old Mill onTuesday.
What do you guys know about thisteam?
How are we doing?

SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
Uh I know the broadneck game we didn't play is
good.
Um I heard from some insidesources.
They just they haven't playedtheir best.
And it's it's all about peakingat the right time.
And they're not there yet, butthey'll be able to do that.

SPEAKER_05 (01:53):
We're okay though.
Yeah.
In County, we're still like oneand one.

SPEAKER_02 (01:56):
Yeah, no, we're getting our pieces back.
You know, I remember Jay was onhere mentioning like a lot of
injuries, you know.
We're getting those guys back.
You know, Iowa had two goalslast game.
So shout out to Ad Wanda, Jaywith the other goal.

SPEAKER_05 (02:06):
Yeah.
And they have a little break.
They're back in action at homeon Tuesday, October 7th, versus
Glenn Bernie at 5 p.m.
We got a lot of Glenn Berniecoming out.
A lot of Glenn Bernie.

SPEAKER_02 (02:16):
Lots of wins.

SPEAKER_05 (02:16):
Alright, but here's some here's some exciting stuff.
Our girls are 7-2 following a5-0 shutout to Old Mill on
Tuesday.
That's three straight shutouts.
Who's our goalie?
Come on, guys.
Who's our goalie?
Alright, goalie, whoever you areout there, you gotta let us know
because they have had threestraight shutouts.

SPEAKER_00 (02:37):
Let's get them on next episode.
Have them on the show.
Let's get them all.

SPEAKER_05 (02:39):
We'll give a shout out to the defense, too.

SPEAKER_04 (02:41):
It's a team effort.
It's a team effort, goes.

SPEAKER_05 (02:44):
I was giving all the credit to the goalie.
But uh they're gonna face offagainst Glenn Burney also next
Tuesday at 7 o'clock.
Girls are in the prime time now.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
When you're 7-2, you take theprime time.
You do.
That's right.
Our field hockey team is 5-4.
We're on a two-game winningstreak with wins over Broadneck,
2-1.
I love beating Broadneck.
And most recently over uh SevernRun, 6-0.

SPEAKER_09 (03:07):
Nice.

SPEAKER_05 (03:07):
We'll be at Annapolis Tuesday, 6 30 p.m.
Be there.
Be there.
Alright, our volleyball team is2-5.
They beat Annapolis on Tuesdayand have Crofton at home on
Monday, October 6th at 6 p.m.
And then on the road versusGlenn Bernie.

SPEAKER_02 (03:24):
Glenn Bernie on Tuesday.
Let's get back on track.
You know what I'm saying?
Good win against Annapolis.
That's always good.
So, you know, I see we'retending in the right direction.
We're going in the rightdirection.
Yeah, at the right time.
That's all that's all it'sabout.
Everybody makes playoffs.

SPEAKER_05 (03:35):
Alright, and now we're talking football.
We sit at 4-0, following a tightone, 19-14 at Urbana last
Thursday night.
It was a Thursday night game,right?

SPEAKER_02 (03:44):
Indeed, it was.

SPEAKER_05 (03:45):
It was.
I'm gonna give you some quickstats.
I gotta give a shout-out toCorey Warren.
Corey Corey rushed for 31 yards,two touchdowns, and also had 50
receiving yards.

SPEAKER_04 (03:54):
And a tremendous backwards catch to set up our
second score.
There you go.
Oh, it was a tremendous throw byBen Rains, too.
I see this video.
With pressure off to the rightin terms of uh working out of
the pocket, it was a hell of acatch, but a hell of a throw,
too.
And and speaking of Ben, hethrew for 258 yards.
He's had a lot of yards so far.
He's the second leading passerin the MPSSA.

(04:16):
He's a second leading passer inin uh uh Maryland public
schools, yes.

SPEAKER_05 (04:20):
Wow, that's impressive.
All right, he added onetouchdown to our guy.

unknown (04:24):
Right?

SPEAKER_04 (04:25):
Great ball.
Who's the second leadingreceiver in the state public
school?

SPEAKER_05 (04:28):
He only had four catches, though, for 103 yards.

SPEAKER_04 (04:31):
You know, you know, everybody was getting FPs.

SPEAKER_03 (04:33):
I'm not good at math, but that's like 25 yards
of catch.

SPEAKER_04 (04:37):
He does it all kinds of different ways anyways.
You can have 13 catches, we havefive catches.
He does it all kinds ofdifferent ways.

SPEAKER_02 (04:42):
Hey, we got the dub.

SPEAKER_04 (04:42):
Yes.
You got the dub.

SPEAKER_05 (04:44):
But let's talk about it.
It was a tight game, though.
And you went into a hostilecrowd.

SPEAKER_04 (04:48):
Well, I I thought about I thought about all the
and we talk about adversity inour program a lot because it's
gonna happen.
That's life, right?
But at the same token, you know,I thought about all the things
that were kind of we had to dealwith in the week.
Two practices practices thatwere separated from being off
because of a holiday, travelingtwo hours, um, we have a
lightning delay, which didn'tdelay too much, but still we got

(05:09):
more.
We've got to go back in thelocker room.
And and one thing that struckme, I think I talked about to
you guys about this when we whenwe got here, is the bus door
opens up.
We're looking at 50 alumni.
Looking at us.
They were just standing rightthere.
The field's called LegacyFields.
I mean mugging us too much.
I know.
Mitch, you should have beenthere.
We needed you over there.
And they're talking about thethe glory days of Urbana
football.
And like I said, Urbana is oneof the five or six blue blood

(05:31):
organizations in the state.
They're like a Damascus orQuince Orchard.
Exactly.
So the same token.
Our guys came out, did notflinch one.
It was not up, the stage was nottoo big.
Unfazed.
Oh my gosh, it was it wasincredible, it was a great win.
And you know, we're we're we'rea one-on-one organization.
We we got we got nine one-gameseasons, so it's all about
one-on-one.

(05:51):
But the last week was a was awas a great.
I'm really proud of our guys.
You know, they really they didnot flinch whatsoever.
And we did we we we beat up onC, we beat up on Ransom, I beat
them on Hereford.
We needed a legitimate football.
Yeah, and guess what?
We never really trailed.
You know, we had some situationswhere we we did it, we dealt
with it the right way, and I'mjust real proud of our guys.
We have become that right now,we're kind of what we call

(06:13):
battle-tested.
We've we've seen it, we've seenit all.
We've seen everything in in infootball a situation.
We've seen all the situations.
Down, up, up by a little, up bya lot, down by a little, down by
no a score.
They've doubled it, you know,with with no flinch, which has
been uh pretty remarkable.
This group has a lot of reallyinteresting pluses, and they're
kind of scattered around.

(06:33):
And it's still early, you know,we're we're still building this
thing.
So um stay tuned.

SPEAKER_05 (06:39):
Yeah.
So we're 4-0.
We're going into our homecominggame.
What's our theme, Greg?

SPEAKER_00 (06:44):
I believe it's Rave.
Rave Knight.
So Rave Knight.
What do I what am I wearing forRave Night?
Uh Neon and Black is what I wastold to wear.
So um, neon and black.
Get a scarf too if you want.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (06:56):
I I told the kids during stretch on uh Tuesday,
I've been to a rave once.
1999.
How was that?
It was alright.
It was my wife's idea.
I can't really picture this.

SPEAKER_05 (07:06):
I can't even try.

SPEAKER_04 (07:08):
We went to one.
Yeah.
It was a 90s thing, you know,but yeah, so when I said that,
JP Simpson had his eyes.
I was like, dude, I don't know.
You like the music, I get it,but I saw a live.

SPEAKER_05 (07:17):
So game, it kickoff at 6 p.m.
at home, seven run.
Severn run comes into the gameone and three, following a tough
one.
They lost 39 to nothing versusErna Park.
What can we expect out of thisgame?
I'll get your perspective andthen your perspective.

