Lewis accepts IU challenge

Freshman happy to continue playing career

By ALEX WALL • For the Journal & Courier • November 26, 2008

BLOOMINGTON -- Former Lafayette Jeff basketball player Broderick Lewis was ready to begin life at Purdue as a normal college student.

He didn't plan on being a student-athlete, which he did extremely well in two years at Central Catholic and two at Jeff.

When Lewis found out the Indiana University basketball team needed walk-ons for the 2008-09 season, he decided he was up for the challenge.

Step 1 was being asked by coach Tom Crean to play for the Hoosiers. Step 2 was attending a different university and joining a team comprised virtually of new players and preparing for basketball on a different level.

"It was a good final chapter to my high school career knowing that I was going to get to play somewhere," Lewis said. "As soon as I found out the news, I just got myself ready to come here this summer."

Photo courtesy of Indiana Sports Information IU freshman Broderick Lewis, who played at Central Catholic and Lafayette Jeff, dunks during Hoosier Hysteria earlier this season in Bloomington.

Lewis believes he has improved since the start of summer conditioning and credits it to being in Bloomington all summer working on his game.

Including the Hoosiers' 80-54 loss to Saint Joseph's on Tuesday in the Maui Invitational, Lewis has played in three games, totaling five minutes. He has yet to score for IU (2-2).

Teammate Jeremiah Rivers believes Lewis has done a good job of showing the coaches his abilities. Rivers said Lewis is fitting in well.

"He is real fun to be around." Rivers said. "He goes hard if not harder than anyone in practice every day. He is a real animated guy and a spiritual guy on the court."

While Lewis is inexperienced at the collegiate level, that doesn't mean he won't be an asset this year.

"I think he is still learning, growing and adapting to being able to prove and earn himself some more time on the court as everybody else is," Rivers said.

"I think he has definitely been able to show the coaches what he can do on the court."

So far, Crean likes what he sees.

"He is coming," Crean said. "He really is. He has been raised right. He has a great attitude. He is learning a lot. He is like everybody else in the sense that his head will get swimming on most days. That's just the way that it is.

"There's no question he will get some time on the floor for us. There's not one guy on our roster that we think can't come in and help us win. We have to prepare that way. I'm glad he is with us. There is no question about that."

Lewis doesn't anticipate much playing time this year, but he knows his name could be called at any point.

"I hope to come off the bench and give us a spark, give us energy, rebounding," Lewis said. "I'm not anticipating getting in a lot, but if it does happen, then it would be great."

With Kyle Taber the only returning scholarship player, the Hoosiers have had to come together quickly during the offseason. Lewis thinks the team has done that.

"We spend a lot of time together," Lewis said. "From the summer until now, you can see us growing day by day."

Former Broncho latches on with EIU

STAFF REPORTS • November 25, 2008

Former Lafayette Jeff baseball player Brent McNeil recently signed a letter of intent to continue his career with Eastern Illinois University.

As a freshman at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill., McNeil struck out 52 in 48 innings while compiling a 4-2 record and 1.75 ERA.

"Brent McNeil is one of the best JUCO arms in the state," EIU coach Jim Schmitz said in a release.

McNeil was an Indiana All-Star as a Broncho senior, going 7-2 with a 1.79 ERA and 83 strikeouts and 12 walks in 66 2/3 innings.

Andrean's Ryan Dineen also signed with the Panthers. Eastern Illinois played in an NCAA Regional last spring.

'Moms' role models for tight end

By TOM KUBAT • tkubat@journalandcourier.com • April 20, 2008

Whenever Lafayette Jeff had a home basketball game during the 2002-03 season, athletic secretary Lydia Meacham would stand in a corner of the Crawley Athletic Center and watch

The Bronchos had an exciting, athletic team, led by Peyton Stovall and Dustin Keller. But during nail-biting time, Meacham would disappear.

