ODU kicks off 9/5/09

By Steve Daniel

The torch was passed to a new generation of Old Dominion football players the evening of Sept. 5, and coach Bobby Wilder and his Monarchs ran with it, taking nearly 20,000 roaring fans along with them for the ride.

Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium was indeed a venue of history and spectacle, where the Monarchs brought Old Dominion football back to life after a 69-year absence. From the opening kickoff, an electrifying 45-yard return by ODU’s T.J. Cowart, to the crowd-pleasing music of the Monarch Marching Band at halftime, to the fireworks at the end of the game, students and alumni – many of whom had dreamed for years of watching their alma mater play football – happily saw those dreams come true.

Old Dominion’s football legacy was both felt and seen on a warm September night that ended under the light of a full moon. Standing at midfield, Johnny Brown, 90, who played in the very same stadium from 1937-39 for the Norfolk Division, ODU’s predecessor institution, handed the game ball to athletic director Jim Jarrett’s wife, Sugie, the daughter of legendary coach Tommy Scott, during the pregame ceremonies. Scott led the Braves from their humble beginnings in 1930 to their untimely demise 11 years later. Brown was joined on the field by five other players from the 1930s – Billy Baker, Joe Brichter, Louis “Hickey” Smith, Dick Scherberger and Rhea Walker, at 95, the oldest of the bunch.

Had a poll been taken among the thousands of excited tailgating fans who descended on and around the campus hours prior to kickoff, it probably would have revealed that the final outcome of the game wouldn’t have mattered much. But the fact that ODU beat Chowan University 36-21 in the Monarchs’ inaugural contest was icing on the Big Blue cake – and a fitting end to a game nearly seven decades in the making. Cheering on the team from his seat in section 103, Gus Vassos, of Norfolk, class of 1970, commented: “I’ve been waiting for this a long time. This was a first-class operation all the way around. I’m proud of ODU. The school really came of age today.”