SPEAKER_04 (07:34):
Oh, I gotta go first.
Okay, that's cool.
Um, you know, our best is betterthan their best, without a
doubt.
So we come out like we sh likewe can.
It is gonna be a great footballgame for our guys, a great
experience, and just you know,once again, going one-on-one.
Um, you know, and and we don'tsleep on anybody.
We always take every uh we havea thing, we we respect our

(07:54):
opponent, you know, and that'sthe way I think you should in
the in the rules of competition.
So uh we prepare like anybodyelse, but um, you know, our best
is better than their best.

SPEAKER_02 (08:05):
Uh they're a well-coached team, uh, Troy
Gibson.
Shout out to him.
Uh he coached me for a livingwhile as well then.
Great coach, won a lot of games.
So I know we're not taking thisgame as like their records don't
matter to us.
We've been the one I've been onthe one and three team thinking
we have a shot to beat thefour-and-o team.
Yeah, and I'm the four-on-oteam.
Thinking, you know, the samething.
Uh it's just win the game that'sin front of you and just go on

(08:25):
to the next.

SPEAKER_04 (08:26):
I like it.
And we and we taught our guys,look, this thing, and and funny,
Greg Proud of all of all people,said he said it twice this week
because we have a we have acircle every week, we let our
players talk and we put thingsout about you know how to film,
what's going on.
And he said, hey man, we'rewe're almost halfway through
this thing.
Actually, we're over halfwaythrough this thing.
So we've taught our fellows fromjunk, celebrate it, and embrace

(08:48):
it, love it, enjoy it.
Because it's gonna be over.
You know, and and and and coachthe bleed will be the first one
to tell you.
And he used to tell a storyevery year.
He says, Which one of you guysis gonna be the dude when the
season is over?
I gotta pull the stuff off of itin a locker round.

SPEAKER_03 (09:02):
That's right.

SPEAKER_04 (09:03):
Because you won't take your stuff off.
There's always one, and we'restill looking for it.
Like the when it's not thatwe're looking past anything, but
when this thing is over, it's anemotional thing for us.
I mean, we're an emotionalprogram.
We have guys that that reallyput a lot of themselves into
this.
Not that nobody else does, butwe do, and it is it is uh, it
breaks my heart.
And it breaks every coach'sheart to see that because they

(09:24):
believe so much.
And, you know, we're not thereyet, but we're gonna be at some
point.

SPEAKER_05 (09:29):
Not there yet, though.
I got some fun facts for you,though.
Hit it.
All right, now you Jane, youcorrect me on this because I
went to Max Preps.
I wanted to check out the team.
So right now we're currentlyranked 5,528 in the country.
I have no idea how many highschools are.

SPEAKER_02 (09:44):
Public schools are all X.
That's all schools.

SPEAKER_05 (09:46):
That's all schools.
We're 75th in Maryland, andwe're 10th in Maryland 3A.
I don't know how this could beright.

SPEAKER_02 (09:53):
Uh three teams we beat are above us, so max preps
are not updated.
I don't know how that works.

SPEAKER_05 (09:58):
Um, we're throwing this out.

SPEAKER_02 (09:59):
No, so like some analysts in Maryland actually do
uh ranking.
We're fourth in Marylandpublic-wise.

SPEAKER_05 (10:04):
So that's that's that's true.

SPEAKER_02 (10:05):
Yeah, so that's good for us.
I mean, I don't really payattention to those, but Max
Preps, if you hear this, likefix that, please.

SPEAKER_06 (10:10):
All right, Max.
We'll pay attention to it at theend of the season.
At the end of the season, therewe go.

SPEAKER_05 (10:16):
We're here at the Green Turtle.
This is the second time we're isthis second or third time we've
done it?
Second time.

SPEAKER_03 (10:21):
Second time here at the Green Turtle.
Last year we did it this sameweek with the uh 84 team to put
in the state championship andlost by three to Kennedy.
Um we had a good reunion lastyear and uh we had a lot of guys
in a lot of guys, yeah.
And then we're having anall-class uh homecoming
celebration uh tomorrow.

(10:42):
Okay.
So a lot of guys are coming backfrom far and wide.
The class of 85 has their40-year reunion on Saturday.
So a lot of those guys got guyscoming from Arizona, Texas, um,
all over the place to come andcelebrate all weekend.
We're having a little uh we gettogether in the parking lot
before the game.
Uh the team will be uh all theall the alums.

(11:04):
And what we want is we wantguys, this school opened in
1978.
We want guys from that firstclass, all the way to guys who
graduated last year, yeah, asalums of the program to get
together and share fellowshipand camaraderie and everything
else.

SPEAKER_04 (11:19):
To build upon that, next year is 2026.
The plan is to do kind of acombo our 86 team and our 2006
team.
That's cool.
I like that.
Which Coach Suplet was part ofboth.
Yes, I was.
As a coach and player.
So that's something I wanted tothrow out there before we really
got going.
But that's a good one.
Next year will be a combinationfor the first time ever.
This is kind of an all-in.

(11:39):
Next year is gonna be acombination of two different
classes.

SPEAKER_03 (11:42):
So this is radio, and you can't see my hat.
But I had hats made.
I like it.
So you have South River footballalumni on them.
I like it.
I think it's important.
I really do.
I think that the older you get,you know, you realize how
important it was to you in yourlife.
The the coaches that you playedfor, the guys that you played
with, um, it was before moneygot involved or whatever else.

(12:04):
You played for your friends,your neighborhood, and your
family and your school.
And it's pure, it's as pure asit gets.
So I want everybody who was apart of this brotherhood to come
back and enjoy it with us.
Yeah.
Now, whether you were a starter,whether you were you know a
backup, whether you just playedon the scout team, you're part
of this brotherhood, and youdeserve to be here with us.

(12:27):
So last year was a good turnout.
We're gonna have a good turnouttomorrow.
My hope is that next year it'llbe better and it'll it'll build
on us.
Yeah.
Next year is gonna be exciting,man.
We'll have two teams.

SPEAKER_04 (12:37):
Yeah, it's it's it's in the infant stages of working
it out now.
But um, and we haven't reallytalked about that because I
really just thought a coupledays ago.
I'm like, geez, 06 is coolbecause 06 is the first time I
made the playoffs in 17 years.
Um and we could actually coachthat team together.
But um the A16 was also teamthat won, what, two playoff
games and losing a Magruder?

(12:58):
We lost to Magruder in Statesaid.
Yes.

SPEAKER_05 (13:01):
All right, so we got a lot of alumni here.
Yes.
You got to introduce some ofthese guys, let's get them over
here, let's talk to them.
Let's see what we got.
We're kicking coaches.
Yes, let's go with uh let's gowith David, let's go with David
Faust first.
David Faust, we gotta get DavidFaust.
He he is a uh alumni of not onlySouth River football, but an
alumni of Hop Talk as well.
That's right.

SPEAKER_03 (13:20):
And and an alumna of the University of Maryland.

SPEAKER_05 (13:23):
Oh, we got lots of things here to talk about.

SPEAKER_03 (13:25):
So in the history of South River High School, the
Roads Trophy in Ana Rondo Countyis given to the best player in
Ana Rondo County.
Okay.
South River High School has hadtwo winners of the roads trophy.
Hopefully this year it'll bethree winners of the roads
trophy, but the first one wasMike White, who won it in the
1983 season.

(13:46):
All right.
The second one was David Faust.
What year was your was you didyou win a David?
Uh it would have been the 2019Rhodes Trophy.
Nice.
So we've got two winners of theRhodes Trophy.
Now you never won this?
Who?
You no, they didn't have thewell, they had the Rhodes Trophy
when I was a player, and at thebanquet, um, they said we're not

(14:06):
giving a Rhodes Trophy to alineman.
So on the heels of that, theLaramore Award was created to
give to the best linemen in thecounty.
All right, I like it.
So yeah, um, but yeah, we've hadtwo winners.
Hopefully this year we'll haveour third, and we've had a
couple, we've had a couple guysat Spencer win the win the
Larimore Award.