"I would get so worked up and so nervous that I had to come back in the office," she said. "I made the comment one day that I needed a scoreboard in the office, connected to the one in the gym, so I could see when it's OK to go back out. And Dustin said, 'When I'm rich and famous, I'm going to get you that scoreboard.'

"When he was here several weeks ago, he walked up and said, 'Boy, that scoreboard is going to look really nice in here isn't it?' "

Keller, who affectionally calls Lydia "Mother Meacham," has gone on to make a name for himself in football. As a senior in 2007, he was voted Purdue's most valuable player and was a second-team All-Big Ten Conference tight end.

And now experts predict that he'll be a first-day pick Saturday in the NFL draft.

Even though Keller's mother, Maureen, a single mom who raised five sons, will tell you that family is most important, she's convinced that other people play important roles in the development of children.

Keller, her third son, is a prime example. A former three-sport athlete at Jeff and one of Purdue's top tight ends, he had plenty of role models: Coaches, teachers, athletic director. The list goes on.

"There's a whole circle of people in the athletic department (at Jeff) who are so supportive of the kids," Maureen said. "Most of the kids are not going to become professional athletes, so it's more about character development. Being a part of something bigger than just yourself."

Sue Beam, now an English teacher and cheerleading coach at Jeff, got to know Dustin as his high jump coach at Tecumseh Junior High School.

"On Mother's Day in the eighth grade, he was preparing for the (conference meet) the following day," Beam said. "He called me at home and wanted to know if I would come to the track and work with him one on one.

"Even though it was Mother's Day, we worked for a little over an hour, and he felt a lot more confident. The next day he won the high jump. Since then, every year he calls me on Mother's Day."

In fact, Keller has a fairly lengthy list of women who have helped him over the years that he calls on Mother's Day.

Including, of course, "Mother Meacham."

"Dustin is one of my favorite people because he let me be a part of his life, not just as a secretary," Meacham said. "I have a son (Jordan, now a freshman at Jeff) who was having some health issues, and Dustin did a lot of things for him. I got to know Dustin more as a person than as an athlete."

Beam was Keller's freshman English teacher. After one of his best friends, Carl Abrons, developed cancer and died, Keller leaned on Beam for moral support.

"When you watch Dustin play, he still wears the initials C.A. on his shoes or sleeves during games," Beam said. "That's for Carl."

Keller didn't apply himself academically until late in his high school career, which is why Beam is proud of him for earning his Purdue degree.

"I asked him one time, 'When you become rich and famous, what's going to happen to you?' she said. "And he said, 'You should know that. I'm just Dustin. I'm going to be just Dustin.' And that's how I see him, as just Dustin. The kid I've watched grow up since he was in sixth grade.

"He's very appreciative of whatever anybody has ever done for him. No matter how small. He never forgets."

It's obvious that many people at Jeff, Purdue and the Lafayette area have had a major influence on Keller. While his mother obviously deserves the lion's share of the credit, others have helped mold him into the person he is today.

"It's been exciting and wonderful that he's been able to share this experience in the town where he grew up," Maureen said. "I think it's fun for a lot of people who had a part in him being raised."

Boilermakers chose Jeff star

By TOM KUBAT • tkubat@journalandcourier.com • April 20, 2008

Despite the fact that Dustin Keller set state records by catching 113 passes for 1,804 yards as a senior at Lafayette Jeff, he was not considered a blue-chip recruit by college coaches.

In fact, he was ready to sign a national letter of intent to play at Toledo -- until Purdue offered him its final scholarship of 2003.

Fred Kutruff, Keller's high school football coach with the Bronchos, said he heard that Keller got the offer because the Boilermakers had missed out on another in-state player.

Purdue football coach Joe Tiller said he doesn't recall the exact circumstances, but he does remember including a caveat with the offer to Keller.

"We took him because of his athleticism and told him right from the get-go that we thought he'd have to redshirt and grow into being a tight end," Tiller said. "He was fine with that because he wanted to come to school here, period. He committed immediately.

