back row – Paul O’Leary (90), Jody LeClaire (’89), Blaine Meek (’89), Carig Holub (’89), Paul Wilson (’90), and Darren Payne (’89).
Ready to Rally! Rally 2011 really started last September when 10 former Acadia football players from the mid- to late-eighties went to Fayetteville, Arkansas as part of an event they dubbed ARK2010. Paul Wilson (’90) lives in Arkansas with his wife Jeannie (a native Arkansan) and two children. He is a football coach and teacher at Rogers Heritage High School. The 10 former players visited Wilson for the weekend and attended his Friday Night Lights Rogers Heritage High School War Eagles game and then the University of Arkansas vs. University of Alabama game on the Saturday (with 75,000 other fans). It had been 25 years since these alumni members (classes of 1988 to 1990) showed up at Acadia as freshmen for football training camp in August 1985 and they had a great time in Arkansas. Mike Kingston, one of several football alumni organizing Rally 2011, says the group decided it would be fun to connect with Head Coach Jeff Cummins at that time too since some had never actually met him. After a hotly contested game of 3-on-3 football, they sat around Greg Bakeeff’s cell phone and put Cummins on speaker. Many questions were asked and answered, but a resounding issue, Kingston says, was funding. When the conversation with Cummins concluded, the group decided it was time to do something to help. They spent the rest of the weekend discussing how and then hit upon the idea of the Acadia Axemen Football Rally 2011. Bakeeff (’89) says they decided to meet this year at Homecoming and try to get as many former Acadia football players and friends of Acadia football from all eras to come back to rally support for the program. Kingston has set up a Facebook group comprised of about 130 people who have an association with Acadia football – friends, family and players. They have also come up with a campaign: 100@1K.
It’s a broad-based initiative that encourages participation at all levels. “We felt it was important to get a message out to those that want to be part of Rally 2011 that it is the ‘collective number’ or a ‘strength in numbers’ approach that we need to take. It’s not the amount of money donated, but the importance of participation.”
ATHLETICS
For more, contact Smith at dasmith@firstenergy.com/ or +44(0) 7535 089 163, or Andrew Trites at andrewtrites@hotmail.com .
However, putting an actual number forward as a target was challenging. Kingston says, “I felt that if we could rally 100 alumni to give $1,000 then we would have a decent start on our efforts. It seems possible and if people can afford to give more, fantastic. The idea is, ‘give what you can.’” The critical element is involvement. A good way to get started is to contact Kingston at: mkingston@rlfoothills. com; on his Twitter account, @AcadiaKinger75; or join the Facebook group, Acadia Axemen Football Rally 2011.
Acknowledge contributions The initiative for a Coach Vespaziani reunion started with Andy Currie (’76), a former player, assistant coach and member of the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame, and Dan Palov, also an Acadia Sports Hall of Famer and an offensive coordinator under Vespaziani. Former player George Crookshank (‘73) got involved to help organize the event. The purpose, he says, “is to recognize the contributions of Coach Ves both on and off the field during his time at Acadia, and for former teammates to connect.”
Coach Bob Vespaziani (Photo: courtesy Queen’s Athletics and Recreation)
Crookshank notes that Vespaziani took a football program that had previously had only one winning season in its history to national prominence, culminating in successive College Bowl appearances in 1976 and 1977. Although denied on those occasions by the University of Western Ontario, the Axemen returned to Varsity Stadium in 1979 and prevailed at last, posting a 34-12 victory over the Mustangs to win the national title. For more information on the reunion, contact: George Crookshank: g.crookshank@shaw.ca; Bob Smye: BSmye@McKellar.com; or George Hallett: g.hallett@ns.sympatico.ca Players from all eras and generations are invited to participate in these and other Homecoming events, with the ultimate goal to promote Acadia football, celebrate the university’s strong tradition of athletic excellence and encourage alumni to get involved in a meaningful and tangible way to support the Axemen.
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