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Mount Union 52 Capital 13 by Dick Ross |
| MASTERS
OF TAXATION A PORTABLE UNIVERSITY  Capital University was founded on June 9, 1830, just down the road in Canton, Ohio as the "Theological Seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio." Founder Reverend Wilhelm Schmidt taught classes in German and only men were accepted for the next 88 years, until 25 women were admitted on a "trial basis" in 1918. While attempting to raise funds to continue the school, in 1832, Columbus outbid Canton by $500.00 for the privilege of hosting the school and the seminary was moved to South High Street where construction was started on a two-story building. This structure, 28 X 50 feet, the foundation size of an average suburban single family house these days, was to house the entire institution, classes, faculty and students, and took nine years to complete due to financial problems. In 1850 the Ohio legislature granted a
charter for a "school of letters" to be known as "Capital University."
The name was chosen to show identification with Ohio's capital city, and the new
university
In 1874 Capital relocated to its current site, of 50 acres on East Main Street beyond Alum Creek, just outside the Columbus city limits. The 1870's description of the then spacious Bexley campus "surrounded by cornfields," sounds more like present day Ada. Capital University is now an extremely tight fit, surrounded by some very pricey real estate, in a swanky suburban area. In 1959 the Lutheran Seminary, which forms the western border of Capital's campus, was formally separated from the university, with the formation of the new American Lutheran Church. In 1978 the Hamma Seminary at Wittenberg was closed and added to the Bexley school, now known as "Trinity." Capital grew to 1,000 students in the post
WW2 "boom"and added a nursing school in 1950. In 1966 Capital acquired the
Franklin University evening Law School, which was moved to the Bexley Campus and Capital's history refers to the 1970's as
"difficult" but years of "significant growth." A graduate school
of Business and Administration was established in 1972. One of their programs,
unique as far as I know, is a "Masters of Taxation" degree. With a current
enrollment, in all programs listed as 4,000, Capital now claims to be the "largest
Lutheran institution of higher education in North America." The crowd at the Campus Center buffet
seemed larger than usual, with a higher percentage of students. Many Alumni were
dinning with the M-Club honorees in the purple carpeted Alumni Room or with the President,
in the room with the big fireplace, where we used to "hootenanny." On some
days game tickets, especially under the roof, are hard to come by. Today, in spite
of the numbers at the pre-game, it seemed as if everyone had extras. Most of those
who came for the day seemed to prefer seats in the sunshine of the east side concrete
stands. Arriving on campus via Hartshorn, I was
amazed at the purple crowd tailgating near the stadium, until I got closer and found that
many of those wearing purple were actually from the Franklin County school, which shares
our colors. The last time I saw Capital's team they had their numbers on their
helmets, which must have kept their equipment managers very busy. This season is the
first for their new "Capital Center" complex which includes a stadium, gymnasium
and all the ancillary facilities. They are also sporting new Since the home team has choice of uniforms, Mount's players, who pick the combinations, decided not to share - picking solid purple. The Crusaders wore black trousers, (borrowed from Ohio Northern?) and white tops with the only purple left to them, in their numerals and on their helmets. For a different perspective I watched the team take the field from above the tunnel in the east side stands. A nice change of pace, as I got to see the players up close and the enthusiasm of the band and home crowd from "across the way." The game started slowly with both teams
totaling minus yards on its first two possessions. # 10 Sr. RB Chuck Moore of
Mogadore, took over with one of those runs where everyone except Chuck thinks that the
Capital's third crusade lasted three plays
and a punt. # 13 Soph. Mike Miller of Cuyahoga Falls brought the ball back into
Capital's end, then a "personal foul" on them put the ball on the opposing
32-yard line. After Chuck Moore converted a 4th and one, to keep the drive going, #
7 Jr. QB Rob Adamson of Akron/Manchester found # 9 Sr. WR Jason Candle of Salem/West
Branch in the Miller Hall corner to up the ante to 13 and extend the streak of games with
passing touchdowns. I was told that Rodney Chenos began the afternoon four
conversions shy of Bill Andrea's 1994-1997 career record. If my information was
correct, he would go on to establish a new record, with a couple to spare, before the day
was over.
Mount's next opportunity came two punts and
a failed fourth down later, when the Raiders set up on its own 41 and went 59 yards in the
air and on the ground to closing the half with an 11-yard toss to #6 Jr. WR Derrick Leach
of Summerfield (Noble County) Shenandoah and Rodney collected his fifth extra point of the
day.