"He was a good basketball player, and that influenced us. We actually took him coming out of basketball season."

Kutruff warned Keller, telling him to make sure the Purdue staff wanted him.

It certainly turned out well for Purdue and Keller, who is projected to be a first- or second-round draft pick during next weekend's NFL draft.

Keller, who became a lot stronger and grew from 185 pounds as a Jeff senior to 240 pounds during his final Purdue season, developed into a second-team All-Big Ten Conference tight end.

He finished his Boilermaker career with 142 receptions for 1,962 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Now and Then: Clay Snellgrove

Shortstop turned author

By JEFF WASHBURN • jwashburn@journalandcourier.com • April 21, 2008

Clay Snellgrove is the perfect candidate for a "Jeopardy" appearance.

He graduated 32nd in a class of 450 from Lafayette Jeff in 1993. He played four years of professional baseball in the San Diego Padres' organization, is a licensed EMT, has worked in the food service industry and now is a managing partner in a baseball/softball academy in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

This minister's son also has authored "The Ball Player," a fiction novel based loosely on Snellgrove's minor league experiences. The book is on sale at his Web site, www.claysnellgrove.com.

"When I got into pro ball, it was bus trips, hotels, movies, video games and card games," Snellgrove, 33, said. "At some point, if you are playing video games 10 hours a week and watching 20 movies, you are wasting time when you could be bettering yourself.

"I decided that reading mainstream fiction is good for my brain. I wanted to stay above the perception of dumb, brainless jock. I started taking paperback novels everywhere."

Released by the Padres in 2000, Snellgrove's independent baseball experiences in Canton, Ohio, (2001) and in Joliet, Ill., (2002) produced two additional seasons of research for his book.

He moved back to Canton in 2002 to court his future wife, Erin, and spent three months writing "The Ball Player."

"I was a little bit bitter and took it as a project that I would do well," Snellgrove said. "As I got into it, it evolved into a tale of a professional player and how he became the player and competitor he was. A friendship when he was young drove him to compete."

Snellgrove's main character decides to use performancing-enhancing drugs, which the former Padre minor leaguer did not.

"I was offered and had plenty of opportunities," Snellgrove said. "I considered it one year, but ethically and morally, I didn't want to do it. Of course, I didn't sign a $2 million contract, either."

After moving to Murfreesboro, Tenn., to teach baseball, he took classes to become an EMT.

As his baseball instruction business prospered, Snellgrove kept thinking about "The Ball Player."

"I had some people read it, and they liked it," Snellgrove said. "It was a long process. As far as it becoming a bestseller, that's probably more unlikely than me being a Major Leaguer. But I'm a dreamer."

His next project is a novel about a small-town sheriff.

Early this month, a publishing agency agreed to take on "The Ball Player," asking only that Snellgrove retool the beginning to make it more engaging from Page 1.

Ryan Cole, Snellgrove's Jeff teammate and a teacher at Edgelea Elementary, isn't surprised by Snellgrove's accomplishments.

"He was self-motivated," Cole said.

Wyant meets challenge of Division I basketball

By KEN THOMPSON
kthompson@journalandcourier.com

Playing Division I basketball against the likes of Kentucky, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech is nothing for Shanea Wyant after the childhood battles on the court against her younger brother.

Shane Wyant, now a burly 6-foot-3 center for Class 4A No. 2 Lafayette Jeff, had to be warned by his mother not to hurt his sister during their 1-on-1 duels. But Shane remembers Shanea used to hold the upper hand where it counts, on the scoreboard.

"She always used to beat me every single time," Shane said of Shanea, now a 5-10 sophomore starting forward for USC Upstate University in Spartanburg, S.C. "She always used to beat me every single time. When I got older and bigger (mom) always used to tell me, 'Take it easy on her. Don't hurt her.' "

That competitive spirit is what motivated Shanea to accept Upstate's scholarship offer after enjoying all-conference and Journa

l & Courier All-Area honors with the Bronchos. Upstate made the giant leap from NCAA Division II to NCAA Division I this season, and Wyant has been more than up to the challenge.

