ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996 TAG: 9612130047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
ILLINOIS WESLEYAN QUARTERBACK Lon Erickson tries to lead by example.
Illinois Wesleyan fibbed. On the school's nomination for the Gagliardi Trophy, it claimed Lon Erickson was 6 feet.
Otherwise, the Titans' 5-foot-10 1/2 quarterback was no stretch for the fourth annual Gagliardi, which goes to the Division III football player of the year.
Erickson won the Gagliardi because he's more than a football player. He came to Salem to accept the honor Thursday after receiving $23,000 in postgraduate scholarship money from the National Football Foundation at a dinner in New York earlier this week.
His coach, Norm Eash, asked if Erickson wanted to hang around for the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl on Saturday. Erickson thought about it. After two rounds in the playoffs and a week of accepting honors, he got on a plane back to Normal, Ill., two hours after the Gagliardi ceremony at the Salem Rotary luncheon.
``We have exams next week,'' said Erickson, a senior who led his team to a 26-6 record as a starter.
The number slightly under 4.0 on Erickson's resume isn't his rushing average. It's his grade-point average. In three-plus years at Illinois Wesleyan, he has earned one B.
Erickson's a business and economics major heading into the real world for a few years before he picks a particular direction for graduate school, but Erickson wouldn't have been in the brightest lights of his career this week without a different sort of smarts, too.
``He's not the biggest quarterback,'' Eash said, ``but he may be the brightest.''
When he was starring at St. Charles High School in Elburn, Ill., Northwestern was the only NCAA Division I-A school that was interested. He was invited to walk on. He also thought about Yale, Drake and Augustana (Ill.), which in the '80s won four consecutive Stagg Bowls.
``Football has been really important to me, but it's not all that I'm about,'' said Erickson. ``Football kind of led me around when I was considering where to go to college.
``It was through football that I did my college search. I'd look at that, then consider the academic reputation of the school. Then I combined the two and decided.
``Last week, someone asked me about my football career being over. I played 16 years, and it hasn't sunk in yet. Football helped so much when I started college. Think about it. You go to a new place, and on a football team, you automatically make 100 friends. You don't feel so alone.''
The 21-year-old Erickson won the honor, named for St. John's (Minn.) coach John Gagliardi, by five points over Albion (Mich.) quarterback Kyle Klein in balloting by a national panel. He joins very good company.
Jim Ballard, the quarterback who guided Mount Union to the first Stagg title at Salem Stadium in 1993, this summer quarterbacked the Scottish Claymores to the World League title. Coe (Iowa) graduate Carey Bender is a backup running back for the NFL's Buffalo Bills. Last year's winner, receiver Chris Palmer of St. John's, is in medical school in Minnesota.
``I was shocked, stunned, you name it, when Coach Eash told me I'd won the Gagliardi,'' Erickson said. ``I thought he was joking. I'm more than honored.''
He certainly is. He's accomplished. As for the weight of the 64-pound Gagliardi Trophy, Erickson is accustomed to heavy lifting.
He's interning at one job and has another job on campus. He's a fraternity man who volunteers at a homeless shelter and participates in March of Dimes walks for Alzheimer's patients and underprivileged children. He's a three-time all-conference quarterback, too.
``It hasn't been a cakewalk, but that shows people it can be done,'' Erickson said. ``I get an enjoyment from being with people. Being involved is what life is about. You don't just sit around in life.''
He's a finalist for an NCAA postgraduate scholarship. In his acceptance speech after his meal Thursday, he thanked everyone except the cooks.
``I've just tried to be a leader by example,'' Erickson said. ``I'm not a rah-rah guy. Let people see the right way. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.''
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART Staff. J-Club secretary Thom Woodward (right)by CNBpresents the Gagliardi Trophy to Illinois Wesleyan quarterback Lon
Erickson at the Salem Civic Center on Thursday.