(14:27):
Um David Coffin, uh Caleb Herbwon it.
Okay, Caleb.
And I hope I'm not leavinganybody else out, but yeah,
we're we're we're climbing.
But David had a great career atSouth River, could really throw
that ball, and um went on toplay at the University of
Marion.
And um happy to have himtonight.
Absolutely happy, sir.

SPEAKER_01 (14:47):
How you doing?
Doing amazing.
Thank you for uh bringing me onhere.

SPEAKER_05 (14:50):
And you guys have to be equally excited because not
only is South River doing well,University of Maryland's doing
pretty darn well too.

SPEAKER_01 (14:57):
Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_05 (14:58):
Yeah, big game this weekend versus Washington.

SPEAKER_01 (14:59):
So are you gonna make any predictions right now?
Um I want you on the record.
I want uh all I care about istwo W's for my uh for my turps
and my Seahawks.
Yeah, boy.

SPEAKER_05 (15:09):
We're gonna go 2-0 this weekend.
I hope so.
All right, what's what's yourtake on this team?
You've been you've been watchingit.

SPEAKER_01 (15:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 (15:16):
What's your take?

SPEAKER_01 (15:16):
Yeah, no, it's a great team.
Um, I mean, I've been fallingwith uh with McDuffie a lot.
I love that they got Ben Rainsback at the helm.
Yep.
Um seems like a really goodteam.
It seems like they're having funout there, um, which I think
matters more than anything.
It's really easy to say thatwhen you're winning.
Uh if you're 0-4 at this point,it's not necessarily about
having fun, but when you aredoing as good as they are, um I
like to see the brotherhood thatthey have out there.

(15:38):
It reminds me a lot of the teamthat I had when I was here.

SPEAKER_05 (15:41):
And so give us some memories from back then.
Like what's some of yourfavorite memories from playing
here?
You had some good teams.

SPEAKER_01 (15:46):
Yeah, no, we had some good teams.
We had some really bad teamstoo.
Um But uh man, I don't I can'teven really think of like one
memory necessarily.
Like what I wouldn't me and mybuddies sit around and we talk
about our days playing highschool football, honestly, a lot
of what we talk about is likethe high school workouts and
going and grabbing breakfastafter the workouts.

(16:07):
Um, and like the locker roomsafter the win.
It's not necessarily like onegame, it's just um, you know,
that brotherhood that I talkedabout that we built there and
just enjoying every singlemoment to it.
Um, the summer workouts that alot of other programs probably,
you know, oh, we gotta wake upat this time in the morning and
go, you know, play wheneverybody else is sleeping in,
and then they get to sit andplay Xbox all day in the summer.

(16:27):
Um, I think that we reallyembraced that opportunity to be
out there, be with our bestfriends, playing the best sport
in the world.

SPEAKER_05 (16:32):
Yeah.
And tell me, tell me a littlebit about your teammates.

SPEAKER_01 (16:35):
So who who were who was on your teams?
Uh we had some, we had a lot ofreally good players.
Um, I think uh who I got toshout out first, Sean Leonard,
my receiver.
Um Sean Hemphill is anotherreceiver we had out there,
Jamison Gaskins, anotherreceiver out there.
Uh we had Delvin Johnson, arunning back, um, we had Nasir
Franklin Branch, ChristianAnderson, a linebacker.

(16:55):
I had Mike Lee back there atsafety.
That was all my senior year, butI played with a lot of really
great people.
Um my freshman year, we had youknow Ryan Proctor, we had Caron
Lewis.
Um played with a lot of peopleand uh made a lot of really good
friends on my time.

SPEAKER_05 (17:09):
Yeah.
And I can remember, you know, II didn't grow up in this area,
but I can remember you playingit.
You were probably one of myfirst experiences going to South
River Games and seeing you throwthat ball.
Very impressive.
I appreciate that.
Yeah.
Um give me your best game.
Because we got we got we haveBen here who's throwing a lot of
yards.
What what what does he have tohit?
What's one of your best games?

(17:31):
Uh give me the give me thestats.
I want the I want the realstats.

SPEAKER_01 (17:34):
He he has he has to just go out and win every single
week.
I'll give you an answer, but Iwant to backtrack a little bit.
It's not about the stats, man.
It's about going one and ohevery single week.
Give me that.
I'll give you that.
Um I mean, I think the Annapolisgame, my senior year, um, I
think I had five touchdowns inthat game.
Uh two of them were to uh one ofmy best friends, Jameson
Gaskins.
Um, and I think it was his firsttime scoring on varsity.

(17:56):
It's cool.
Um so getting being able to gethim two uh in that game was was
a lot of fun.
I think I got pulled in thethird quarter or something.

SPEAKER_03 (18:03):
Wasn't one of those touchdowns right on the goal
line?
Then you threw a pass right onthe goal line, like on the
two-yard line.
Yeah.
I saw it.
And I was thinking to myself,Coach Papetti would be rolling
over in his grave right now.
That they didn't rush on onfirst down, on first down on the
two-yard line, we're throwingthe ball.

SPEAKER_09 (18:19):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (18:19):
Almost a different kind of game.
Different DNAs, baby.
Yeah.
But it worked.
It worked.
So at the end of the day, sixpoints at six points, right?
That's right.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
That's right.
That game was crazy.
More by like 50, right?

SPEAKER_01 (18:31):
Yeah, no, and they uh they had beat us.
They had beat us by like 40 theyear before, so we were gonna
come to that with somevengeance.

SPEAKER_03 (18:38):
If you get a chance to stick it to them, you stick
it to them.
Them and old Mill.
I agree, I agree.

SPEAKER_05 (18:45):
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
Thank you for always beingaround.
You've you've been around thisprogram for a long time.
We love it.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you for having meon.
Gohawks.

SPEAKER_03 (18:54):
Great Seahawk, great terp.
Yeah, absolutely.
David Faust.
There he is.
Let's bring up uh MikeSandmeyer, class of 1987, my
teammate that I played with theSouth River, and uh Mike uh
served in the Air Force.
He's got the Air Force jerseyon.
I like it.
I like it though, it's a goodjersey.

SPEAKER_05 (19:13):
I think he's trying to disturb some trouble here in
Annapolis this weekend, butwe'll see.
Yeah, that is true.
You are at Annapolis.
Good point.
All right, so tell us a littlebit.
What you what what what yearwere you there, what position?
So I was uh there through 84through 86.
Okay, so you were on these greatT's.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 (19:29):
Um I I started out actually as a defensive end, and
then I ended up moving over tofree safety, and I played split
in.
And since we ran a straight Tformation back in those days,
you know, a lot of times we wentinto a double tight end
formation.
Yeah.
So it all depended on what wewanted to do, what our scheme
was at that time, who we wereplaying, and uh so we just you

(19:50):
know, we just went with theflow.
But you know, I think a lot ofthat during that time, those
years, uh, under Coach Bappettiand and the staff, it was very
much about fundamentals.
And and I mean they preached itevery single day.
And it was, you know, you made amistake, and your your footing,

(20:12):
your spacing, however it was, itmade you do it again.

SPEAKER_06 (20:16):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 (20:16):
Run it again, run it again, run it again.
And we would hear it every dayin practice.
That was just the way it was.
So, um, but fundamentals werevery important back now.

SPEAKER_05 (20:27):
And how often do you get back for games?

SPEAKER_07 (20:30):
Well, I gotta tell you, um, my career has taken me
globally.
Yeah, so um I came back here, Itry to make it back when I can.
Yeah, I came back here in uh Ithink it was about 2010, Mitch.
I thought it was about 2010.
Yeah.
And um I actually was helpingout a little bit on the side,
helping her coach, you know,some of the defensive backs uh

(20:52):
and participating in that, andand that was a lot of fun.
I enjoyed being with the kids,being around the players,
watching them grow as players.
And uh, you know, it was aunique experience for me because
I was just kind of apseudo-coach, if you will, uh
during that time.
But it was it was nice, and Ienjoyed that.
And there were, you know, overthe years uh there had been some

(21:13):
down years for South River, youknow, and for them to be coming
back and and just missed uh theplayoffs by one game that that
particular season, that wassaying something, I think, for
for the Persian team.
And that's when they were backon the rise there too.
So where do you live now?
So I'm in Newport, News,Virginia.
Oh, okay.
Uh and uh I uh recently moved upthere about three months ago

(21:35):
from Port Piscity, Texas.
So I deal with militarycontracts as part of my career,
and that's kind of taken me,like I said, globally throughout
the world.

