Top Sidekicks
June 23, 2009 04:50 PM | General
(4:52 pm)
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The world learned today the sad news that Ed McMahon has died at the age of 86. Billed as the top banana among second bananas, McMahon became a household name for more than 30 years as announcer and sidekick to Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show.
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| Quincy Wilson was a great sidekick to Avon Cobourne in 2002, rushing for 901 yards and scoring six touchdowns that season.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
When McMahon wasn’t showing up unannounced at somebody’s door presenting them with a check from Publisher’s Clearinghouse, he was having a deep laugh at one of Johnny’s jokes. Later, he even performed a rap for the web site FreeCreditReport.com.
America loved Ed McMahon because he was built perfectly for the wings.
So in honor of his memory, here is my list of some of Mountaineer football’s best sidekicks of the last 50 years:
Pat White (2006) – It’s hard to believe Pat White could ever be called a sidekick but that’s exactly what he was in 2006 when running back Steve Slaton was having his monster 1,744-yard, 16-touchdown rushing season. White was just as effective running for 1,219 yards and scoring 18 TDs. In 2007, the roles were reversed with White taking on more of a prominent role with Slaton hampered by nagging injuries.
Sam Huff (1955) – Again, it’s hard to call a Pro Football Hall of Famer a sidekick, but Huff had second billing to consensus All-American Bruce Bosley in 1955. Many years later, Huff once asked Penn State coach Joe Paterno at a banquet if he would be kind enough to do an interview with him for Mutual Radio. Paterno looked up at Huff with his black horn-rimmed glasses and said, “Number 77.” Huff corrected Paterno, telling him that he wore Number 70 in the pros, not 77. “Not at West Virginia you didn’t,” Paterno replied. “I remember watching us trying to block 77 on film – and we couldn’t.” Talk about validation.
Shawn Foreman (1998) – While David Saunders was racking up a school-record 77 catches in 1998, Shawn Foreman was putting together a 63-catch, 948-yard, eight-touchdown season that same year. Foreman had Texas-sized hands, and whenever he got his big paws on the football he never let go.
Dennis Fowlkes (1982) – When Dennis Fowlkes and Darryl Talley were playing together at WVU Fowlkes was known as “Mr. Inside” and Talley “Mr. Outside”. Talley got most of the pub in 1982 as the school’s first consensus All-American in 27 years, but it was Fowlkes who did a lot of the dirty work in the middle making a team-high 140 tackles. Fowlkes wasn’t the biggest or fastest linebacker around, but when you ran into Fowlkes you were the one moving – not him.
Dick Leftridge (1965) – When he was focused and motivated there was not a more dominant player to ever put on a West Virginia football jersey than Dick Leftridge. In 1965, Garrett Ford was the team’s top rusher with 894 yards and six TDs with Leftridge right on Ford’s heels with 774 yards and eight scores. Charleston sportswriter Shorty Hardman used to get on Leftridge for his weight and once during a game Shorty was making a comment about how far Leftridge’s stomach was sticking out beyond his belt. It was no sooner when Hardman finished his critique of Leftridge’s physique that Dick ripped off a long touchdown, out-running the entire defense. Oh, what could have been.
Jim Braxton (1969) – Bob Gresham became the school’s second 1,000-yard rusher in 1969 when Jim Carlen made Bobby Bowden change the offense to focus more on the running game. Also in Carlen’s T backfield was Jim Braxton, whose 843 yards and 12 touchdowns kept defenses from focusing on Gresham. A year later in 1970 when he was head coach, Bowden chose to get all of West Virginia’s talented backs on the field at the same time by moving Braxton to tight end. Later, the pros thought it better that Braxton move back to fullback.
Quincy Wilson (2002) – Rich Rodriguez had plans of bringing a Houston style Run-and-Shoot offense to West Virginia in 2001. But he changed his mind when he took a good look at what he had to work with in the backfield. What Rodriguez discovered was that he had two thoroughbreds in Avon Cobourne (1,710 yards and 17 touchdowns) and Quincy Wilson (901 yards and six touchdowns). So instead of having Wilson play as Cobourne’s backup, Rodriguez decided having two tailbacks in the game at the same time was much tougher to deal with than having one. He was right. Wilson got his turn in the spotlight in 2003.
Ken Herock (1962) – There was no better end combination in WVU history than Ken Herock and Gene Heeter. Herock later earned fame in the NFL playing with the Oakland Raiders, but in ‘62 he played second fiddle to Heeter’s team-high 19 catches for 284 yards and four touchdowns. Heeter also played in the pros with the New York Jets.