Wyant scored a career-high 20 points Monday night while leading Upstate (5-22) to its first victory as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, 69-53 over Lipscomb. It took her just 10 games to surpass her freshman scoring total of 61 points and she is averaging 7.0 points a game.

"I really wanted the opportunity to play Division I to see if I could compete," Shanea said. "My freshman year I didn't get much playing time, but I think I've done a better job working hard. The coaches said I had a good chance of being a starter and I've worked hard to get that position."

Upstate coach Tammy George inserted Wyant into the starting lineup toward the end of the 2006-07 season and thought there was a chance she could help the team as a sophomore.

"We kind of did expect her to have a bigger role this year," George said. "We didn't expect her to be playing like she is now.

"We told her to work on her ballhandling, and she has a good shot from the inside and the outside. That was a big thing, for her to be able to be aggressive on the outside and hit a 15-foot shot or even a 3."

That hard work was necessary, Wyant said, to hold her own against taller, quicker post players.

"I was short in high school, and I'm short in college, too," she said. "I've worked a lot on my ballhandling skills, and I think that's helped. I can bring tall players out who would block my shot inside."

When she's not pursuing basketball or her biology major, Wyant is following her brother's success with the Bronchos. Shane Wyant gives Shanea credit for helping him develop into one of Jeff's best players.

"She taught me a lot of moves that she had previously done on varsity, and that made me a better basketball player," he said. "Playing against her made me feel more confident because I'm kind of carrying on the family tradition of playing good basketball."

-- Journal & Courier sportswriter Nathan Baird contributed to this story.

Now and Then: Bill Moriarty

Disappointment leads to life-changing opportunity

By NATHAN BAIRD posted 12/17/2007
nbaird@journalandcourier.com

As a teenager, Bill Moriarty dreamed of becoming an Olympic wrestler.

The Lafayette Jeff graduate will attend the wrestling finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, though he never would have imagined the circumstances during his Broncho days. A Beijing resident and NBA China's Senior Manager for Strategic Business Partnerships, Moriarty will be a spectator for the sport he still considers his first love.

"Wrestling was my first passion, and Chinese language and history became my next passion," Moriarty said.

Moriarty's wrestling career consisted of a series of what-ifs. As a sophomore, he won a sectional title but came down with mono the week before regionals. As a senior, he reached the state semifinals but lost by one point, though he recovered to finish third.

Moriarty was a redshirt freshman on the Purdue wrestling team. But he crushed his foot in a work accident the summer before his sophomore season, ending his wrestling career.

"It was hard for me, because my goal was to be an Olympic wrestler someday and represent the United States," said Moriarty, whose late father, Steve, was a Lafayette Jeff wrestling coach. "But I wasn't able to continue that through college, which is just a crucial period of time in developing that talent. I looked for other things, and I found something I really liked."

While finishing his degree in political science at Purdue, Moriarty developed his second passion. Though he began his studies more involved with U.S.-Russian relations, Moriarty eventually became interested in China. Upon graduating from Purdue in 1990, he moved to Taiwan to begin studying Chinese.

By 2000, Moriarty began looking for a return to the sports realm. He found it at International Management Group, one of the world's top sports and entertainment management firms.

While at IMG, Moriarty managed the China Basketball Association league and All-Star game. That experience led him to NBA China, where he has worked since 2005.

"There are a couple of hundred million people who play basketball regularly in China," Moriarty said. "According to National Geographic, it's replaced soccer in popularity among the native people."

Homecoming excites Stovall

By JEFF WASHBURN - posted 12/05/07
jwashburn@journalandcourier.com

When Peyton Stovall graduated from Lafayette Jeff in 2003, most high school and Division I coaches labeled the guard as a solid mid-major basketball player.