SPEAKER_05 (21:45):
So and uh have you been up to the school or the
stadium yet?
Yes.
Uh how has it changed or has itchanged at all since you were
younger?

SPEAKER_07 (21:53):
Oh, it's changed.
It's changed, yes, because uhyou know you didn't have um the
stands like they were.
I mean, they were only abouthalf half of what they were back
then as compared to what theyare now.
And uh so seeing that, obviouslythe field was different.
The artificial turf.

(22:14):
Um we didn't have that,obviously we were in natural
grass back in the day.
The field was definitely, youknow, it's one of those things
that I kind of miss in a way,you know, when I see games all
over, it's like, hey, man, Iwish it was just on natural
grass.

SPEAKER_03 (22:28):
Yeah, because that was just well, and no no other
sports played on that field.
That was it?
Was this football?
Yeah, football, football, andthen maybe once in a while in
the spring lacrosse for a biggame, but that was it.
That was it no soccer, no rockyplays.
Yeah, no, the grass is about afoot tall, so um number five

(22:48):
over here, he wouldn't likethat.

SPEAKER_02 (22:51):
You trimming over muscle, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (22:53):
But uh, you know, we kept it long, we had some
mutters, and you know, CoachPapetti Math is four times
three, is not twelve, it's afirst down.
Exactly.
And as we have the ball, as longas we have the ball, you can't
score.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Yeah, yeah.
That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 (23:11):
Um, did you guys ever have any pregame or
post-game rituals?

SPEAKER_06 (23:15):
Oh yes.
Yeah.
And uh yeah, oh yes, we we wedid a boom boom.
We're doing a boom boom.

SPEAKER_03 (23:23):
A boom boom, a boom boom.
So when I was coaching, yeah, Itried to bring that back.
And we would, you know, everyteam has like a pregame chant,
right?
Man, I can get you fired up.
You can still recite it?
Yes, yes.
Who are we?
Seahawks.
Where from?
South River.
Do we kick ass?
Hell yeah.
Boom, boom.

(23:44):
Out go the lights.
Boom, boom.
Out go the lights.
And you get you know 40 or 50guys frothing at the mouth.
That's an old Pat Traverse.
That's maybe that's a moretomorrow.
Yeah, well, I'm gonna get youthat recording so you're gonna
be.
I'll be done for that.

SPEAKER_02 (24:00):
Yeah, no, I'll talk to the guys.

SPEAKER_03 (24:01):
So when I was coaching at South River, we
would do that, right?
I tried to bring, I wascoaching, I coached at South
River with Coach Eric Slavinfrom 2005 to 2010, and I would
try to bring back little piecesof what we did back in the 80s,
and uh some of it stuck and someof it didn't.
And um, like for example, Aaron,my pregame ritual, I went to a

(24:23):
friend of mine's house.
We played at 7:30 back then onFriday nights.
I would go to a friend of mine'shouse in South Down and watch
the movie All the Right Movewith Tom Cruise.

SPEAKER_05 (24:33):
That's not the movie I thought you were gonna say.
No, I would watch that.

SPEAKER_03 (24:36):
I'd get all fired up because it was from a Pittsburgh
steel town, it was important atthat school, it was really
hardcore football, and um Itried to show the team on movie
night one time.
We had a game on Saturday,right?
So we had the team there atSouth Revenue Gym on Friday
night, so we had movie night.
Well, you know, these kids now,and this was probably 2009 or

(24:59):
2010, they're looking at thisold thing, it's not in 3D, not
uh HDMI, and they're like, thisis corny, this is stupid.
They they lasted like twominutes and they were done.
They were done.
So some things stick, somethings don't.
But the boom boom alcohollights, that that that that's
timeless.

SPEAKER_05 (25:18):
Yes, I want the I want the boom boom back.
You might hear it tomorrow.
You might hear it tomorrow.
If you I'll be paying attention.
If you did it tomorrow, theseguys are going crazy with us.

SPEAKER_07 (25:27):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you know, and the reasonpart of the probably part of the
reason I remember it is becauseas a senior, I was the one who
called that out every everyevery game.
So that that that memory nevernever leaves, you know.
Um one of the things that Mitchhad mentioned, you know, about
uh some of the things that hewas bringing back back during

(25:48):
that time when I came back tokind of um you know help out a
little bit, was um was it'spretty fun because Mitch would
ask me, hey, we're asking someof the alumni to come back, give
some speeches to the team.
And before the first game of theyear that particular season, I
was the first speaker.
So I got to give a speech andtalk to the team, and and you
know, um, and I think for us,especially for Mitch and I back

(26:11):
in the day, our rivals, our archrivals was Southern.
Oh yes.
I'm sure it probably still istoday.

SPEAKER_03 (26:18):
We never things have changed a little bit.
For some reason, it it's arundle or whatever.
And when I coach here, I wouldtell the kids, I'm like, let me
tell you something.
A rundown, they don't care aboutyou.
They don't.
But if you ask Southern, listen,fellas, you can only win one
game this year, what game wouldyou like it to be?
We want to be South Earth.
So you need to understand that'sthat this is their Super Bowl.

(26:41):
Yeah, and if you're looking at arundel or now Crofton High
School or whatever, because theysplit the districts up and all
that stuff, if you overlookthose people, you're gonna get
stuck.
Oh, definitely.
You're gonna get bit.
So it's just a different,different day and age, but we
knew what time it was.
And we were always way betterthan Southern, but they always
play this top.
Yeah, that's a rivalry day.

SPEAKER_05 (27:00):
Who would you say is you over the course of your four
years, who's the biggest rival?

SPEAKER_02 (27:05):
So, I mean, Southern's always like the top
priority, but like likecompetitive games, like going at
it neck to neck.
Honestly, Savannah the Park.

SPEAKER_05 (27:15):
I was gonna say Sunny.
That's why I would go Savannahthe Park.

SPEAKER_02 (27:17):
Yeah, yeah, Summer of the Park.
Yeah, I'll say Savannah Park,definitely.
I don't like Sumner Park.
I don't like them either at all.

SPEAKER_03 (27:23):
So well, the team we really didn't like was
Broadneck.
Yes.
They're still up there.
We hate them, we don't lose tothem.
We never lost to them.
Yeah, we never lost to Southerneither.
We we lost one county game infour years, and that was to
Northeast.
And the worst, the worstatmosphere you could ever
imagine is dark.

(27:44):
The lights of the fieldbasically lit up half the field.
It was just terrible.
Was it at Broadman?
No, no, it's at Northeast.
We lost to North Northeast,Northeast.
We never lost to Broadnick.

SPEAKER_07 (27:54):
We lost 16 to 6 to Northeast.
What did they had?

SPEAKER_03 (27:58):
It was just dark and dreary, it's terrible.
And the problem for us was weplayed Northeast, but next week
we had Broadney.
So we were compassing.
I'm not making any excuses, butwe may we may have had our
sights set on next week.

SPEAKER_07 (28:12):
And here's the thing too, we we had we had a really
outstanding defense that oursenior year.
Yeah.
So we were shutting people outleft and right all the way up
through until we met a team fromAllegheny.
And then we ended up losing thatgame.
And you know, they were theywere at the time when Class A,
B, C, Double A, but they were aclass B team, but they were

(28:35):
state perennial powerhouse classB.

SPEAKER_03 (28:38):
Kind of like Urbana was for these guys last week,
right?
So in the state of Maryland,there are certain programs you
know who they are, and they havecachet.
Like Urbana has that cache.
Allegheny back in those days,they had that cachet.
So did Fort Hill.
I mean, they've Fort Hill stilldoes.

