THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 21, 1995 TAG: 9507210655
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FROSTBURG, MD. LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
It was one hour after Thursday's parade welcoming the Washington Redskins was to have ended, and the only players that the more than 2,000 people on Main Street had seen were posed in a 1937 team photo hanging from the window of Kline's Furniture.
``Are they really coming?'' a woman finally asked, rising from her curbside seat in front of Frostburg Pizza - where a sign read, ``There's No Topping The Redskins!!'' - to address a policeman at the top of the hill.
One block away, a woman with a microphone played Redskins trivia with those below her, shouting out questions the crowd didn't have much trouble answering.
Twenty minutes later, everyone got what they came for, pro football on their street, and they clapped and cheered and were as happy as if they had won the Maryland Lottery.
Maybe they have. This section of Maryland has seen hard economic times. Its hopes for revival center primarily on tourism, and there is hope that a yearly visit by the Redskins and their fans will be part of a badly needed tonic.
Earlier in Cumberland, mayor Ed Athey offered team owner Jack Kent Cooke - introduced as ``world famous'' and ``inimitable'' - a renovated 20,000-seat stadium in which to scrimmage the Pittsburgh Steelers next summer. He might need it, since Frostburg's 6,200-seat Bobcat Stadium sold out in two hours for the Redskins-Steelers scrimmage on July 29.
After the perfunctory police cars, ambulances and firefighting equipment, the real stars came. Maryland Gov. Paris Glendening, Maryland House Speaker Casper Taylor and Thomas V. Miller, president of the Maryland senate, rode together in an Edsel Corsair convertible.
``I've dreamed about this day ever since I first talked to Mr. Cooke about the Redskins coming to Maryland for football,'' said Taylor, the first person to name Frostburg as a potential site. ``It's a mutual love interest between the state and the team at this time.''
Then came Cooke and the once and present-again Mrs. Marlena Cooke, whom he married for the second time Saturday. Then came Cooke's son, John, then Redskins coach Norv Turner, followed by 30 of the 83 players who begin camp at Frostburg State this morning at 9.
The mayor presented Cooke with the keys to the city before about 500 cheerful onlookers, the Redskins owner again predicted his team would have a 9-7 record this season, good enough for the playoffs.
``I then turned and asked him, `What's wrong with 16-0?' '' Cooke recalled. ``I once had a team - the Lakers - which won 33 consecutive games. Beginning today, folks, that is our goal.''
And the crowd cheered as if they'd just witnesses a goal-line stand against the Cowboys.
Cooke declared it a day to celebrate the permanent presence of Redskins football in Maryland. He shook his fist and vowed that his stadium, despite persistent public opposition, will be built there.
After the handshaking and gift-giving, Cooke's entourage boarded a seven-car train, freshly painted burgundy-and-gold, for an hors d'oevre-filled 45-minute ride to Frostburg.
At Frostburg's Old Depot, 300 hundred more well-wishers were waiting to cheer on their new favorites. Then, it was up the hill, a hard right onto Main Street, and a parade complete with burgundy-and-gold confetti and a meandering paper mache elephant draped over a kid on a moped.
Some players, like second-year quarterback Heath Shuler - described in Cumberland by cornerback Darrell Green as ``the man who, if we're going to get there, will drive us'' - had cars all to themselves.
Others shared space on floats or in the back seat of convertibles - waving, shaking hands and signing autographs like they had won last year's Super Bowl, not stumbled in at 3-13.
It was Turner who reminded his team that the immediate task is to become competitive, and that jobs rest in the balance.
``Mr. Cooke says we're going to be 9-7 and the players over there look at me like there's going to be pressure on me,'' Turner said. ``I look at them. That's where the pressure is.''
Note: Neither first-round pick Michael Westbrook nor No. 2 choice Cory Raymer will be in camp this morning. Redskins general manager Charley Casserly reported no progress had been made in contract negotiations with the two. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on page C1 by Bill Abourjilie, Staff
More than 2,000 fans lined Main Street in Frostburg, Md., on
Thursday as the Redskins came to open training camp. Story, Page C4
ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Washington Redskins running back Reggie Brooks, right, and teammate
Tydus Winans sign autographs during their parade through Frostburg,
Md., their new home for training camp.
by CNB