Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511200108
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
It's been said that the football rivalry between the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech is really a battle between refined gentlemen and simple, working-class Joes.
If that's true, the Hokie defense has the lunch box to prove it.
"It's an old, beat-up lunch pail, the kind a good blue-collar guy like a coal miner or construction worker is going to take to work," explained Bud Foster, co-defensive coordinator for Tech. "It kind of fits us."
The battered black box with an orange-and-maroon "VT" painted on the lid probably once held a thermos of hot coffee or a meatball sub. Now, about 35 of the most massive men on Virginia Tech's campus fight for the honor to carry it around.
The rusty hunk of metal holds the aspirations of the Tech defense - literally.
At the beginning of this season, Foster and co-coordinator Rod Sharpless passed out orange index cards so the players could write down personal and team goals. Those wish lists will stay tucked away in the box until the end of the season, when the team members can read their cards and ponder their accomplishments.
The players treat their blue-collar briefcase like an idol, insulted by the request for a look inside. ("Would you like me to read your diary?" Sharpless asked.)
Considering the apparent rarity of this genuine working-man's cuisine container, the team is thankful just to have it.
This summer, after the staff developed its dedicated, down-to-earth identity, Sharpless began his search for a lunch box from days gone by.
"I went to antique stores, I went to hardware stores: Nothing," he said.
Then, on a trip to New Jersey (the quintessential working-man's land), a widowed neighbor of his mother-in-law fulfilled his quest. Down in the basement sat the trusty pail of her late, coal-miner husband.
Now it goes everywhere with the team: to practice and team meetings, on the plane and in the bus. Each week, the most valuable defensive player from the previous game becomes honorary lunch pail guardian.
Senior defensive tackle J.C. Price has held the honor much of the season, Foster said, but the icon has made its way around the defense.
Today, senior defensive tackle Jim Baron will protect the tin. Baron was the top point getter in last week's win over Temple.
Before today's game, he said he'll carefully place the lunch box under Tech's bench on Wahoo turf to remind his team about perseverance, struggle and above all, winning.
"If things go bad or we have a hard time, we'll look at it," he said. "It reminds us to get it together and push harder."
Staff writer Randy King contributed information to this story.
by CNB