THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 28, 1996 TAG: 9603280493
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Carroll Dale, who used to catch footballs with the ease with which most of us catch a bus, will speak Monday at noon to the Norfolk Sports Club at the Holiday Inn Executive Center on Greenwich Road off Newtown Road.
In a surprising turn of his career, the former All-American is now athletic director of the Highland Cavaliers - Cavs, for short - at Clinch Valley College in Wise.
In eight years with the Green Bay Packers under Coach Vince Lombardi, Dale averaged 19 yards per catch and went to three championship games. In the last of his 14 years in the pros, he went to the Super Bowl with the Minnesota Vikings under Coach Bud Grant.
Asked how the two coaches differed, Dale said: ``Bud told us, `You've had a great season and you're going to the Super Bowl. Nobody can take that away from you.'
``And Lombardi told us, `You have the opportunity and the only one this particular team will have to become world champions. If you lose the Super Bowl you're going to be remembered always as a loser.' ''
In the 1967 ``Ice Bowl'' against Dallas with the thermometer at minus 16 and wind-chill factor minus 55, the Packers discarded gloves, risking frostbite rather than Lombardi's wrath at their missing a ball.
Had he been asked his goal, Dale wouldn't have thought of being an athletic director. ``I can deal OK with wins and ties, but I have a tough time with losses,'' he said. ``I'm pretty low key, but very emotional and you want your kids to have success almost as much as if they are your own.
``But education boils down to handling all circumstances, success or failure. If persons develop a positive response, it can help them grow. It can be invaluable as they mature.''
After Dale retired from the coal-mining business, he was on a committee that advised in 1989 that the young college have a football team. After the hiring of Coach Bill Ramseyer, a vacancy remained for athletic director. Dale filled it.
To start, the college didn't even have a football. Players walk 1.4 miles round trip to practice and play home games at the high school field (named for Carroll Dale).
In the first year, 1991, they won two, lost six. The second year, won three, lost seven. In 1993 and 1994, won six, lost four; and last year, they won 10, lost one, ranking 12th in NAIA Division 2.
Each year, several players from Hampton Roads are on the team.
``To serve was to return something to an area of which I'm proud and for which I'm grateful,'' Dale said. ``It presents all kinds of challenges, and it's certainly not boring.''
Last year the Norfolk Sports Club raised more than $40,000 for scholarships. In 40 years it has given $600,000 - a winning program founded by Tim Timmons. by CNB