X Days until 2017 Leatherneck Football

[ST_Lawson]

Yes, Rich, Rob, Tony, Stew, Kurt, Joe, and Kristy Dakin are all Brodie Westen's kids.

Great, thanks for the confirmation. I figured there had to be a connection somewhere. It's one of those names that you hear a lot in the Macomb area. Tony just took over as the head football coach at Macomb High: http://macombnewsnow.com/local-sports/297327

[ST_Lawson]

Nobody currently wears #78, but here's who has in the past:

Don Anderson.........................1947-49
Mike Reynolds........................1950-53
Jerry Blew...............................1959-62
Thomas Johnson......................... 1969
Mark Kaczmarek....................1970-72
Tom Sternquist.......................1975-77
Alex Tsakiris............................1979-80
Ken Orfe.................................1988-89
Rob Lazeo.........................1992-93,95
Quartez Moore.......................2003-05
Zack Todd...............................2007-08
Jamal Keaton........................ 2011, 13

Jerry Blew is an Athletics HOF Class of 1995 inductee. From his HOF bio: Jerry was a four-year letterwinner on the Leatherneck football team as a two-way starter (offensive guard/linebacker) from 1959 to 1962. He earned All-IIAC linebacker honors and was named to the Little All-American Academic Team. He also earned the IIAC Gold Medal for the highest grades of any athlete in the conference.

Mark Kaczmarek is an Athletics HOF Class of 2015 inductee. A four-year member of Leatherneck Football as an offensive lineman, "Kaz" helped Western to a 32-9 record during his career under WIU and College Football Hall of Fame coach Darrell Mudra. Kaczmarek joins 16 of his teammates and coaches (during his four-year career) in getting inducted to the Athletic Department Hall of Fame. Kaczmarek was a 1972 All-American selection and he signed a contract with the World Football League two years later. During his freshman year in 1969, the Leathernecks went undefeated and won the final IIAC Conference title.

Alex Tsakiris was an All-Gateway Conference Offensive Lineman in 1980.

[sealhall74]

It is Throwback Thursday, so ...

On some day way back in 1977, the Leathernecks hired a young guy by the name of Fred Graves as assistant coach in charge of tight ends and wide receivers. Graves stayed a couple of years in Macomb and moved up the college and NFL ranks. His most recent stop (2016) was with the Chargers. Not sure if he remains with them for the upcoming season. He is known for having his players catch bricks to improve their hands. Maybe, just maybe, Fred found his stash of bricks just down the road a bit in Colchester? It closed up in 1969 but there were no doubt a few dusty bricks laying around somewhere. Or maybe he used some Macomb Pottery rejects as "hand pots". If a kid drops the pot and it cracks, he runs some suicides. Hey, isn't this what all coaches do?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Graves

http://khqa.com/news/local/historic-col ... ry-to-tell

Update: The Macomb Pottery closed up in 1956 so the "hand pot" idea is not looking too likely.

http://web.extension.illinois.edu/build ... oryID=9707

[ST_Lawson]

It is Throwback Thursday, so ...

On some day way back in 1977, the Leathernecks hired a young guy by the name of Fred Graves as assistant coach in charge of tight ends and wide receivers. Graves stayed a couple of years in Macomb and moved up the college and NFL ranks. His most recent stop (2016) was with the Chargers. Not sure if he remains with them for the upcoming season. He is known for having his players catch bricks to improve their hands. Maybe, just maybe, Fred found his stash of bricks just down the road a bit in Colchester? It closed up in 1969 but there were no doubt a few dusty bricks laying around somewhere. Or maybe he used some Macomb Pottery rejects as "hand pots". If a kid drops the pot and it cracks, he runs some suicides. Hey, isn't this what all coaches do?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Graves

http://khqa.com/news/local/historic-col ... ry-to-tell

Update: The Macomb Pottery closed up in 1956 so the "hand pot" idea is not looking too likely.

http://web.extension.illinois.edu/build ... oryID=9707

Or maybe some Haeger Pottery pieces? They were around until around '04.

[ST_Lawson]

#77 for the Leathernecks is James Torgerson



A Senior offensive lineman from Springfield, IL, James has played in 35 games so far in his Leatherneck career. He was the MVFC Offensive Lineman of the Week during the week of 10/17 last season, and was second-team academic all-conference. James is an Economics major.



Other Leathernecks who have worn #77 include:
Ray Pearson..........................1950-53
George Brown .......................1957-58
Tom Sola................................1967-68
Dennis Heiman......................1969-70
Mark Stevenson.......................... 1978
Alex Ulrich .............................1982-83
Brian Rebac...........................1986-90
Bob Mehoriczyk.....................1991-95
Don Terry .................................... 2000
Clint Harrison.............................. 2001
Jason Baksas ........................2002-03
Rino Sangro................................ 2004
Zack Todd................................... 2006
Shawn Bernaky .......................... 2008
Brent Turner........................... 2010-11

Ray Pearson is a 1985 inductee into the Leatherneck Athletics HOF. He played for the Leathernecks from '51-'54 on both sides of the ball and for a while, held many of our career receiving records.

Mark Stevenson was a 1978 All-Conference O-Lineman who played in two games for the Detroit Lions in 1985.

[ST_Lawson]

This one might look a little different...had a rather hectic day and I'm posting this from my phone while I'm on the train.

#76 is Drew Wagner (http://goleathernecks.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=16345).
He's a junior offensive lineman from Tiffin, Iowa.