SPEAKER_02 (28:54):
Yeah.
They haven't lost in 11 years ona state championship.

SPEAKER_03 (28:57):
They rolled down here.

SPEAKER_02 (28:58):
They haven't lost the game in 11 years?
No, like in Maryland publicschool, they haven't lost the
game and they went to statechampionship.
That's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 (29:05):
Yeah, and when they roll down here, you know it.
So we put I pulled into the whenwe played Allegheny that time
in '86.
I rolled in the parking lot.
There's like campers, it's likea college tail.

SPEAKER_09 (29:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (29:16):
Campers, buses, everything else.
And they're like, hey, um, youremember Mike said that the
stadium's different.
It's like half the size when weplayed compared to what it is
now.
Oh, this is a nice littlestadium you guys got.
Where are your people gonna sit?
It was just a different,different kind of deal.
Yeah.
So that was uh, you know, it's atight game.

(29:39):
I knew we were in trouble.
They had a timeout, and theywheeled oxygen tanks onto the
field, and their guys like thepros, like in the NFL, they're
sucking on oxygen, and thenwe're barely able to get walker.
And they got oxygen attendant.

SPEAKER_07 (29:51):
And the other impressive about their team was
they only had one senior ontheir team, all underclassmen.
Oh, okay.
They had speed.
And that was that was ournemesis.
We had the power, but they hadthe speed.
And it was a zero-zero athalftime.
But then we ended up losing 22to 8 in the second half.

(30:12):
And due to you know mistakesthat we shouldn't have made.
But you know, we're we're human.
So but um I I I would like to tomention one one other thing.
You know, with our um with oursenior, it's kind of along those
same lines, our senior year whenMitch and I were playing, and we
we played against Magruder inthe state semifinals.

(30:34):
We played up in Rocka.
Um their head coach actually wasmy father's head coach at
Richard Montgomery High Schoolback in the 60s.
And Roy Lester, he and heactually coached at Maryland
back in the early 70s for awhile as well.
Recruited people like RandyWhite, a couple other people
that you know were NFL stand in,sorry, he slept out.

(30:56):
Um but when we played Magruder,and despite the lopsided score
of us losing that game, Iremember my mother coming to me
after the game and saying thattheir fans said, Hey, South
River was the best and toughestteam that they had played all
season long, despite the score.

(31:18):
And we had four four fumblemiscues.
We had the ball over, when weturned the ball over, it's hard
to wet.
Yeah, it's and uh we had it hadbeen a sloppy week of practice,
it rained all week.
We were actually running playsin the gym and stuff, and it was
it was just a it was just atough week, you know, and then
having to play on a sloppy fieldmade it even that much worse.

(31:41):
So not not making excuses, butthat's what happened.
That's what happened.

SPEAKER_05 (31:45):
Well, thank you.
Yes, sir.
Thank you for sharing somememories.
Hopefully, don't be walkingaround Annapolis too much with
this Air Force.
Now now I'm kind of with you atthe end.
I had to stare at this the wholetime.
Uh now it's getting a littleweird, say it.
But thank you.
Thank you for coming on forsharing some memories.
Thanks, my sir.
Yes, thank you, Mike.

SPEAKER_02 (32:02):
Thanks, thanks, thank you, and we'll be right
back.
Welcome to Merrick Studios,where stories take the mic and
culture come to life.

SPEAKER_05 (32:09):
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bringing you smart, soulful,unjected conversations.

SPEAKER_03 (32:14):
And this season, we're bringing the heat with our
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Whatever you're into, music,sports, business, we got you
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SPEAKER_05 (32:26):
Check out our full lineup, including Unglossy with
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Now streaming at weareMerrickstudios.com.

SPEAKER_03 (32:35):
And now back to our show.
So next up we're gonna bring RonRossi.
He also is uh class of 1987, wasour starting right tackle on the
86 team.
So I was the left tackle onoffense, he was the right tackle
on offense.
Ronnie also wrestled at SouthRiver, went on to uh wrestling

(32:57):
career at at uh Lockhaven inPennsylvania, and then he
transferred to Salisbury, wherehe played football, wrestled,
and as I found out today, Iprobably already knew this, but
I forgot, played rugby.
Number 75, Ron Rossi.
He is welcome.

SPEAKER_05 (33:14):
Hello so rugby, huh?
You didn't play rugby in highschool, right?

SPEAKER_08 (33:19):
No, no.
I I I played rugby for one yearand I was on the national
championship rugby team, but Idon't want to but you played for
a national championship.
I I don't want to say thatbecause uh the team that I
played for, I didn't so in I inin rugby there's no
substitutions.
I didn't play in the nationalchampionship.

(33:41):
There's no substitutions.
I was a prop.
I didn't get I didn't play inthe game.
Uh I I barely even know the knewthe rules to the game.
I just went out because it waswrestling with no mats and
football with no pads, and I waslike, this is pretty cool, you
know.
So the it was they had a theyhad a good program there.
They were whatever division theywere in, national champions, and

(34:05):
um it was it was just it wasjust kind of it was just kind of
fun.
Um those guys and it they werefun to hang out with after the
and they were crazy.
Those guys were they weredrinking out of their shoes,
they were I was like, I'm notdoing that, like you know, but
they were they were they were abunch of crazy guys to hang out
with, and they were they wereeven crazier than I was, you
know what I mean.

(34:25):
So I I I liked uh hanging outwith those guys.

SPEAKER_05 (34:28):
You think you have rugby in you at at Northwestern?

SPEAKER_08 (34:31):
That will not be happening.
Yeah, I don't think theNorthwestern coach is gonna be
happening in playing rugby.

SPEAKER_02 (34:36):
I don't think God gave me the the mindset and body
for that.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna pass onthat.

SPEAKER_08 (34:41):
Well well the thing is that uh you know when I
wrestled at Lockhaven, you had,you know, Mitchell Tay, when
you're a Division I athlete, yougot seven, eight hours of you
know, you got lifting,mandatory.
It's not like, oh, just go go tothe gym if you want to go to the
gym.
No, it's mandatory lifting.
There's somebody, you know,sitting there keeping track, you
know, what time you get there,what time you leave.

(35:02):
You have you know workouts, youhave uh, you know, two-a-day
practices, you know.
Study hall.
Study hall.
I mean you have you have eightteam meetings, you know, it's
it's not a just oh I'll I'llit's not willy-nilly, it's you
know, it's a job.
So when I got to Salisbury, itwas like it was willy-nilly.
It was like, it was like, yeah,well, uh wrestling doesn't start

(35:24):
until wrestling season.
I was like, what do you mean?
Like wrestling doesn't starttill wrestling season.
You know, I'm like, wrestling'syear-round, what do you mean?
You're like, football, you know,and so um I you know, I I was I
was doing stuff year-round fromthe time I was in, you know,
from the time I was in highschool, you know.
Um but I wound up uh, you know,I wound up enjoying actually one

(35:48):
of my teammates at Salesberry,who's the coach of the Redskins
now, uh Dan Quinn.
Dan Quinn.

SPEAKER_05 (35:54):
Oh, Dan Quinn was your coach?

SPEAKER_08 (35:56):
No, no, he was my teammate.

SPEAKER_02 (35:56):
Oh, your teammate didn't know.
Why'd you say that so casually?

SPEAKER_08 (36:00):
Yeah, you did say that very casually.
Very casually.
So I played with him and Iplayed with a couple other
Seahawks too.
That uh guy named uh RichieSimmons, who was uh who was one
one of our teammates, a guynamed Timmy Ferrara, who's one
of our teammates.
Uh they they were all on thesame team with Dan Quinn.
And um, so anyways.
How was Dan Quinn as a play?

(36:20):
He was one of those guys.
So so look, I'm not a I'm notgonna get up here and tell you
guys how much I love footballbecause football wasn't my
sport.
Wrestling was my sport.
But Dan Quinn and these guys uphere was one of those guys that
loved football.
I have a different, my story isdifferent than all these guys.

