Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 20, 1995 TAG: 9510200016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FERRUM LENGTH: Long
Why would anyone want to play football at Ferrum?
It's way off the beaten path, hidden deep in the Blue Ridge mountains. The Panthers don't play in a conference, so there are no league championships to be won. You aren't going to make an all-conference team. You can hope to be an All-America, but independent schools have a tough time placing players on those teams.
``What they're playing for,'' second-year Ferrum coach Dave Davis said, ``is themselves.''
The Panthers (5-2) have won their past four games after losing two of their first three. The two losses came against Rowan (N.J.) and Cortland State (N.Y.), the No.2 and No.4-ranked teams in the NCAA Division III East region. A week after losing to Cortland, the Panthers beat a Division I-AA team, Charleston Southern, 15-6 on the road.
If Ferrum keeps winning, including Saturday's game against Methodist at 1:30 p.m. at Adams Stadium, it will end up with an 8-2 record. But because of the Panthers' independent status, they will probably be sitting at home during the playoffs.
``Rarely are you going to be in with one loss, and never two,'' Davis said.
So what are the players playing for? What reward do they get for their trouble?
For some, being a football player at Ferrum is a reward in itself.
Not many other Division III schools provide the chance to play a I-AA opponent. And probably not many Division III schools sit by a road named after its coaching legend. Ferrum, a school of 1,100 students spread in a grassy hollow west of Rocky Mount, can only be reached by traveling State Route 40, a.k.a. the W. Hank Norton Highway.
``We've heard about the tradition,'' said senior linebacker Kareem Woods. ``That really inspires us to keep doing it and not quitting.''
Josh Whitley didn't want to quit football after his freshman year at Tennessee Wesleyan, even though his team hadn't won a game. The Bulldogs started nine freshmen on offense, including their quarterback, Whitley. But after that season, the school ran into financial trouble and dropped football. There was a chance he wouldn't play again.
However, Whitley transferred to Ferrum after Panthers assistant coach Kirk Thor visited him at Wesleyan. He played as Millard Vining's backup last season, although both were able to split time with the first team offense. And when Vining injured his leg against Newport News Apprentice this season, Whitley filled in impressively.
Whitley, who will resume his role as the backup once Vining is healthy, thinks some of his success should be attributed to the program.
``I made the right decision [coming to Ferrum],'' Whitley said. ``I knew that the first day I was here. There's some self-pride in playing at Ferrum.
``I had never seen it before, but it's always been this way.''
Another former backup quarterback agrees with Whitley. John Poindexter played quarterback all his life, but he also entered school the same year as Vining.
``I was looking at it as a freshman backing up a freshman,'' Poindexter said of his first days at the school. ``I knew if I didn't get any better, I'd be a backup for four years.''
After his sophomore year, Poindexter moved to wide receiver and became the Panthers' big-play threat. In his second year at the position, the senior from Forest has continued to improve and impress. Last week against Chowan, he set Ferrum's single-game record for receptions with 12, a record previously held by teammate Mike Souma.
At another school, Poindexter might not have had a chance to do something like that. But as Davis said, ``he's too valuable to be just a backup.''
``I wanted to play, and [Davis] found a spot for me,'' Poindexter said.
Giving people chances is the tradition at Ferrum. It began in the Norton era and continues today. In 1977, Norton told Betty Cuniberti of the Washington Post, ``We take the too-smalls and too-slows. Out there in the world somewhere there are 22 kids saying, `Let me play. Give me a chance.'''
In 1994, one of those was Souma, then a senior at William Fleming High School. Souma had hands like a baseball catcher's glove and a body like a baseball catcher. Although he had a good high school career, Souma wasn't at the top of the most-wanted list. But Ferrum's coaches visited Fleming, and Souma signed up.
``I wasn't quick, and I wasn't big, but I thought I had the tools,'' says Souma, now a sophomore with the Panthers. ``Ferrum gave me the chance to extend my football career. I'm thrilled to be here.''
Even out in the sticks?
``I fell in love with the country atmosphere,'' he said. ``I didn't want to go anywhere else.''
As a freshman, the kid that wasn't big or quick led Ferrum in receiving. This year, he and Poindexter are driving opponents to madness.
The Panthers' players are just happy to be playing. If they win the rest of their games, there is a slim chance they could make the playoffs. But that's not the reason they are Panthers.
``Rewards aren't always tangible,'' Davis said.
Nor is the lure of the Panthers. But no doubt it is there.
``There's the aura of Hank Norton around here,'' Woods said. ``When I went to other schools, none of the coaches had that aura. I think Coach Davis has taken over the aura.''
by CNB