ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996 TAG: 9612120030
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: STAGG BOWL NOTES
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
It takes a lot to get Lon Erickson's nose out of a book, whether a textbook or play book. But this did it.
Erickson today will be named the 1996 winner of the Gagliardi Trophy, recognizing the outstanding football player in Division III. Erickson is a 6-0, 190-pound senior quarterback from Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Ill. This season he led the Titans to the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship and a NCAA quarterfinal matchup against Mount Union.
Erickson, from Lake St.Louis, Missouri, had 3,029 yards of total offense in 1996. He set career records with 495 completions and 62 touchdowns, and is second in school history with 7,299 total yards.
Just as important to the 32 Gagliardi voters was this number, a 3.958 grade point average, and Erickson's volunteer work with the homeless, the underprivileged and people with Alzheimer's disease.
Still, he was surprised when he was named the trophy winner. ``It's not that I didn't think I was qualified, it's that so many people are qualified,'' Erickson said Wednesday. ``It really recognizes everything you try to do in life to be the best person you can.''
Erickson arrived in Roanoke on Wednesday after spending three days in New York City in conjunction with the National Football Foundation awards, where he was one of 16 national recipients of an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship. He met another recipient there, Roanoker and Virginia running back Tiki Barber.
Erickson will be presented the award at noon today during the Salem Rotary Club meeting in the Community Room of the Salem Civic Center.
KNEEDLING: Mount Union star quarterback Bill Borchert did not practice Tuesday because of bursitis in his left knee. It stiffened on the team's flight back from Madison, Wis., last Saturday. Borchert will play against Rowan this Saturday in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl at Salem, but it's doubtful he's looking forward to the eight-hour bus ride to the Roanoke Valley.
Both teams were to arrive by bus early this morning.
HAVING A BALL: Whether Mount Union wins the Stagg Bowl or not, it will walk away from Salem with more than it did last week in a semifinal victory over Wisconsin-La Crosse.
The Purple Raiders weren't expecting a trophy last week, but they were expecting their share of four souvenir game balls. Due to a mixup, there were only four balls for both teams. Mount Union went home empty-handed.
FUZZY RECEPTION: If the Stagg Bowl does not sell out by 2 p.m. Friday, as is expected, the game broadcast will be blacked out within a 45-mile radius of Salem. The game will be televised on ESPN beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday.
HOOSIER COACH? Albion College, the 1994 Stagg Bowl champion, is looking for a new coach. Pete Schmidt, who led the Britons to a 38-15 victory over Washington and Jefferson in the 1994 game and is a legendary figure in Albion athletics, will be an assistant to Cam Cameron at Indiana University. They met at a summer camp when Cameron was an assistant at Michigan.
Cameron is the Washington Redskins' quarterbacks coach.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Ericksonby CNB