(36:40):
My football, the reason why Iplayed football in high school,
the reason why I played footballin college was different.
I came, I I I told my mom when Iwas six years old that I wanted
to play football.
My mom didn't want me to playfootball.
I said, I want to play.
So I go out for football, andback then they didn't have age
weight, they only had weight.

(37:02):
So I'm six years old, I turnedseven during while I was there,
and I'm playing with 12 and 13year olds.
So the coach is like, get onoffense, get on defense.
I'm like, I want to be on theRedskins.
What are you talking about?
And so I'm getting roughed uphere and there, and I know the

(37:22):
coach is trying to protect me,and at the end of every
practice, the last five guys torun the lap had to run another
lap, or you know.
So I remember vividly himsaying, Anybody here want to go
play soccer?
Raise their hand.
And guess what?
You're an hand win?
I raised my hand.
So, as everybody knows, that'sone of the most humiliating

(37:46):
things that a football playercould ever do.
And I did it when I was sixyears old.
So, fast forward, so I get tohigh school and I say to myself,
so I'm not that guy, you know,like I'm you know, and so I go
out for football, and all theseguys I couldn't play for

(38:06):
Davidsonville Gators when wemoved out here because they only
had you know weight, whatever itwas.
And so I was too big to play.
But in high school, all theseguys that were the you know
all-star football players, theywere 125 pounds, they were 150
pounds, they were too small.
I was you know, I was uh youknow, 200 pounds going into high

(38:27):
school.
I was 185, 100 90 pounds.
So in high school, I was like,all right, I'll I'll come, I'll
play.
And I had gone to a militaryschool as well.
I transferred him from amilitary school.
So I was I was I was fairly youknow tough-minded, you know.
Develop.
Um, I was a you know mentallytough kid or whatever.
So bottom line is I was like,all right, I'll I'll do this.

(38:49):
So I came out, and our footballcoach was a very, very, very he
was a man-maker, Coach Papetti.
All right, he he was a manmaker.
And I I I'll just tell you, hewas a I saw that guy tell the
toughest guys that I ever, youknow, some of the toughest guys
I ever knew, get out of here.
You cut him like the week, youknow, the week of the game.

(39:10):
He said, get out of here, yousissy, you know, and I'm like,
did he just kick our best playeroff the team?
Because, you know, he was going,oh, he's you know, trying to get
a drink of water or say thisback hurt or something.
And but but Coach Papetti was uha hardcore man maker.
So, but I I came out forfootball to you know to set the
record straight that I wasn't aquitter.

(39:30):
My mom went out and bought methis book when I was six years
old, the quitter, the bornloser.
So my whole life I had I hadsomething to make up to myself
for.
So at the age of six.
I was about to suppose Bob andMessenger.
At the age of six.
At the age of six.
Ronnie's mom was tough.
My mother was tough.

SPEAKER_03 (39:47):
Miss Arlene was tough now.

SPEAKER_08 (39:49):
And so I would the truth.

SPEAKER_03 (39:50):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 (39:51):
So I wound up, you know, going out for football and
being like, I'm not gonna getbeat by anybody.
I'm not gonna eat, you know, andyou know, I could tell you
stories against, you know, yougot I heard them guys talking
about uh what was the name ofthat?
Allegheny.
This team, you know, from thisteam of giants that came in.
And I always joke with Mitch.

(40:12):
I was like, that was the oneteam where I I mean I I I I
smashed a bunch of giants.
I was I was a mentally toughguy.
I would do I would ankle pickthe the I was a s I was a small
tackle compared to him.
I was an offensive tackle.
I would ankle pick guys, nevergot called for holding or
anything like that.
And I kept saying I had thisgiant 10th grader on on top of

(40:34):
me.
He was 275 pounds, and he wasjust manhandling me.
And I kept we kept going back tothe huddle going, Mitch, switch
sides with me, switch sides withme.
And Mitch is going, no, he'sjust gonna follow you.
And I'm going, no, Mitch.
And so Mitch couldn't switchsides with me, and and uh I got

(40:54):
manhandled at the end.
He would have followed you.
And uh that game was my fault.
We lost.
That's not true, but um, butanyways, no, we we had it we had
a great team that year, and uhwe uh we ran into a little bit
of adversity in a couple ofgames, but overall it was it was
awesome to play with those guysthat year.
We had had we had great playersthe year before, probably better

(41:20):
individual players than the 85and the 86 teams or whatever.
But the I I feel our senioryear, we had a better team, a
better, you know, a bettereverybody was uh as a team, you
know, we were we were better uhtogether all you know just fear
and everything.
Yeah, just everybody playedtogether.

(41:40):
We played for each other, youknow.
There wasn't no there were noindividuals.
There were probably a lot betterindividual athletes the year
prior, but they didn't do any,they didn't go that far.
And you know, when we lost inthe state semifinals, I think
that I think that team, if I'mnot mistaken, I think they won
in the state championship likesomething ridiculous, like

(42:05):
something crazy, like you know.

SPEAKER_03 (42:06):
Yeah, that that just the semifinal was the was a safe
iron.

SPEAKER_09 (42:11):
Right.

SPEAKER_03 (42:11):
Yeah, and that's why you know Mike said before that
you know the the fans weresaying you guys are the toughest
team we played all season.
So we tuned them, we were theiruh practice game, I guess, for
them to have a walkover in thestate championship.

SPEAKER_09 (42:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (42:27):
So I get yeah, I don't take any solace in that.
They give you like a littletrophy afterwards, right?
A little, it's um, I don't know,maybe a eight-inch by eight-inch
trophy, state semifinals.
I threw it in the trash.
I threw it in the trash.
I was so disgusted because Ithought that we were gonna win
it.
I thought you were about it.
And then my line coach, a guynamed Jim Henney, I never even

(42:49):
thought he'd like me.
Never spoke to me, he justyelled at me, called me, damn
it, Gumba.
Yeah, yeah, dumbass, whatever.
He dug the trophy out of thetrash and he brought it to me on
the bus.
And he said, This might not meananything to you right now, but
one day you're gonna want thisback.

SPEAKER_09 (43:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (43:07):
And that was kind of like our bonding moment.
Yeah.
I played for this guy for fouryears, and all as I heard was
how terrible I was the wholetime.
Now I'm a high school American.
Yeah.
And there was no, you know,there was no, hey man, you did
great, none of that comes.
There was none of that.
It was always, here's what youdidn't do.
Here's what you did wrong.
Here's what you didn't do.

(43:28):
So when he gave me that trophyout of the trash, I realized
that, you know what, maybe, justmaybe, this guy actually did
like me.
Yeah.
But it took a little time.
Yeah.
Yep.

SPEAKER_08 (43:38):
I also have uh I have two sons that also played
for uh well, they also played,um they also played for South
River um the year that the yearI uh there was a break in Coach
Zaplea and Coach Urks Laban's umcoaching tenure.
Yeah and uh there was some otherguy, some big giant guy, uh what

(44:02):
was his name?
Clon.
Well, it's clean.
He he came in for uh a shortperiod of time.
But so my my my two sons uhplayed for for them that year,
or a couple years, and um, youknow, they're they're also
Seahawk alumni, and but they'realso wrestlers, and um one of
them actually one of them is uhstill a professional cage

(44:24):
fighter um to the man you wouldnot want to master.

SPEAKER_03 (44:27):
Fresh out of cage, that's a liar, cage fighter?

SPEAKER_08 (44:30):
Yeah, he's he's had a couple, he's actually had two
UFC, uh he's a bunch of otheroutside has two two belts and
two.
Where's that guy?
I want to see him.
Two amateur is.

SPEAKER_02 (44:41):
Oh, absolutely not.
Just can't say it together.

SPEAKER_08 (44:44):
No, he's he's on our team.
He's a he's a Seahawk, he's aSeahawk alumni, so hey, I think
it's cool though.

SPEAKER_05 (44:50):
I got three Division I athletes right here.
Me and you are the LM.
Four.
You got four.
David Spouthson.
I meant just right at the tableright now, but yeah, we got a
lot of them around here.
I mean, it just proves that Imean South River's a school that
we can produce athletes in.

