THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 14, 1994 TAG: 9410130194
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 29 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines
JOE JOHNSON PLAYS quarterback for the Redskins.
Unlike that other Redskin quarterback - Washington's Heath Shuler - Johnson directs an unbeaten 1994 team. Also, this Redskin quarterback is shorter, slower and light years away from the glamor and riches of the one in Washington.
But like Shuler, Johnson plays for a Cooke. This Cooke isn't a billionaire named Jack Kent. It's a community league team from the oceanfront, named for an area of mostly underprivileged kids.
Johnson is a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Virginia Beach Middle School. He is a four-year veteran of the Cooke Recreation Association football program. Johnson played for two years on the 120-pound team.
For the past two seasons, the plucky signal-caller has led the offense of the 140-pound team.
Joe wears No. 1 on his replica Redskins uniform. He throws the ball, hands it off, runs over tacklers and leads his teammates by example and heart. He plays quarterback like a linebacker - which he also is.
``We had to work with Joe to get him down to 140,'' said coach Glenn Veasey. ``He's a big boy.''
After a 26-0 win over the Great Neck Bulldogs, Johnson talked about his team and his role.
``I played OK on offense. I completed a pass. I started on defense for the first time this week and made three hits and an interception,'' said Johnson.
The Cooke Redskins went to 4-0 with the win.
Four years ago, an unbeaten Cooke team looked improbable if not impossible. That's when restaurateur Carter Turpin stepped in and resurrected the program. The Richmond native lined up sponsors, purchased equipment and fielded the first Cooke Redskin teams in 1990. The recreation association's 120-pounders took the city championship in 1993.
``Once the kids in pee-wee got through playing in that program, they had nowhere to go,'' said Turpin. ``They were too small for junior varsity, too old for pee-wee.
``I saw them hanging out on the corner, at the 7-Eleven. I said, `Hey, this is no good.' ''
Turpin sprang into action, lining up some businesses to provide money for equipment, talking to coaches and laying the organizational groundwork to make the teams possible.
Now the teams wear Redskin-replica uniforms adorned with patches from Pizza Hut, Goodman-Segar-Hogan Residential Real Estate, Jiffy Lube and other local professional and business groups. The First Colonial Family Practice, a group of physicians practicing at the beach, bought a full-page ad in the 1994 program.
Charles Kirkwood looks like a coach pacing the sidelines, watching the 120-pound Cooke team struggle to an 8-6 halftime lead. He wears white shorts, a baseball cap, running shoes. In real life, Kirkwood is a vice president at GSH Real Estate.
``The money we contribute is really insignificant,'' said Kirkwood, eyes fixed on the game. ``What's important is helping these kids, seeing them have something positive to work toward.''
Turpin owns Rudee's Restaurant. His annual Rudee's Golf Tournament donates proceeds to the recreation association over which he presides.
``The 140-pound team has to wear air helmets. They cost $75 each,'' said Turpin as he watched his charges prepare for a game.
Buck Johnson and Allen Purnell are co-head coaches of the smaller Cooke team.
Johnson couldn't make it this day. He had to work. Purnell and his assistants talk to their players at halftime.
The coaches talk; the players listen.
``We are not scoring because the offensive line isn't blocking. It's as simple as that, fellas,'' said Purnell.
This gentle tongue-lashing out of the way, Purnell went on to discuss second-half adjustments on offense and defense. The adjustments worked. The reigning city champs added two more touchdowns to win, 20-6, and even their record at 2-2.
``You played well in the second half,'' Purnell told his team. ``This one's over. Who do we play next?''
``Courthouse,'' the players yell as if they can hardly wait a week to take the field.
Before their game, coach Veasey had his offensive unit running plays. Veasey, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Philadelphia Eagles running back Herschel Walker, didn't like what he saw.
``You have to fire off the ball and block like you mean it.
``If we go out there and don't play hard, we're going to get beat. The Bulldogs are unbeaten,'' he said.
Johnson had finished taking his snaps. He stood to the side and listened to Veasey. As the team started toward the field and the opening kickoff, a smile creased Johnson's pleasant face.
``The Bulldogs lost a game, but coach doesn't want us to get too cocky,'' he said.
The psychology worked. Antoine Cuffee took the handoff from Johnson on the game's first play. He hit the hole hard, cut to the right sideline and didn't stop running until he reached the end zone.
When the play was called back for a clipping penalty, Cuffee added 15 yards to his next run and scored again.
The Cooke Redskin teams have a place to play. They wear uniforms that look like miniatures of the real thing. They learn pride, discipline, teamwork. They win. So does the community. They're not hanging on the corner, or at the 7-Eleven.
Veasey smiled and patted Cuffee on the back as the running back trotted off the field. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by KIRSTEN SORTON
Carter Turpin, who lined up sponsors to field the first Cooke
Recreation Association football team, goes over information about
team pictures with his 120-pound defending city champions.
by CNB