Football
Checkmarks abound on Spiders’ to-do list
School record 11 wins? Check. Conference championship? Check. NCAA Division I-AA final four? Check.
The football team filled its 2007 season with one great accomplishment after another. Senior tailback Tim Hightower rewrote the UR rushing record books, but Richmond’s youth movement was perhaps the team’s biggest story.
Petillon plays in Sweden
Amber Petillon, ’06, knows how to adjust. She began her college basketball career at Rutgers, then transferred to Richmond for her final two seasons. Now she plays professionally in Sweden.
“The European game in general is a bit different,” she says. “The biggest difference for me was the physical play allowed here in Sweden. … I have adjusted and know now just how much I can bump someone in the paint.”
Last season, the 6-4 center made the Swedish all-star team after averaging 20 points and 11.5 rebounds a game for the Visby Ladies. This season, the New Jersey native plays for Stockholm, a Euro Cup team that competes internationally.
Petillon has made some adjustments off the court, as well. “I don’t have all the same luxuries I am used to having in the States, but on the flip side there are perks here in Sweden that aren’t in the States,” she says. “I do like all the mom-and-pop stores, but I’m not going to lie—sometimes I really want a venti white mocha with an extra shot.”
The UR graduate also misses her family, but she notes the Internet and Skype make it easier to stay in contact with her parents in New Jersey. She also has traveled to Denmark, France, Spain, Italy, Mallorca, and Portugal.
“Playing in Sweden, I miss warm weather, because I only get the cold winter months, but I’ve learned to bundle up,” she says. “The least thing I miss would be driving everywhere in the States. I enjoy walking around a lot more and using the good public transportation.”
Other former Spiders playing for women’s professional teams in Europe include Anna Grabias, a native of Poland who began this season with EKA AEL Limassol in Cyprus, and Mirna Mazic, who began the 2007–08 season with a team in her native Croatia.
The quarterback, Eric Ward, was a sophomore, and his favorite target, Kevin Grayson, was a freshman, as was electrifying kickoff return specialist Justin Rogers. The team’s top three tacklers were freshman Eric McBride and sophomores Collin McConaghy and Seth Williams.
Although the Spiders won 11 games, a midseason loss might have produced the season’s crucial moment. After winning three straight, including a victory over No. 11 New Hampshire, the Spiders struggled against last-place Towson. Richmond took the lead late in the game, but Towson drove the length of the field in 29 seconds to score the game-winning touchdown as time expired.
After the game, coach Dave Clawson told the team what he had been telling them all along: “Treat each week like a one-game season.” His players responded by beating Stony Brook, Rhode Island, James Madison, and Villanova. Then they traveled to Delaware to face the No. 6 team in Division I-AA.
The amazing game featured 10 lead changes, six ties, and 118 combined points in five overtimes. The Spiders won, 62-56, and advanced to the NCAA playoffs.
In the first two rounds, the Spiders beat Eastern Kentucky at home and Wofford on the road. Then they traveled to Boone, N.C., to face Appalachian State, the defending national champion that had beaten Michigan in “The Big House” to kickoff the 2007 season.
Appalachian State sprinted to a 28-7 lead, but Richmond tied the game 35-35 in the second half. But the Mountaineers ended the Spiders’ season by scoring the game’s final 20 points. Appalachian State advanced to the championship game and won its third-consecutive national title.
The young Spiders are regrouping under a new head coach and adding one more goal to their 2008 list—a national championship.
UR hires London to coach football
Mike London, R’83, has been hired to succeed Dave Clawson as head football coach. Clawson left UR to become offensive coordinator at the University of Tennessee.
London is the first alumnus to lead the Spider football program since the late Ed Merrick, R’40, coached the team from 1951–65. Richmond will be London’s first head-coaching position, following successful stints as an assistant coach at Richmond, William and Mary, Boston College, and Virginia. He also was an assistant coach for one year with the NFL Houston Texans. He spent six of the past seven seasons molding one of the nation’s top defenses at Virginia.
“The University of Richmond is a special place,” London says. “I chose Richmond as a player, started my collegiate coaching career here, and am honored to be … its head coach.”
In his first remarks as Richmond’s head coach, London addressed his players. “I am a graduate of this school,” he said. “I’ve bled on the practice fields and the football field. I know what it takes to be a student-athlete at this university. It’s important to know your education is paramount to any success you might have later in life. This is my university. When you graduate, it’ll be your university, too. There’s something special about that.”
Honorees
UR Hall of Fame inducts Burdette
The UR Athletics Hall of Fame has inducted the late Lew Burdette, R’49, six decades after he left the University to pursue a professional baseball career.
Burdette won 203 games in 18 major league seasons. In 1957, he pitched the Milwaukee Braves past the New York Yankees in the World Series, holding the Yankees scoreless for 24 consecutive innings.
Other Hall of Fame inductees include:
Curtis Blair, R’92, who led the men’s basketball team to a 73-69 triumph over Syracuse in the NCAA tournament. Blair scored 1,630 points in his career.
Bill Jordan, R’53, who was a driving force behind Richmond’s track and field and cross-country programs for 40 years.
Matt Joyce, ’94, a defensive lineman who never missed a game in his UR career. He also played 11 years in the NFL.
Jaclyn Raveia Schmitt, ’01, who was named first team all-American following her senior season on the women’s soccer team.
The year’s “team of distinction” is the 2000 women’s soccer team. Coached by Peter Albright, the team defeated West Virginia, 5-1, in the NCAA tournament.
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