He would be perfect in the Mid-American Conference or in the Missouri Valley.

Stovall accepted a scholarship from Ball State and entering tonight's game against Purdue, the fifth-year senior has scored 1,054 points in 96 games, including a 12.5 average this season.

But Boilermaker coach Matt Painter, who recruited Stovall for Southern Illinois, said the Jeff grad no longer is just a mid-major talent.

In fact, had Painter been Purdue's coach during the 2002-03 season, he would have attempted to convince Stovall to be a Boilermaker.

"There are kids that attend mid-majors that are mid-major players," Painter said. "Peyton was a mid-major player when he went to Ball State. With improvement and work ethic, he now is a high-major player. That's why we had success at Southern Illinois.

"We were not signing high-major kids, but they developed into high-major players. He went to Ball State and proved people wrong. Give him credit. He has put a lot of work into it."

Stovall has persevered at Ball State, coming back from two anterior cruciate ligament surgeries to his left knee while playing for three head coaches.

"It has been a great experience," Stovall said. "Everything I have been through has made me the man I am today. Where I am right now is just a blessing. I'm looking forward to coming home and playing.

"It's going to be a lot of fun. It's exciting for me that my family won't have to travel to come see me. And my best friend, (Purdue football standout) Dustin Keller, is going to be at the game."

Stovall is thrilled to have had the opportunity to play at Ball State, but because he is from Lafayette, the guard may have selected a different collegiate path had Painter been Purdue's coach five years ago.

"Coach Painter is a great guy," Stovall said. "Everyone has told me great things about him. If he had been at Purdue when I graduated from Jeff, I probably would have been a Boilermaker.

"But coming to Ball State was my choice. Coming to Ball State was a major school for me, not a mid-major. That's how I have developed my game. I know I can excel anywhere."

After averaging 22 points and 6.7 rebounds during his senior season at Jeff, Stovall had to transition into the quickness of the Division I game.

He has become a much better defensive player and is more patient on offense.

"In high school, you want to get to the basket quickly," Stovall said. "In college, you often have to be a slower offensive player in terms of making decisions. I've also learned to be a leader."

He has had to be this team's leader. He and Anthony Newell are Ball State's only seniors, and Newell is out for at least six weeks with a left foot injury.

"I am the old gentleman of the group," Stovall said. "I've been here the longest, and I have the most experience. Helping our younger guys is a key for me."

Painter says there's lots to like about Stovall.

"When you coach at different levels, players at all stops could play (at Purdue)," Painter said. "The ones that could -- even at the lower levels -- each have substance. You never pass on substance. Peyton Stovall has substance.

"Obviously, he has athleticism. He really has worked on his skill level. But he has substance. You can never have enough of that. He has been through tough times with the coaching changes and knee injuries. He just keeps battling."

A sports administration major, Stovall's grade-point average is right at 3.0. He has been nominated for the John Wooden Citizenship Award and may be headed to graduate school if a professional basketball career does not materialize.

"I know this will be a big game for Peyton," Painter said. "That's something we will talk to our guys about. You can't let someone like that get their head up and score 30 on you.

"We recruited him at Southern Illinois, but to be honest, I didn't know he was this good."

Now and Then: Jake Knott

Different field, same quest

By NATHAN BAIRD
nbaird@journalandcourier.com

When Jake Knott left Lafayette Jeff in 1999 for Wabash College, the strong-armed quarterback already knew about gridiron success.

Named the Little Giants' starter as a freshman, one of the first lessons Knott learned at the Division III school was how to deal with adversity.

"I think early on, especially my freshman year, I learned that sometimes failure's OK because it's going to happen," said Knott, now working in Indianapolis. "Up until that point I hadn't failed much athletically, especially in football. I learned that at the next level it takes more hard work, takes more leadership sills."