Dan Buckle, booth announcer and president
of the varsity M-Club Hall of Fame introduced the honorees: Retirees Dean Terry Taylor and
Food Service Manager Lloyd Davidson became honorary members and Pete Gligor '62 got the
Award of Excellence. Inducted into the Hall of Fame were Mike Gillespie '77, Ed
Trizzino '84 and Rick Hairston and Troy Starr '85. Vera Byrd '83 became the first
female member of the Hall of Fame for her accomplishments on the track team. After a first half in which the purple gang
defense allowed the visitors only 32 yards in 30 plays, the Crusaders mounted its first
sustained drive of the day, marching 72 yards with the second half kick off. # 81
Sr. WR Dan Petersen of Springfield extended his school's career record for touchdown
receptions to
Mount Union responded with a 12-play,
69-yard drive which featured a nice 22-yard sideline pass to # 80 Sr. WR Jason Richards of
Columbia Station and a nine-yard touchdown run by Chuck Moore who was stopped short, but
extended the ball over the stripe for his third touchdown of the day. Later in the
period Monty's D-Men stopped another sustained drive at the Mount 16 and the offense came
out for a curtain call. Rob Adamson then demonstrated why some of us call him
"The Rifleman" with an 86-yard touchdown pass to Jason "Burner"
Candle. Adamson's throw must have covered 45 to 50 yards in the air from the spot
where it was thrown, inside the Mount 10, to the spot where the catch was made, in front
of the Capital bench near their 40-yard line.
The afternoon wasn't quite over as Capital
recovered a second teamers fumble and returned it 57 yards to the Raider eight scoring on
two plays, with a minute to go, but missing the kick.
In other Ohio news "Big O," the
Yeomen of Oberlin ended its four-year, 44-game losing streak by downing the Purple and
White Lords of Kenyon, while Wittenberg handled Wesleyan 39-14 in Springfield. The
win was Oberlin's first since a victory over Thiel in 1997. Immediately before that
win, Oberlin had The big D3 news of the week is that this
year's Stagg Bowl has been moved to an 8:00 p.m. start, on December 15th (for ESPN).
The people of the Roanoke-Salem area have been great, but if the game is to be at
night, I'd much prefer an indoor site or a warm weather destination. Dick Ross
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moved again to East
Town, between Fifth and Sixth Streets; moving again to North High Street in 1853.
is now operated in the German Village
section of Columbus. 
trip seemed to be in Alliance, accented by early
political signs along Fernwood, from Glamorgan to Hartshorn and on to the campus. 
helmet insignia which depicts a Crusaders Cruciate
shield with a small "c" in the center and crossed swords behind it.
Personally, I think the design is a bit "busy" and loses too much in the
reduction. If I had a vote, I'd suggest the block "C" design, with a
Middle Ages helmet in the center, that they use on their web site and on press releases,
one of which this week, billed this game as a battle for the conference championship.
play is over and, suddenly, he's in the clear 75 yards
down the near side and headed for the "Bleacher Creatures" in the south end
zone. # 1 Sr. Rodney Chenos of Hilliard/Davidson came on to take the homeside score
to seven.
Capital opened the second quarter with a gift, a 16-yard punt that was downed at
midfield. # 31 Jr. Dan Pugh of Norwalk/St. Paul started and ended the drive, going
north, on the ground. On this series and the next we got to watch a bit of Chuck
Moore running from the back side, as he slipped into the pile and kept moving like he was
cutting through the lunch line or a theater crowd, until the whole pile collapsed on
him. Often, as you know, he manages to slip past everyone. Chuck's second
touchdown of the day came on a 10-yard run after a 10-play, 66-yard drive to the flagpole
on the north end. 
The Mount Union band performed a program of patriotic music at the half which featured a
George M. Cohan medley and ended with the crowd joining in "God Bless
America." I wondered what the Civil War "Boys in Blue" might have
thought of the baton twirlers who performed with the "Battle Hymn of the
Republic."
20 with a 17-yard
reception over by the east side refreshment stand. Adam Marino '01 holds that record
at Mount Union with 40. Petersen entered the game needing 75 yards to be the third
person to cover 2,000 yards as a pass receiver at his school. He hit the required
number right on the nose, but remained third on the all time list.
Fourth quarter highlights included an adorable knee high little girl toddling around the
track in her purple cheerleader outfit and trying to match the movements of the big
girls. Our mascot MUCaw, the purple parrot, was handing out autographed photos to
the kids and coach Larry Kehres was explaining the game to the side judge as his team
marched south, subbing the starters one at a time and killing the clock as the crowd of
4,089 quietly dissolved into the distance. The drive stalled inside the two-yard
line; Rodney Chenos came on for an extra point length field goal.
Coming home, we filled up with 99-cent-per-gallon gas in Ravenna and passed the Rockside
Road exit leading to the site of John Carroll's home games this year. If Mom hadn't
been with me I might have been tempted to stop and take in their game against Ohio
Northern. Instead, I listened to the game on WJCU. The student announcers were
late for the game and by the time they got caught up their school was 21 points behind to
a very young and aggressive Northern team. The final score was 59-19 and, most
likely, ended any post season hopes for JCU. Adam Ryan and Wilmington recovered to
trounce da 'Berg in Tiffin and B-W beat up on Muskingum in New Concord.