ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 7, 1996 TAG: 9612090036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
TIM WITCHER, a William and Mary fullback, once had a pen pal in Iowa. During today's visit he won't be making friends.
Tim Witcher never has been to Iowa, but when he was growing up in Rocky Mount, it often was on his mind.
For almost a dozen years of his youth in Franklin County, Witcher had a pen pal in Iowa, remembered today only as ``Jason-something.''
Well, Jasons of the state of Iowa unite. Witcher is coming your way. Pen pals, however, aren't on his mind. The people on his mind won't be his pals at all. They're the Panthers of the University of Northern Iowa.
Witcher is a senior fullback for William and Mary's football team. But to limit his description is denying him two resumes' worth of credit.
``You name it, he does it,'' said William and Mary football spokesman Pete Clawson.
Today in Cedar Falls, Iowa, all Witcher will be asked to do is play fullback for the Tribe, which faces Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I-AA football playoffs. A repeat of what he did last week and what he's done all year would be nice, too.
Witcher rushed for two of the Tribe's six touchdowns last week in its 45-6 second-round victory over Jackson (Miss.) State. The victory was William and Mary's 10th of the season and put it in the company of some of the school's best teams. Witcher's position coach, Alan Williams, was a member of one of the Tribe's best outfits, the 1990 squad that went 10-3 and beat UMass in the first round of the I-AA playoffs. That team is immortalized in a portrait on a wall of William and Mary's football offices.
``Our mission is to get up on that wall,'' Witcher said.
Aside from his performance against Jackson State, the former Franklin County High School star and all-Roanoke Valley District selection had two other two-touchdown games this season, for a total of six.
He accumulated his scores on only 33 carries. Running backs Alvin Porch and Corey Nesmith have done most of the running for William and Mary. Witcher hasn't gotten his chance until Porch, Nesmith or quarterback Mike Cook have moved the team to their opponent's 5-yard line or so.
Witcher knows about hard work, and not just about the kind of work it takes to break tackles, a source of personal pride. An honors student in high school and college, Witcher also is president of the William and Mary chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, is a member of the Black Student Organization and is a government honors major interested in social service.
His greatest interest, passion, love - you name it - is singing. ``It's the only thing I would do for free as a career,'' Witcher said.
He sings in a William and Mary acapella group known as ``The Stairwells.'' They just released a compact disc called, ``Bold and Naked,'' the title of which is one of the few things that won't evoke comment from Witcher.
What he loves to discuss is how the Tribe, after losing two star running backs (Troy Keen and Derek Fitzgerald) and a fifth-year starting quarterback (Matt Byrne) from last year's team, won the Yankee Conference and is in the NCAA's final eight. Porch, with 1,140 yards rushing, had a lot to do with it, as did All-America safety Darren Sharper. With 107 tackles and 10 interceptions, Sharper helped the Tribe's defense limit opponents to 229.1 yards per game, 170 less than William and Mary's offense averaged.
But overall, this is a Tribe team without headliners. Another person with ties to the area personifies William and Mary's no-name approach. Wayne Lineburg, a Radford High graduate who spent four years on UVa's team without ever playing, is a graduate assistant coach working with the Tribe offense.
``We made the decision at the beginning of the season to stick together as a team with no finger-pointing,'' Witcher said. ``We don't care about individual awards. We win as a team, we lose as a team.''
The fact that Witcher has three times as many touchdowns as the Tribe has losses shows the formula has worked. The 1990 team is the only other 10-game winner and no William and Mary team has won 11 in a single season. Witcher would love to be able to write a letter about that this weekend in Iowa.
``If we go there and we don't win, I'll never play football again,'' he said. ``I've got a lot of football left in me.''
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: BOB KEROACK. Tim Witcher, a former standout at Franklinby CNBCounty High School, has rushed for six touchdowns for William and
Mary this season. The Tribe plays the University of Northern Iowa
today in the NCAA Division I-AA quarterfinals. color.