SPEAKER_03 (45:06):
Absolutely, absolutely.
In and in every sport.
Like back back in my day, like Itold you before, yeah, I've
interviewed with you before, andum I was the last one of six
consecutive Division I linemenin a row.

SPEAKER_05 (45:21):
That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03 (45:22):
I mean, I had guys to look up to, guys that did it
before, showed me the roadmap,all that kind of stuff.
So when I got to be older, Iwould take younger kids under my
wing and say, you can do thistoo.
Yeah.
And as a leader in a program, itisn't about you.
It's about those that are comingbehind you, right?
And you need to show them thatthis is possible for them too.
Because every on my first day atSouth River, and I told you this

(45:45):
story before, Tom, but the otherguys might not have heard it.
Ronnie notes the story that theequipment manager saw me, you
know, I'm 6'4, 220 pounds, justcoming out of the eighth grade.
The equipment manager looks atme and goes, He's got he's gotta
be like a junior or senior.
So he gives me varsity clothes.
Yeah, so I got a varsity jersey,varsity, varsity everything.

(46:08):
I get out on the field and I gottwo left feet, and I'm terrible,
man.
And one of the guys who so wehad two actually two Division I
linemen that year, one played atNorth Carolina named Tim Brooks,
who for my money is the bestplayer ever to play at South
River, and another guy was a guynamed Mike McElaney, played at
Northeastern.

(46:29):
You know, these guys are beatingmy tail every day, and they're
like, wait a second, man, howold are you?
I'm like 13.
So they were challenged with themath a little bit.
You could see the smoke comingout of their ears.
They're like, 13, 13, but thatwould make you a freshman.
I'm like, yes, I'm a freshman.
And they're like, oh, that'syour ass.
You're gonna give that stuffback.

(46:51):
You're getting a JD jersey,first Alf, and then second off,
we're gonna beat your tail everysingle day.
And they did.
They whip my ass every day, andthey're like, one day you're
gonna thank us for this.
Yeah.
I'm like, one day I might, buttoday's not that bad.

SPEAKER_08 (47:03):
And he never had to give his JV, he never had to
give his varsity jersey back.
When I got it, when I came in, Icame in from military school
halfway during the I came inafter the football season.
So I got I didn't get here until10th grade.
Coach Petty gave me a varsityjersey and I said, Are you sure?
Are you sure I I I haven'tplayed football since I was six

(47:24):
years old.
And I he had I had all the stuffin my hand.
He goes, it's probably afterabout 10 minutes, you probably
have me going, Are you sure?
Are you sure?
He goes, All right, I take agray one instead.
So I talked myself out of beingon board.
I was I should have been on thatvarsity team, but you know what?
On that that state championshipteam that went to the state
championship.

(47:45):
However, I had a great run onthe junior varsity that that
year.
That year, I met a lot of goodguys.
You talked yourself right out ofthat team.
But you know what?
You know what?
Some of those guys, those guyswould have, they would have,
they would have done the samething to me that those guys, you
know, those 13-year-olds did tome.
And I'm grateful because when Igot up the next year, they st I

(48:08):
was still a neophyte, I wasstill learning, I was still, you
know, I was still a JV kid in ain a big tough guy's body.
And but I was a wrestler, so Iwas tough, and I was, you know,
I was I was gonna come back.
I don't care how many times youknocked me down, I'm getting
back up, and and even the guysthat could smash me in football
knew that guess what, you don'twant me in the locker room after

(48:30):
after this because Mitch andMitch and I were the back at
back in the day, they theredidn't used to be.
Would you guys have like extralockers in there?
Uh I mean I'm probably talkingout of school, but you can but
the set the center was open, uhand that was that was the
free-for-all.
That's where all the seniorsused to like try to pick on

(48:52):
everybody, and that's wherethat's where it was go time
after practice.
And and the you had to handlebusiness, yeah.
It was every it was every day.
It was every day.

SPEAKER_03 (49:01):
The only day you didn't fight was Thursday.
Thursday was a non-fighting day?
No, because that was the daybefore the game.
But Monday, Monday, Tuesday,Wednesday, and even Friday after
the games, it was fight time.

SPEAKER_08 (49:13):
And me and him no fighting on Thursday.
Me and him were the biggest guyson the teams, but guess what?
We weren't even boys back then.
We weren't even boys until likeour senior year, I mean we were
we were friends, but we weren't,you know, like we weren't in the
same corner because he was astarter.
I was you know, you know, he wasreally better friends with them,
but you know, one of the one ofthose guys was on my varsity,

(49:36):
you know, wrestling team.
I was a varsity wrestler.
So it wasn't like it wasn't likeme and him were like, all right,
Mitch, back to back.
You know, it was it was like I'mwatching him get smashed by a
bunch of guys.
He's watching these guys ducttape my legs together, and you
know, like, man, I'm justtelling you.
And this guy's hairy like agorilla.
I am, and so I'm telling you,these I'm I'm telling you, these

(49:57):
we're off the rails.

SPEAKER_09 (49:58):
You are yeah, we all fight after days.

SPEAKER_08 (50:00):
You make TikToks.
Yeah, it was dimming.
It wasn't even it wasn't it wasafter practices every day.
That's crazy.
You had to prove yourself everysingle day.
Yeah, it's just the way it was.

SPEAKER_07 (50:12):
I think we should bring that back.

SPEAKER_08 (50:14):
I mean But guess what?
I'll watch.
When we used to go up, I mean,and I'm whatever, but so you
guys know that blue tower upthere?
No, like uh somebody told meabout that blue tower.
Yeah, it's the really day.
J V hit the tower.
So they would hit the so everywith the varsity just to start
to start off every practice.
J V hit the tower.

(50:34):
So J V would go up there, andvarsity would break down on.
Um nobody's allowed to bestanding up, everybody had to be
smashed to the ground.

SPEAKER_03 (50:42):
And our and our coaches, they didn't come out
the first 30 minutes wereCaptain Lets.
Yeah, first 30 minutes wereCaptain Let's there was no
coaches out there, and then thecoach would come out, and people
it looked like a car accident.
What happened to you guys?
What happened?
And nobody was.

SPEAKER_02 (50:57):
Right.

SPEAKER_05 (50:57):
And different day and age.
Different day and age.
Well, thank you, sir.
I enjoyed listening to some ofthe stories.
Yeah, toughen this guy up alittle bit.

SPEAKER_02 (51:04):
Yeah, no, I'm uh I would have survived back then.

SPEAKER_08 (51:08):
Like I said, I'm an alumni from you know, graduated
in '87, late in the 86th season.
My sons graduated in you know2013, 2014.
My daughters, uh 2017.
Um, you know, and uh I'm I'm aSeahawk for life.
I have my youngest boy shouldhave been a Seahawk, but then he

(51:29):
built the new Crofton HighSchool.
So he's he's a senior at theCrofton High School, which kind
of I'm always I'm alwayscheering for South River.
You guys are playing in thattook a couple leagues.
He played he played JV, but hebroke his collarbone.
Okay.
And they he wrestled.
He was a state qualifier as afreshman, but he um he doesn't
he he can't he tore bothlaborings, but he's a really

(51:52):
good wrestler.
You'll be rooting for SouthRiver.
Well, don't tell anybody, keepit a secret, but I'm always
rooting for South River.
All right, guys.
Very, very, very, very nice uhhanging out with you guys
tonight.
Thanks, man.
Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 (52:06):
So when I first cut back to South River with Coach
Urkslav in like 2004, I toldsomebody I'm gonna get a bush
hog and I'm gonna cut the pathback in to the tower.
We actually took an athleticdirector who's the same AD that
is now.
Yeah, he heard that, he goes,You will not be doing it.

SPEAKER_04 (52:24):
But we actually took a walk up there and there was a
there was there was a plan.

SPEAKER_03 (52:28):
I was gonna cut that path back in.
We were gonna start that again.
And uh Mr.
Klingle, for you Mr.
Klingle said but absolutely not.