Marshall Mills (1972) – While Danny Buggs was scoring touchdowns every fifth time he touched the football, Marshall Mills was quietly going about his business as the team’s second wide receiver. The late Mills caught 39 passes for 659 yards and three touchdowns in ’72 with Bernie Galiffa under center. After Galiffa graduated both Buggs’ and Mills’ numbers declined in ’73 and ’74 because of inconsistent quarterback play.
Undra Johnson (1988) – Tony Caridi likes to remind Undra Johnson about the fumble he once had at Maryland in 1987 when the football just sat along the sideline without going out of bounds. He also likes to kid Undra about the time he ran for more than 200 yards in a game against Temple as a freshman in 1985 and then inexplicably spent the next game on the bench watching from the sidelines. Of course Johnson performed well from the wings, especially in 1988 as A.B. Brown’s backup. That year he ran for 709 yards and scored 11 touchdowns to help West Virginia to its first undefeated, untied regular season in school history.
Other Sidekicks of Note: Pete Wood (1971); Khori Ivy (2000); Zach Abraham (1994), Darren Studstill (1993); Michael Baker (1993).
Do us a favor and send in your top sidekicks, and we’ll post some of your picks on our Campus Connection page at the bottom.
Tuesday Tidbits:
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| Da'Sean Butler drives to the basket during a workout last week at the USA Basketball training complex in Colorado Springs, Colo.
USA Basketball photo |
“I thought I did OK, but I didn’t think I played that well,” said Butler. “I just kept a positive mental note in my head that the coaches will take care of everything, and I played as hard as I could when I was on the court.
“Honestly, I don’t know what role coach wants me really to have,” Butler added. “I just know that when I’m on the court, I’m going to play as hard as I can and do whatever I can for the team to win. That includes playing defense and rebounding, whatever the case is, I will do it.”
USA Basketball coach Bo Ryan said the selection process came down to finding the 12 most complete basketball players.
“I don't want to take anything away from the guys who didn't make it, but the 12 who are on the final list are the ones that if you look at the overall picture - offense, defense, rebounding, things like that - this was the 12 that stood out,” he said. “I thought the selection committee did a very good job of evaluating.”
"The application of the rule was that nine players played both ways and the quarterback and another player were normally substituted for," he wrote. "The reason I knew the substitution rules well is that I was one of the two subs, as I played almost exclusively on defense."
My thanks to John for sharing that.
Here are this year’s WVU weight room warriors:
Football: Noel Devine, Nate Sowers, Reed Williams, J.T. Thomas and Chris Neild
Baseball: Andrew Scherer and Billy Gross
Men’s Basketball: Joe Mazzulla
Women’s Basketball: Madina Ali
Gymnastics: Emily Kerwin and Ashley Wilson
Rifle: Kyle Smith
Rowing: Caroline Rettig
Men’s Soccer: Ruben Garrido
Women’s Soccer: Carolyn Blank and Heather Saffel
Men’s Swimming: Jeff Byrd
Women’s Swimming: Stephanie Shupe
Women’s Tennis: Veronica Cardenas
Women’s Track: April Rotilio
Volleyball: Kristina Gallahan and Tamara DeAngelis
Wrestling: David Jauregui and Lance Bryson
The gist of it was that the Hurricanes were spending too much time browsing recruiting web sites instead of watching video tape and evaluating the players themselves. The article blames Miami’s 19-19 record over the last three seasons, in part, because of the Hurricanes’ reliance on recruiting gurus.
“I used to go in the coaches’ offices, and sometimes they would literally have Rivals.com up on their screen,” said CaneSports.com writer Matt Shodell. “They would be writing names down on pieces of paper.”
For as long as I can remember, West Virginia football coaches paid little attention to recruiting services and star rankings. Former coach Don Nehlen once told me that any time he got a recruiting report in the mail he usually placed it in file number nine (garbage can). The most important player evaluation was his player evaluation.
I also recall Nehlen telling the story about how Lou Holtz used to get frustrated at Notre Dame because the fat-cat alums wanted him to recruit marginal players that had made those All-America lists.
Do coaches sometimes miss on prospects? Of course, but which opinion do you trust the most: someone who ranks recruits on a part-time basis, or a football coach who studies high school football players year-round for a living?
Have a great week!
