Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 12, 1995 TAG: 9506120103
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When the Roanoke police football team took the field at Victory Stadium against the Bland Correctional Center guards Friday night, the scene looked vaguely like one from the Burt Reynolds prison movie, "The Longest Yard."
But for a lot of these guys, every yard seemed long.
"I'm sucking wind," said a panting Danny Brabham of the Roanoke team, "The Law." And that was only four plays into the game.
But he was sucking wind for a good cause. All of the proceeds from the Star City Law Enforcement Football Classic will go to Roanoke's Drug Abuse Resistance Education program. DARE teaches kids how to resist the perils of drugs, alcohol and violence.
"The Law" lost the coin toss, but didn't lose much after that.
The Bland guards played much of the game like they were in handcuffs. They bobbled the ball on the opening kickoff, but recovered. Then, on its first three plays, Bland fumbled twice and threw an interception that Roanoke's Don Wiggonton returned for a touchdown.
This was not a finesse game.
"Looks like it's going to be defensive struggle," said Bland quarterback David Lambert.
"Defensive something," said Sherrie Gardner, sitting in the bleachers on the home side. Her husband, Pat Gardner, was wearing number 66 for Roanoke. According to Sherrie, Pat played football at Cave Spring High School. What position?
"Defensive something." Everyone on the Roanoke roster had at least high school level football experience, but for some, that was quite a while ago.
"We're doin' pretty good for a bunch of old guys," said Oscar Mejia. He's 33 - not that old. "But I feel like it."
Rumors circulated in the Roanoke Police Department all week about how big the guards were, that they had been together for 12 years or more and were nearly undefeated.
Player/coach Tommy Buzzo, a vice detective who played at Concord College in West Virginia, was predicting a tough fight, and probably a loss. The Roanoke team hadn't played a game in three years.
As it turned out, the Bland Correctional Bears weighed in lighter than "The Law." The biggest guy on the visitors' side was the trainer, a former Howard University linebacker with bad knees. And it was the Bears' first game in three years, too.
"The Law" played a team from the Roanoke Sheriff's Office to raise money for DARE in 1991 and 1992. They took two years off, they say, because the deputies got too banged up and Sheriff Alvin Hudson didn't want them playing anymore.
DARE gets most of its money from the city, but instructors like having extra cash on hand when they need supplies for the kids they teach. The program can't solicit donations, so DARE supervisor Sgt. Al Brown collects aluminum cans to raise money. And then there's the football game.
"These guys have given everything for this," said David Mays, a Roanoke youth bureau detective and DARE instructor. The 24 players, none of whom works in the DARE program, paid for part of their equipment and uniforms out of their own pockets. The Virginia Police Benevolent Association and Roanoke businesses donated the rest.
Bland quarterback Lambert gave a little more than the others. He left the game after being sacked hard in the first half. Mays said he broke his collarbone.
About 300 people showed up for the game. Many were players' relatives. And those that weren't family were related professionally - police, sheriff's deputies and rescue workers.
"It's like one big get-together," said Robert Vaden of Roanoke Emergency Medical Services.
Public servants that weren't there were getting score updates on the police radio from the city's 911 dispatchers.
There was plenty of family on the field, too. Brothers Bob and Mark Chandler were playing for Roanoke.
And while Tommy Buzzo was leading the defense on the field, brother John Buzzo, the team's center, was pacing the sidelines harassing the Bland offense.
"He's got that Pee Wee snap going," he yelled. "That's the way we snapped the ball in Pee Wee football."
Roanoke's defense ultimately carried the game, scoring 15 points on Wiggonton's interception, a safety and Kent Daniels' return of a fumble for a touchdown in the third quarter.
But the offense had its moment, too.
With about 7 minutes left in the game, quarterback Xavier Clewis - the long arm of "The Law" - tossed a 40-yard bomb to end zone-bound Chris Perkins.
Final score, 22-0 - and more than $2,000 raised.
by CNB