ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 18, 1996 TAG: 9611180085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: JOANNE POINDEXTER STAFF WRITER
MICHAEL WRAY began work on "You're the Coach" in middle school. After several years spent refining it, he now sells the football game in specialty stores.
Michael Wray Jr. has taken a middle-school English assignment and parlayed it into what he hopes will be a money-making venture.
And, even though he's still recouping costs and has no national manufacturer, Wray's "You're the Coach," a football board game, has gained a small following.
Wray, a 1986 Liberty High School graduate, has signatures and positive comments from more than 300 coaches, football players and friends who have played the game.
"This is not an endorsement, but it seemed like a pretty good game," said Pulaski High School coach Joel Hicks, who played it at a coaches' clinic in Hampton. "If you are a football buff, you might enjoy it."
Although Wray has given some games away, he's beginning to get returns on his $14,600 investment. He distributes the game from his Portsmouth apartment, and about 100 of the 500 games he has produced have been sold.
Herman Moore, the Detroit Lions standout from Danville, has the game and is reviewing it as a possible business venture, said his business partner Lorenzo Davis of Catch 84 Inc. in Michigan.
For $24.95, customers get everything needed for "You're the Coach" - a pair of dice, the football field board and paper cutout players - in the loose-leaf notebook that serves as its package. Each "coach" receives a playbook with dozens of offensive and defensive plays. The cutout players move based on the odd or even roll of the dice.
Coaches also throw the dice to determine weather conditions, power rankings, injuries, fatigue and crowd emotions for the game.
Wray first visualized the game while writing a short story about an outstanding high school football player for his eighth-grade English class. During breaks from his writing, Wray would roll the dice from another board game and try to come up with potential plays for his hero. He wrote the plays down, not realizing he was beginning a game.
Somewhere in boxes of football programs, cards and newspaper clippings, he still has the English paper. He can't remember his grade, but he can remember some of the plays he used. Most of his plays, he said, are basic high school plays used throughout the country.
Wray challenged classmates as he tried to perfect his board game, often handwriting the rules and plays. He thinks friends have about 20 of his handwritten versions. When he joined the Navy, a friend put all of Wray's information on a computer, and Wray made copies to give out.
Wray's father suggested he get a patent for the game and gave him the money for the research. After obtaining his patent in February, Wray began contacting companies such as Parker Bros. about manufacturing his game.
"[Parker Bros.] told me they only do games that they invent, but I think if they looked at it, they would be interested," Wray said.
He eventually sold his car and got additional money from his father to pay for packaging and marketing the game. Wray went to B&B Printing in Bedford for the final packaging, because he wanted to keep his business with a hometown company.
"He brought it in here in kind of a shoe box. We developed it so it could become a game," said Emily Beisser, co-owner of the print shop. "Since he's a young man coming out of Bedford, we bent over backward to help him."
It took about six months of proofreading and changing things around to get what Wray wanted.
Dave Eubank, owner of Dave's Sports Shop in Bedford, started selling the game as a favor to Wray's father.
The game is a lot of fun, Eubank said. "Once you get into it and learn it, you don't want to quit.
Eubank has sold 60 games in two months.
Steve Voitus, manager of Hobbytown USA in Virginia Beach, has no connections to Wray, and the store he manages has removed all football board games except "You're the Coach" and one other.
"It's a very interesting game. There are some other football games on the market, but this is by far a better quality, more in-depth and easier to play," said Voitus, who attributes the success of the game to Wray's 14 years of research and fine-tuning.
When Wray plays "You're the Coach," he pretends he's coaching his favorite squads - the University of Virginia in college and the Dallas Cowboys in the pros.
Being in the Navy, Wray said, has helped promote the game because he has served with people from all over the United States. Shipmates often play while Wray works on improvements.
He said his wife will be handling sales while he spends the next six months abroad the USS Nassau in the Mediterranean.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY\Staff. Michael Wray displays his footballby CNBgame at Dave's Sport Shop in Bedford on Saturday. Behind him are
letters about the game. color.