maly, too: Iowa's Reggie Roby Named Kicking Hall Of Famer

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Iowa's Reggie Roby Named Kicking Hall Of Famer

Prokicker.com and the Augusta Sports Council will induct three outstanding kickers and punters into the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame on Jan. 17..

The 2013 inductees include Fred Mitchell, Dr. Stephen O’Neal and Reggie Roby. They will be honored during the All-Area Football Banquet presented by the Augusta Sports Council and The Augusta Chronicle, on January 17, 2013 at 7:00 pm in Augusta, Georgia. Also honored during the banquet will be 2012 Ray Guy Award winner Ryan Allen of Louisiana Tech and members of The Augusta Chronicle’s 2012 All-Area Football Teams.

“These men epitomize what the American Football Kicking Hall of Fame is all about,” says Rick Sang, executive director of ProKicker.com. “Their contributions have impacted the game tremendously and with their induction, they will continue to do so for years to come.”

The American Football Kicking Hall of Fame was created in 2008 to recognize the individuals who excelled as kickers, to educate the public on the historic contributions of the kicking game, promote the advancement of kickers as strategic playmakers, and provide an arena to honor the players who put the “special” in special teams. The Hall of Fame features two categories – athletes and contributors. Contributors can be a coach or any other individual who has greatly contributed to the success of kicking in American football.

2013 American Football Kicking Hall of Fame Inductees

Fred Mitchell

A published author, Chicago Tribune sports columnist, philanthropist, inventor, and namesake of the Fred Mitchell Award are just a handful of accomplishments to describe the range of Fred Mitchell’s contribution to the world of writing and sports.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mitchell grew up in Gary, Indiana. While attending Tolleston High School he earned letters in baseball, track and football and graduated with honors at the age of 16. From there he attended Wittenberg University in Ohio where he became the nation’s top collegiate place-kicker. At Wittenberg University, Mitchell lettered in football and track and was named to the Lutheran College All-America team in 1968 after setting the NCAA College Division record for career kick scoring. He was inducted into Wittenberg’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995.

After college, Mitchell coached and taught English at Grove City High School and also played semi-pro football in Columbus and Chicago Heights. Mitchell joined the Chicago Tribune in 1974 as a beat writer covering the Cubs, Bulls and Bears, becoming the only reporter in Tribune history to handle the three major sports as a main assignment.

Named in his honor, “The Fred Mitchell Award” is an annual national award that is given to an outstanding kicker during the National Football Foundation ceremony. The award recognizes excellence on the football field, as well as community service.

Mitchell lives in Chicago with his wife, Kim, and son, Cameron.

Dr. Stephen O’Neal

In 1966 Stephen O’Neal accepted a track scholarship to Texas A&M, only to discover that he also had a talent for punting a football. During college he lettered in both football and track, and became a first-team All-American as a punter.

After college he was drafted by the 1969 New York Jets where he ended up making NFL history. During his second ever professional game, O’Neal lined up deep in his own end zone and made the longest possible punt in football, 98 yards, a record that still stands today. O’Neal played for the Jets for a total of four years and later played for New Orleans.

During his 6^th year in the NFL, his career ended due to a tore cartilage in his knee. Needing only ten weeks to graduate from dental school, O’Neal decided to continue his education and graduated from the University of Tennessee Dental School 1974.

Today, Dr. O’Neal is a fulltime dentist in Bryan, Texas and a lifelong Aggie. He and Judy, his wife of 37 years, have two daughters.

Reggie Roby

Reginald “Reggie” Roby (1961-2005) excelled in both football and baseball while growing up in Waterloo, Iowa. He played both sports while attending Waterloo East High School and was later drafted by the Cincinnati Reds as a pitcher but instead he chose to attend the University of Iowa and play football where he would later become an All-American punter. In 1981, Roby set a record for average punting distance with 49.8 yards, helping lead Iowa to its first winning season in 20 years, and a share of the Big Ten Championship.

After college, Roby was a sixth-round pick in 1983 by the Miami Dolphins, where he played until 1992. During the 1980’s he was selected as punter for the NFL’s All-Decade Team and attended 3 Pro Bowls. After playing for the Miami Dolphins, Roby continued his career with the Washington Redskins, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was with the Oilers for their final season in Houston and their first in Tennessee, and then wrapped up his career in 1999 in San Francisco.

Before his death in 2005, Roby was the marketing development director for Backfield in Motion, a non-profit organization that combines athletics and academics to inspire inner-city boys to reach their maximum potential and become significant contributors to society.

ProKicker.com

ProKicker.com is a premier kicking institution committed to providing athletes the best learning opportunities available. Their instructors provide the most comprehensive learning concepts that enable developing kickers to learn quickly, and maintain the sound training and biomechanical principles that will most effectively guide them in performance. Their "positive" teaching approach improves mental discipline, as well as physical skills. ProKicker.com’s visualization and goal-setting methods are designed to build confidence and self-esteem, not only in athletics, but also in everyday life.

Augusta Sports Council

The Augusta Sports Council is a non-profit organization dedicated to marketing the Augusta area as a destination for amateur sporting events. The ASC attracts, creates and supports dozens of sporting events and activities each year, generating a positive economic impact and enhancing the quality of life for residents of the greater Augusta community. To learn more, visit AugustaSportsCouncil.org.

[This story was sent to Ron Maly by Steve Roe, Iowa's sports information director].

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.