Knott had many more successes than failures while leading Wabash to a 35-8 record in four seasons. After taking ownership of most of the school's single-game, season and career passing records, Knott spent one season in the Arena League with the Memphis Explorers.

When the Explorers released him, Knott had to choose between continuing the dream and joining the work force.

"I was ready to move on and get a job and be done with it, basically," Knott said. "At some point your time's up, and I think I had a pretty good grasp that it was going to come at some point."

Knott used his economics degree from Wabash to begin a career as a financial planner. Since January of 2006 he has worked for Merrill Lynch, one of the world's largest financial management and advisory companies.

On Sept. 1, Knott married Darcy Poelstra, also a former Broncho athlete. Darcy played volleyball, basketball and track and field and, as Knott quickly remembers, played in more state finals than her husband.

Citing his career commitments, Knott has no immediate plans to start coaching. But he has considered it.

"I think there are a few fundamentals you can teach football players that can make them very successful that sometimes you don't see," Knott said, "starting with teaching the quarterback to throw the ball out of bounds."

That idea, never putting your team in a bad position, is one of the two great lessons of playing quarterback Knott says he learned from his father Dave, also a former Wabash quarterback and Jeff football coach. The other was to be a leader.

"I was very, very fortunate to be able to play with the group of guys I did at Jeff and Wabash and under the coaches I did, where the competition was very important," Knott said.

"It wasn't about just being out there and being a part of it, but winning was very important in all three sports I played at Jeff, and football and baseball at Wabash. That competition and that desire to be good and better than others is what drives me still professionally."

JAKE KNOTT
High school accomplishments

• Competed in football, basketball and baseball at Lafayette Jeff
  
• As a junior, threw for 2,066 yards in a 6-4 season; season-high 334 yards in 36-27 loss to Marion
  
• Threw for 2,241 yards and 27 touchdowns in 10-1 senior season that included perfect regular season and first outright North Central Conference title since 1982; season-high 366 yards and five touchdowns in 54-8 victory vs. Kokomo
  
• Ranks second in Bronchos history in career passing yards (5,002) and touchdown passes (52)
  
• 1997 and 1998 Journal & Courier Big School Offensive Player of the Year
  
• All-North Central Conference selection in baseball, 1999
  
• Lafayette Jeff baseball Offensive Award and Presidential Award winner, 1999
  
• His six home runs and 40 RBIs in 1999 each rank third among Bronchos' single-season leaders
  
  
  College accomplishments
  
• Started four years at quarterback for Wabash
  
• All-time passing yardage leader with 11,213
  
• Owns eight of the top 16 single-game passing performances in Wabash history, including 459-yard, six touchdown performance against Allegheny in 2000
  
• Also holds Wabash records for single-game, season and career pass attempts, game and career completions, game, season and career touchdown passes and game and career total offense
  
• Set NCAA Division III freshman record in 1999 by throwing for 2,612 yards
  
• North Coast Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, 2001 and 2002
  
• Wabash Most Valuable Player, 2002
  
• Hewlett-Packard third-team All-American, 2002
  
• Earned three letters as catcher on baseball team
  
  
  Professional career
  
• Received B.S. in economics from Wabash
  
• Financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, Jan. 2006-present
  
  
  Family
  
  Wife, Darcy

Now and Then: James "Knoddy" Weaver

Mentor makes a difference

By JEFF WASHBURN
jwashburn@journalandcourier.com

When James Weaver was attending elementary school during the 1970s in Lafayette, his behavior -- by his own admission -- left lots to be desired.

(File photo by Frank Oliver/Journal & Courier) James "Knody" Weaver runs for several yards against Kokomo in a September 1982 game.

If he heard it once, he heard a teacher say a dozen times, "James, you're naughty."

Unsure of the word's spelling, Weaver began to sign his papers "Knoddy Weaver."