SPEAKER_04 (52:36):
But but in all seriousness, this this South
River football thing is very,very special.
Like, you know, I'm I I didn'tgo to South River High School, I
went to Bowie High School, butsame token, being here and being
here as long as I have 24 years,you can see where it's special
to so many people that whenCoastal Police says it was the
way it was back then, I'm like,well, you know, there used to be
a saying, tradition doesn'tgraduate, right?

(52:58):
And I think there are thingsthat don't graduate.
Yeah, you know, and it's it'sit's crazy.
Like, you know, I it's funnythat like our jumping jacks have
been the same for like the last18 years.
You know, those are things thatdon't change.
And you know, I think we live ina world where things gotta
change, and you know what?
There's also the idea of theadapt or die, that's true, but
there's also some things thatusually don't change, and things
like the tower or tradition isgood, it's it's good, it's and

(53:22):
and I'm I'm really proud of ourfootball program.

SPEAKER_03 (53:25):
And for these young guys who don't know some of the
old heads, there's so manypeople that you've never even
met before that are rooting foryou.
Yeah, so many people who areinterested in your success and
are proud of you that youwouldn't even know.
But um it goes way farther thanwhat you think.

SPEAKER_04 (53:43):
Well, it's it's it's almost it's it's also going in
reverse because there's not anSRY because I know who Jade
McDuffie is.
There's not one.
They all know who he is.
And they all want to be you.
So it's all going, it's allgoing in both directions.
Up, I mean, forward and alsokind of backwards.

SPEAKER_03 (53:57):
They all want to be you, they're watching you.
So, you know, and when you'rewhen you're Jade McDuffie, not
only the little kids watchingyou, the older people are
watching you also.
Everybody's watches right,everybody's watching what you do
to see how you conduct yourself,how you carry yourself, and
everything else.
So that's really, reallyimportant that you it's a

(54:21):
burden, but it's a privilegetoo, because not everybody gets
that thrust upon them.

SPEAKER_04 (54:26):
He's been a tremendous steward of the
program of Southern Athletics.
You know, it's it's beenremarkable to watch him grow up.
And he's there's more growthavailable ahead, but you know,
he's done a really, really,really good job.

SPEAKER_05 (54:39):
Let's try to get more than four catches for 103.
That's my challenge.
As long as you win, man.
Oh, that's all you gotta do iswin.
Keep winning.
Keep winning.
We over me, right?
Exactly.
That's right.
That's right.
Hey, every time I do this, I getmore and more impressed with the
South River football program.
Keep doing what you guys aredoing.
This is fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 (54:57):
Well, we're very and and and Jaden even said it, and
you know, our our circle at theend of practice in games is
really powerful, I think, andit's getting it's getting
better.
And, you know, the thing aboutbeing being blessed about being
fortunate to be here, I I Ithank it every day that I'm part
of that I'm a small part ofthis, and it goes to what Coach
Saple says, it goes to whatJaden does and the his

(55:17):
teammates.
It's it's a really it's a veryremarkable program.
People don't really talk aboutmuch in the state, but they are.
They are they that the rightpeople say the right things
about what we're doing, and it'snot, it's it's it's so big.
Yeah, right.
It's so it's it's really I'mvery proud of it.

SPEAKER_03 (55:33):
All right, Seahawks get out there.
So there'll be a good there'llbe a good contingent of old
heads, OGs, whatever you want tocall them tomorrow night, yep,
standing on the sidelinewatching these guys play.
You got you got time for onemore thing?
I got time.
All right, so last last umcouple months ago at the South
River Football Golf Tournament,we were talking about
fundraising ideas.

(55:53):
Yeah.
I'm just putting this out to theSeahawk Nation.
This is good.
And one of the things I thoughtof was um when I was younger,
buying a letterman jacket um wassort of out of reach for my
family, but earning that letter,not everybody got one.
You had to play uh a specificamount of quarters.
And back when I played as asophomore, you had to have 20

(56:14):
quarters.
I had 19.
So I didn't get bumped up, Iwasn't graded on a curve, you
don't get it.
Yeah, I get it.
You gotta wait till next year.
So with that letterman jacketwhen I first got it, man, I
couldn't wait to get that patchsewn on there and uh start
wearing that thing around.

SPEAKER_04 (56:29):
Well, don't also forget that when we started
giving letters out when youcoached together, you get upset
at me for giving out letters toguys.
But I said, wait a minute.
Where I'm from, you start andfinish the season in good
standing, you've letter.
You know, guys that are that arewe call we call our scout team
the wombats.
If you're a wombat all week,you're a wombat every every
every week, you still deserve.
You've done your job.

(56:49):
And we've got some guys in ourprogram that that bust their
butt every day and don't play alot in games, they still deserve
to letter.

SPEAKER_03 (56:55):
I get it.
I my stance on that has softenedmaybe over the years, but um my
point to all that is talkingabout fundraising ideas, um we
hatched an idea at the golftournament.
Maybe we buy our alumni group,not just football, but other
sports also.
Because a lot of women who werein school at the time I was

(57:17):
there, you know, softballplayers, volleyball players,
basketball players are like, canwe do this for our sports too?
I'm like, heck yeah, you can.
So one of my thoughts was thatfor$100, um, we can buy a
deserving player, male orfemale, their first letterman
chick.
So that takes that burden offtheir family, and we can present

(57:37):
it to them at their respectiveaward banquet or whatever.
And uh it's met with pretty goodum response.
We've got some reallyoverwhelming responses, people
want to do it.

SPEAKER_04 (57:48):
When and Coach B does a really good job.
He's usually he comes to all ourall of our end-of-season
banquets, and shout out to ourto our our uh our varsity
parents, or our JV parents too,but our varsity parents are Miss
McGrath, Miss Simpson, uh, MissKeith, you know, they're really
into this stuff.
So, but um Coach Sable does areally good job of talking about
what it means to get a letter.

(58:08):
Yeah, and he that's usually hisdeal to talk for five, ten,
maybe fifteen minutes about whatit is, what what a letter means.
And then these kids, when it'sall over, they look like a bunch
of fish.
They're they got the fish eyeslike wow, I'm it yeah, it's it's
gonna happen right now.
Yeah, you've you've earned it.

SPEAKER_03 (58:23):
So it's uh it's a special process.
And people don't want to wearLetterman jacket because they
don't think it's cool now orwhatever.
Hey man, if you've earnedsomething, like um the wrestler,
what um Shipley.
He wears his.
He wears his Letterman jacketwith all his with all his
wrestling patches on it andeverything else, you know why?
Because he's earned it.
He's nobody give nobody gave himthat.

(58:45):
He earned it, and he should wearit.

SPEAKER_04 (58:46):
Shipley's on the way, I think, to lettering like
12 times or something, becausehe's got four, he'll have four
at four in and uh wrestling, twoin lacrosse, two, two in
football.

SPEAKER_02 (58:58):
Shout out, Trent.
Yeah, it's it's huge.

SPEAKER_04 (59:00):
He's he will be a very well, he'll be one of the
ones that we want to talk in abit you know, 20 years or
whatever.
He'll be bad then, you know, asbeing a Southover Letterman.
He's an he's an epitome of that.
It's huge.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (59:12):
And be proud of it.
He is proud of it.
He earned it.
He earned it.
You no amount of money can buythat.
So it would be our pleasure asan alumni group to get these
kids started with their firstcheck.
Yeah.
And with the hope that, youknow, when they get on their
feet 10 years from now andthey're married and have kids
and all that stuff, that theycan do it too.
They can play it forward.

SPEAKER_04 (59:30):
Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_05 (59:32):
All right, we'll stay tuned for more on that.
Yes, sir.
All right.
This is Hawk Talk.
I'm Tom Frank.
I'm Grayson, and I'm Gene.
I'm Coach Hirschlyman.
How are you?
I'm Mitch of Please.
And that's our show.
And we'll leave you with a cheerfrom our cheer team.
Go see yawning.