ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 14, 1996 TAG: 9612160043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
HOST FAMILIES look after the teams and make sure they have everything they need, from fried chicken to jersey alterations.
Kathy Murphy is scrambling like a quarterback with a safety blitz bearing down on her, which in a way it is.
Oh, it may look like she and Linda Miles are simply chatting at Thursday night's reception for the two teams in town for the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl - the national championship football game for colleges that don't offer athletic scholarships.
``I'll call Jenny and see if she can go."
"Or maybe she'll know somebody''
But she may be doing the fanciest footwork of all - finding baby sitters for seven coaches' kids, so their parents can attend Friday's luncheon for the two teams.
What's it take for Salem to put on today's Division III national championship? It doesn't take good weather; the past three years proven that, with blizzards, rains and ice storms turning the game at Salem Stadium into a all-star event of meteorological hazards. Instead, Salem relies on the warmth of its hospitality to make a good impression.
Each year, the city recruits "host families" - this year, three - whose sole job is to look after the two visiting teams and make sure they have everything they need.
Say the coaches and their wives want to go out to dinner? No problem: The host families will make recommendations - and the reservations.
Say the team wants to eat its post-game meal on the bus as it heads home? No problem: The host families will make sure all 100 boxes of food are ordered and delivered on schedule. After last year's game, says Linda Miles, "My car smelled like Kentucky Fried Chicken for a week."
Or say the team muddies up its uniforms at practice? No problem: The host families will make sure they get cleaned on time. "I wash jocks," brags Terry Murphy, before admitting he really takes them to the laundry at the Salem High School fieldhouse.
However they get the job done, "these people are definitely the unsung heroes," says John Saunders, the assistant director of the Salem Civic Center, which handles most of the local arrangements for the bowl. Adds game director Carey Harveycutter: "The families are one of the most integral things we've got. You get a good Salem family, and they can relate what Salem is."
The same "good Salem families" have worked the Stagg Bowl all four years it's been in Salem - Dave and Frankie Robbins always take the West team; Terry and Kathy Murphy handle the East team, with help from Billy and Linda Miles.
Since this is Salem, there are more than a few connections among these folk and the city's sports establishment: Both Dave Robbins and Terry Murphy are on the Planning Commission; Kathy Murphy works for the city Parks and Recreation Department; Billy Miles is an assistant coach of Salem's state championship football team; Linda Miles is a secretary at Andrew Lewis Middle School.
They all see this as a civic obligation to help keep the game in Salem. "The biggest thing is to be available," Terry Murphy says, "and give them a big dose of Salem hospitality like they're probably not used to."
How big?
When Rowan College came to Salem for the 1993 game, its quarterback complained that his jersey had shrunk. "We called Murph and, boom, they took care of that in about an hour," says Rowan head coach K.C. Keeler.
Murph - as Terry Murphy is known - tracked down a dry cleaner who could insert a panel around the shoulder blades to give the quarterback more throwing room.
And then there was the time someone, maybe a coach or a coach's kid, came down sick and needed a prescription filled. The midnight call went out to Murph to take care of it. And he did. "I've got some friends at Brooks-Byrd Pharmacy, and they came in and said, `What do you need?''' he recalls.
Sometimes the host families are called on to ferry stragglers to and from practice. Dave Robbins always rides his team's bus to help the out-of-town drivers navigate the route. He's president of the Salem Historical Society and can't resist delivering a history lesson as they roll along. His team this year is Mount Union College from just outside Canton, Ohio, so he felt obliged to point out that an Ohio regiment fought at the Battle of Hanging Rock.
Other times, the host families' job is just to stand around the hotel lobby and field questions, as Dave Robbins was doing Friday morning at the Airport Sheraton.
From a coach's wife: ``Assuming the best and we win, I understand we're not allowed on the field or in the locker room. What would you suggest the wives do?"
From another coach's wife: ``I'm Coach Leigh's wife, and he said I needed to see you about the ticket to the luncheon''
From a cheerleader: ``Do you know what the temperature is going to be?"
This is Rowan's third trip in four years to the Stagg Bowl - its fourth trip to Salem if you count the Division III basketball tournament last spring - and the school has virtually adopted its two host families as unofficial alumni.
The Murphys sport "Rowan College" watches they've been given. When the Mileses' son was married, Rowan Athletic Director Joy Reighn and her husband came down to attend the wedding. When Virginia Tech's football team plays in Philadelphia, the Reighns invite the Mileses to come up and stay with them in the Jersey suburbs.
But the most touching moment may have come earlier this year after Rowan's basketball team won the championship. "As soon as the players cut down the net, the MVP came over and hugged my wife and said, `Thank you, Kathy, you've made our stay special.'''
It's the little things that count. Friday morning, Terry Murphy slipped an extra luncheon ticket to one of Rowan's bus drivers so he could eat with the team.
Oh, and the baby sitter? Kathy Murphy and Linda Miles lined up two Salem high school students, Betsy Hall and Jenny Veron. True to form, the school gave them permission to skip class to handle the civic chore.
LENGTH: Long : 113 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. 1. Rowan College head coach K.C.by CNBKeeler (left) receives a cheer from hosts Terry and Kathy Murphy. 2.
Dave Robbins (right) and Mount Union players look over Stagg Bowl
memorabilia at the Sheraton Friday. color. 3. ROGER HART/Staff
Frankie Robbins talks with Linda Kehres (right) and Teresa
Montgomery, wives of Mount Union coaches, as they return to the
Sheraton after shopping at places Robbins recommended.