However, had it not been for Lafayette Jeff athletic director Maurie Denney -- then a teacher/AD at Tippecanoe Junior High School -- Knoddy's poor behavior may have cost the Bronchos the services of arguably the finest running back in school history.

Denney, who remains one of Weaver's best friends, encouraged his protégé to focus on academics and athletics instead of troublesome activities.

"It was a blessing that I didn't see coming," Weaver, 43, said. "He saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, or that others didn't see in me.

"He stuck with me in everything I did, whether it was good or bad. At that time, most of it probably was bad. But he never let go ... never stopped. He would say, 'I'm not giving up on you.' "

Because of Denney's encouragement, Weaver became a key weapon for Lafayette Jeff's 1981 and '82 football teams, which won 22 of 24 games.

Denney had his first man-to-man discussion with Weaver when the student/athlete was a seventh-grader.

"I wanted to let him know that student/athletes don't do those type of things," Denney said. "Some of the eighth graders were standing there and said, 'Don't worry about that kid. He never is going to make it.'

"That was a challenge for Knoddy."

(By John Terhune/Journal & Courier) Former Lafayette Jeff football standout Knoddy Weaver (left) with athletic director Maurie Denney, who has been a father figure to him since he was in junior high school in the 1970s.

In junior high, Weaver didn't quite understand Denney's mission.

"I always said this little man was a thorn in my side," Weaver said. "I thought, 'He will go away.' He never did. He always was there for me, no matter what the problem was. He praised me when I did things well, and he talked to me when it was bad.

"I was never in what you would call real trouble, but I was in the average kid's trouble. People would say, 'He just sticks around because you are good in sports.' It was way beyond that. He has been a father."

To this day -- 25 years after his final football game in a Jeff uniform -- Weaver sings Denney's praises.

"Mr. Denney has been my mentor ... my rock," Weaver said. "He has been everything I could have ever wanted in a person. He never let me down. He never said, 'No.'

"That has rubbed off. He has always told me, 'It's about giving back.' I've always tried to give back, even if it's just taking a few minutes to talk to somebody. He also said, 'It's the little things that pay off in the end.' And it has."

Denney, who will retire at school year's end, cherishes his relationship with Weaver.

"Knoddy was an exceptional athlete who has developed into one of the most caring people you ever would want to meet," Denney said.

"He does so many nice things for a lot of people. Of all the kids I've been around, I'm probably most proud of him, just because of what he has accomplished. He is a very good man and a great role model."

Weaver's coach at Jeff, Dave Knott, has watched Broncho football for 30 years and chuckled when asked to rank Weaver.

"There is nobody close to him," Knott said. "In a league by himself. He had 2,300 yards rushing and rarely played in the fourth quarter. And he was the best blocker on the field."

• Two-year starting running back at Lafayette Jeff, leading the Bronchos to consecutive 11-1 seasons in 1981 and '82.
  
• In 1982, led the state in scoring with 33 touchdowns, 26 extra-point kicks and a field goal.
  
• As a senior, rushed 277 times for 2,300 yards (8.3-yards per carry) and 32 TDs. Caught 15 passes for 189 yards and a TD for the No. 1-ranked Bronchos.
  
• First-team All-State selection by the Associated Press and the Indiana High School Football Coaches Association.
  
• Featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" after rushing for 380 yards and five touchdowns in a victory at Anderson.
  
• MVP of the 1983 North-South All-Star Game in Indianapolis, rushing for one TD and passing for another.
  
• Graduated from Lafayette Jeff in 1983.
  
  College
  
• Played junior college football at the College of DuPage, 1983.
  
  Professional life
  
• PayLess Supermarkets, 1984-86
  
• Bob Rohrman automobile dealerships, 1986-87
  
• Bill DeFouw Chevrolet, 1987
  
• Rostone, 1987-88
  
• Tate and Lyle, 1988-present. Utilities operator who provides the plant with steam and electricity.
  
  Family
  
• Single, lives in Lafayette.