"For the Record"
Written for The Spring Street Journal.
by Burton Andrews
©2007 Burton Andrews
Memorial High School’s Roughrider football program has a rich legacy of runningbacks who have gained a thousand yards for a season. Since 1965 when Floyd Keith and Tim Fortney were recorded as the first RB’s to achieve this milestone, there have been at least another 30 or so who have followed in their wake.
The emphasis by St. Marys on the running game can be credited for producing so many 1000-yard rushers, but it is not that simple. Multitudes of dedicated linemen executing blocking over the years since 1965, and team play made it possible for these successes to happen.
There are now ten Rider RB’s who are members of the career - 3000-yards rushing club. The most recent member is 2007’s Koby Frye, who unofficially has 3443 career yards rushing with five games left in 2007’s regular season. He stands in 2nd place to Mike Hirschfeld 1994-1996 with 3799 yards.
In Frye’s march up the ladder of career rushers he has passed legendary runningbacks:
- Dana Etter 72-74, 3105 yds.
- Justin Nagel 02-04, 3112 yds.
- Scott Schlosser 86-88, 3162 yds.
- Ron Keith 75-79, 3163 yds.
- Jeff Cisco 78-79, 3296 yds.
- Shawn Lamb 91-93, 3313 yds.
- Bo Frye 03-05, 3358 yds.
- Mike Dzalamanow 68-70, 3358 yds.
Over the rest of the 2007 season "For the Record" will explore and retrace this rich tradition of great careers of carrying the football on the ol' ball yard by Rider running backs. We also hope to shed some greatly deserved light on the contributing linemen from the different eras who propelled their RB teammates into the legends they are.
Standing in the 10th spot of the list of 3000-yard club members is Dana Etter with 3105 career yards. He played on Roughrider teams 1972, 1973 and 1974. Etter finished his senior season at number two behind career leader Mike Dzalamanow who held the record then from 1970, and went on to hold down the number 1 spot until 1996.
The 1972 version of Rider football finished their season 10-0 and as the winningest team in Memorial High School history. They edged out the previous winningest team, 1971 who had been the first team to win 9 games in a season with a 9-1 mark. There were several other Rider teams who won 8 games, but none were unbeaten or untied until 1972’s perfect season.
Starting as a sophomore on the '72 squad, Etter played in a very talented backfield that included RB Craig Huwer, RB Dave Wright, and QB Joe Hurlburt. Gaining 1063 yds that season, Etter was also one of the rare 1st team All-WBL honorees that was just a sophomore when named.
'72 Rider running back Craig Huwer was not only a standout on offense but was also a standout on defense. He was perhaps the most honored Roughrider football player ever. A multiple-year/multiple honors WBL honoree, his senior 1972 additional post season honors were: named 1st team All-Western Buckeye League on offense and defense; All-WBL Offensive Back of the Year, and All-WBL Defensive Back of the Year; 1st Team All-State of Ohio Defense by Associated Press, and 2nd Team All-State of Ohio Offense by United Press International. Huwer just missed the 3000 yds. career mark with 2964 yds.
Dave Wright was named All-WBL 2nd team running back in '72. But to put his talent in perspective, he was a 4-year letterman at Toledo University, a college division I school.
If any offensive backs at Memorial kind of get a short rift on honors, it has to be the quarterbacks. With the emphasis on running the ball, Rider quarterbacks do not get the traditional stats that gain attention for post-season recognition. Joe Hurlburt is a classic example. Standing at 6-4 and in the over 200 lbs range, he was an outstanding passer with great targets to throw to like All-WBL tight end Dave Hausfeld, along with Etter and Huwer. And while for a Rider team there was a lot of passes thrown, it wasn’t the amount of statistics needed to propel him to proper recognition in the league.
The 1972 offensive line in front of Etter and company contributed by blocking well enough to win post-season honors. First-team All-WBL, guard Dan Cable, and center Tom Wells, along with Second-team All-WBL tackle Don Brewer, and guard Jeff Monroe blew open holes for yards to be gained.
The 1973 team also surrounded Dana Etter with a cast of supporting players that propelled him to 1174 yards rushing on the year.
Returning in '73 were all-leaguers Dave Hausfeld, Jeff Monroe, Dan Cable, and Don Brewer along with QB Joe Hurlburt. Sharing the spotlight with Etter, and Hausfeld was junior Carl Fortman. Hausfeld, Hurlburt and Fortman were destined to play at Toledo with Hausfeld and Fortman being freshman letterman.
Going into his senior year having gained a career 2237 yards in his sophomore and junior years, it appeared barring injury, that Dana Etter would have a chance to overtake Mike Dzalamanow’s 3358 career yds.
The 1974 season turned out to have many misfortunes with seven losses, four of them by a total of six points together, and another by one TD. Dana Etter suffered an injury to his foot, and played on a gimpy ankle all season. His backfield teammate Carl Fortman also was handicapped by a similar injury, and the only luck the Riders had seemed to be bad luck. Etter did gain 868 yards on the season which gave him a career total 3105 yards, placing him 10th on today’s all-time career list.
Back in the present, it will be fun and interesting if Koby Frye and team will propel him above Mike Hirschfeld’s 3799 career yards.
Look for another Roughrider legend this season when we report on Justin Nagel and his teammates' accomplishments that put him in the Rider 3000-yard Club.
Koby Frye, poised to become the Roughriders' all-time leading rusher, runs in the 2007 Wapak game as dad Doug Frye watches.
