Football

By Pete Barkelew I first saw and heard of Frank Reich on a Saturday back in 1984. He was the backup quarterback for the Maryland Terrapins, coached by Bobby Ross (he replaced injured starter, Stan Gelbaugh). On November 10th, they were playing the University of Miami Hurricanes, with Bernie Kosar …

— Author unknown I read about a woman named Pam, who knows the pain of considering abortion. More than 24 years ago, she and her husband Bob were serving as missionaries to the Philippines and praying for a fifth child. Pam contracted amoebic dysentery, an infection of the intestine caused …

Published Sunday, May 30, 2010 LOWELL, Mass. - Roger Goodell sent 40 letters to the NFL office in New York City looking for a job in 1981. Forty rejections came back. But more letters to NFL headquarters followed, until one day a weary league executive invited him to "stop by when you're in the neighborhood." "I told him I was in the neighborhood," recalled Goodell, who then drove all night from Pittsburgh to New York City to apply for what was supposed to be a three-month internship. Twenty-five years later, Goodell was appointed to his dream job: commissioner of the National Football League.

This true sports story inspired by the 1971 Paul VI High School football team. _______________________________ Sometimes while sitting doing nothing in these retirement years, our minds wander, and at times, recall events from the past that make us all tingly inside. I had one of those moments yesterday. These moments …

Let’s go! Everyone on the bus!!! That was my command as I sat down behind the wheel of the 29 passenger school bus and proceeded to drive the Gloucester Catholic High School football team to a practice field about 5 miles from the school. Our camp before school began this …

Rudy Ruettiger of Notre Dame fame and the movie “Rudy” to speak at our School — Why would he visit us? Read the story below to find out! A trip to the University of Notre Dame became a annual event after the 2001 homeroom of 201 did it in grand …

It was the Christmas season, and everyone at school was in a sharing and giving mood. The school was running a clothing drive to benefit a school in South Africa. The project was organized by a longtime friend and fellow teacher. Each homeroom was asked to bring clothing from home …

While coaching at my first teaching job, we were fortunate to have gathered a group of excellent students who just happened to play football. It was the custom back in the late ’60s to take the football team to camp for the upcoming season. Well, we were settled in Stroudsburg, …

By Jack Bottinger, retired football coach and teacher of 38 years It was the change of class one winter day in 1996, and a group of school administrators were gathered in the hall having a chat. I was on my way to the copying room and heard Dennis Foreman, the …

A TRUE Story... and one of the best Christmas stories you'll ever hear. 
It's an amazing story of a wealthy Philadelphia couple which organized a train composed of privately-owned railroad cars to carry wounded vets from Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital to the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

-- By Ronnie Polaneczky
For The Philadelphia Daily News,  published December 22, 2005