Drew played in 10 games as a true freshman in '15, then started in the first 9 games last season.

Other Leathernecks who have worn #76 include:
MFrancis McInerney..............1946-49
Don DeTaeye.........................1952-54
Dennis Fortune......................1963-64
Gary Calsyn................................ 1966
Steve Mills .............................1969-70
Alvin Foster............................1972-74
Bill Miller ................................1975-77
Kyle Peterson ........................1979-80
Todd Auer ..............................1984-86
Dave Fierke ...........................1987-91
Tom Viel.................................1992-94
Bob Dyment...........................1995-97
David Matagi............................... 1998
Pat Ryan................................2000-04
David Harper .............................. 2005
Demetrius Davidson ..............2006-08
Jimmy Holtschlag ..................2010-13

That might be a typo on the first name. That is how it's written in the media guide though.

I don't really have the ability to look up all the names to make note of any record holders or HOF inductees, so feel free to chime in with any recognition you are aware of or are able to Google. Otherwise...

Kyle Peterson - the name of my best friend in grade school. I doubt it's the same guy though since this Kyle played in '79-'80, and my friend would have been about 1-2 years old then.

Jimmy Holtschlag - one of three Holtschlag brothers from Quincy (QND, I believe) to play for the Leathernecks, Jimmy wore purple and gold from 2010 to 2013, winning a conference O-Lineman of the Week award in early October of 2011. He was an all-conference honorable mention in 2010 and 2011, then second team in 2013. Jimmy was also academic all-conference first team from 2011-2013 and is one of only 5 Leathernecks to have received that award three years straight. He was a NCAA postgraduate scholar (one of only 3 Leathernecks to do that), a CoSIDA academic second team all-American, aand was on the FCS ADA Academic All-star Team from '11-'13 (the only Leatherneck to have done that). In 2013, Jimmy started a string of three years in a row of a Holtschlag brother winning a MVFC President's Academic Excellence Award (Chip in 2014, Eddy in 2015).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ST_Lawson]

Back on the train again heading back down to Macomb.

No current #75 on the roster, but here's who has worn that jersey in the past:

Angie Marini...........................1948-50
Vic Lesch...............................1949-50
Bill Milton ...............................1955-57
Deke Pollard..........................1959-60
Bill Deetjen ................................. 1966
Philip Domagalski..................1969-71
John Stadnik..........................1979-82
Shannon Berry.......................1985-86
Guy Danhoff ............................... 1988
Don Koscevic.........................1989-91
Adam Love ............................1992-95
Jason Grott............................1996-97
Bill Sagely..............................1998-99
Jordan Whitehead ...................... 2001
Reshad Jones........................2005-08
Joe Pyszka ............................2014-15

I'm afraid I don't really know any of the names off the top of my head, so feel free to comment if you've got memories of them in people and gold, or have any stories about any of these men.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ST_Lawson]

74 Days....and #74 is Offensive Lineman Max Gober

Max is listed as a sophomore (http://goleathernecks.com/roster.aspx?r ... h=football) although wouldn't he just be a redshirt freshman? As far as I know he didn't play last year, and this is his second year on the roster. Anyway, Gober looks to get his first on-field action as a Leatherneck this season. Max is from Fitchberg, WI and went to Madison West HS.

Other #74's we've had include:
Maurie Ross...........................1949-52
Augie DiCenso.......................1956-57
Jerry Auchstetter....................1957-58
Dan Barrett.............................1958-61
Richard Holegraefe................1962-64
Dick Strittmatter......................1970-71
Bill O’Boyle.............................1982-83
Mark Tigges................................. 1985
Russ Bal.................................1986-87
Jim Hansen............................1988-92
Gil Plasencia............................... 1994
Derek Martinzez.......................... 2003
Darius Powell.............................. 2005
Shawn Bernaky......................2006-07
Daniel Speight............................. 2008
Jake Riley.................................... 2010
Nicholas Kaltmayer..................... 2015

Jerry Auchstetter was a 1986 inductee into the Leatherneck Athletics HOF

Bill O'Boyle was a two-year starter for the Leathernecks before embarking on a career in coaching. Starting as an assistant at Chadron State before coming back to Western to be the O-Line and Strength coach from '90-'94. He then went back to Chadron State, eventually working up to the head coaching position. He was at Colorado Mesa for a year, and then on to Southern Illinois where he worked his way up to Assistant Head Coach in 2015. In 2016 he was hired as the O-Line Coach and Run Game Coordinator at South Dakota under former Western HC Bill Nielson and still currently holds that position.

Mark Tigges was a 1984 second-team all-conference offensive lineman and would go on to play in 3 games for the Cincinnati Bengals in 1987.

Jim Hansen was a first-team all-conference offensive lineman in 1992.

Gil Plasencia was an all-conference honorable mention at offensive line in 1994 and second team in '95. He was also conference O-Line player of the week once each of those two years.

[leatherface]

Going back to #75. Deke Pollard coached at Pittsfield High School, and I believe had the national record of 65 straight victories with out a defeat. I need to look it up, but, he was very successful and nationally recognized at the time. Taught English, and was just as demanding in the classroom from what I have been told. Denny Heiman, either 75 or 76, later coached at Pittsfield. I believe even replaced Deke. Wasn't as successful.

[leatherneckcountry]

Looks like he also coached in the Nfl some he was an assistant with the rams not sure were else.