USD Football 1995

BETTER

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"Imagine, thePresidentsaid that hewasproud ofme and what I did,

and thenasked meto keep in touchwith him asmy careercontinued. I guess it doesn'tget much betterthan that."

CHUCK ROSEBERRY

had slumped badly after producing three dozen NFL players, including Andre Reed of the Buffalo Bills. Leonzi had been a long- time assistant coach at the school and finally landed the coveted head coach'sjob. In addition,he also had his doctorate in education and was one ofthe very few head coaches in the country who was a tenured professor witl1a regular teaching schedule in the education department. He was looking for every edge he could get to revive his program, but he certain- ly wasn 't prepared for Roseberry's request tojoin the team. "I need to see a tape of your play and some recommendations from your coach- es," he told him at their first meeting. Roseberry: "I don 't have any of that stuff." Leonzi: "You must have it before I can make any evaluation." Roseberry: "Well, I'm 46 years old and it's been nearly 30 years since I played the game." Leonzi: "This is the football office. You should be in the admissions office." Roseberry: "I've already been there and I've been admitted to the university." Leonzi (still unbelieving): "Well, tell me something about yourself.•

For the next several minutes, Roseberry spun his tales about his two war campaigns, his life in law e nforce- ment and his belief that he was never worthyofgoing to college because "I felt stupid." Leonzi's educational background helped him understand precisely what Roseberry had endured. "When I got out of Penn State in 1965, at the same time Chuck was graduated from high school, we didn't know much about d yslexia, there was very little being done, or even understood, about special education and helping people with learning disabilities. So at least I under- stood what he was talking about. "At the same time, I told him that play- ing college football at his age was very difficult, not only from the physical stand- point, but also from an educational level. I was committed to graduating all our players and I abhorred the notion of bor- rowing a kid's body for four years to help a football program without him getting an education an d a degree." Still, there was something about Roseberry that triggered a very positive feeling within Leonzi, something more than his imposing six feel, four inches

and 240 pounds that made him look every bit like a football player. Leonzi said, "I thought, 'If he never plays a down of football, he has some- thing to share with the kids on the team and he can be an inspiration to the kids we recruit. He should be a part of the program for that reason alone.' So he allowed him to walk on for spring practice in 1994 and to return for the regular season. "He never missed a prac- tice, he never stopped working and the kids really took to him, even though he could have been their father," Leonzi said. It wasn't easy. While the younger players may have admired him, they also look special aim at him in contact drills, as if to say, "OK old man, you want to play a young man's game, so let's see how good you arc and how much you can take." Leonzi and his coaches granted him no reprieve either. He had to fight off double teams as they sent their biggest players at him. The offensive line coach- es used him to goad their players. "If you can't beat an old guy like that, who can you beat?" they'd yell at their players. In training camp, he extended and even surpassed many players 30 years his CONTINU ED