Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

The Palestra on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania may hold a special place in Philadelphia basketball lore, but from March 8-9 it played host to a different sport: wrestling. The Drexel wrestling team was there along with the rest of the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association for the EIWA Championships with bids to the NCAA Tournament on the line.

Drexel has gone through its fair share of bumps in the road on the season, but the two-day event marked a significant peak in the Dragons’ season as they sent five wrestlers to the podium with two earning automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament in Oklahoma City, beginning March 20.

The Dragons were led by freshman Kevin Devoy Jr. and senior Brandon Palik, both punching their tickets to Oklahoma City. Devoy wrestled his way all the way to the finals for 133 pounds as the No. 6 seed, where he ran into the No. 1 seed at the weight class, Lehigh University’s Mason Beckman. He was able to keep it close, but dropped the match by a slim 4-1 margin and earned second place honors.

“It was awesome,” Devoy said. “I knew in the morning I had one match to go [to qualify for NCAAs] or I would have had to wrestle back against a number of tough kids to make it to nationals. I went out there and gave it everything I had against a tough opponent ranked top 20 in the country, and I just thought I’d leave it all out there and it worked in my favor.”

“Devoy is the shining star,” head coach Matt Azevedo said. “He did what we knew he was capable of. He finally put it together consistently. It was exciting to watch. It was exciting to see him perform to the best of his ability.”

Devoy’s experience level will certainly be aided by qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, but it’s an opportunity he almost missed. Devoy began the season as the team’s 125-pounder and struggled to make weight and keep up the necessary energy and strength levels to win. The midseason bump up to 133 pounds opened up a new world of opportunities for the team’s talented freshman.

“I think I wrestled pretty well at 125, but I didn’t feel my best,” Devoy said, adding later, “I definitely feel a lot better at 133, so it was definitely the right decision.”

Palik went into the EIWA Championships as the No. 1 seeded 197-pounder, and his expectation was to continue his winning ways and take home the title at his weight class. The events on the mat did not work out the way that the senior star had anticipated. Although he finished in seventh place, it was high enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

“Coming in here as a senior being seeded first, good spot in the bracket, and after I lost my first match I just did a complete 180,” Palik explained. “It was a big eye-opener, but it is what it is. I did what I had to do.”

“He did get the job done to get the NCAA Tournament, which is what this tournament’s number one purpose is,” Azevedo said. “But I know he’s upset because his goal was to win the tournament.”

Devoy and Palik were not the only Dragons to shine at the Palestra. Senior Austin Sommer finished in fifth place at 157 pounds, one spot away from automatically qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. Sommer, who wrestled one of the toughest schedules of any Drexel mat man this season, continued to get dealt the tough hand. Going in unranked, Sommer pulled off upsets over the No. 4 and No. 5 seeds in the tournament before dropping matches to the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. Sommer took home fifth place after the No. 3 seed took the loss on a medical forfeit.

On Wednesday, Sommer was rewarded for wrestling a tough schedule and upsetting ranked opponents at the EIWA Championships with an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Freshman Tanner Shoap placed eighth at 125 pounds, the pinnacle of a season that saw great growth. Shoap started the season as the backup 125-pounder, but when Devoy moved up to 133 pounds, Shoap stepped in. Azevedo has been impressed by how he has progressed in his new role.

“Tanner went through a little rough patch there,” Azevedo explained about his freshman. “He had some tough losses at the end of the season, but he showed up ready to wrestle. Even in the matches he lost, he wrestled hard and gave great effort. He saved his best wrestling for the end of the year, which is what you want.”

Junior Noel Blanco went into the tournament seeded No. 8 at 149 pounds and came away finishing one spot better. Blanco was able to shake off a tough loss to the No. 1-seeded wrestler in his weight class and a pin to take home seventh place.Overall, though, the trip down 33rd Street was a success for Azevedo’s wrestlers. The third-year head coach was proud of what his team was able to accomplish in its first postseason tournament as a member of the EIWA, coming over from the weaker Colonial Athletic Association.

“Overall, [I feel] really good,” Azevedo concluded. “Overall, our guys stepped up and wrestled really, really well.”

Drexel wrestling and Azevedo are not done with their season, as they look to prep Devoy, Palik and Sommer for the NCAA Tournament and represent the Dragons on the national stage beginning March 20.

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Dave O’Brien, former director of athletics, sports law scholar and director of the sport management program in the Goodwin College of Professional Studies at Drexel University, passed away March 1 at the age of 57 after a long battle with cancer.

O’Brien was a mentor, role model, educator and father figure to many people over the years. He was tough but also fair and compassionate. Above all, O’Brien was a leader in every sense of the word and has become known as the leader’s leader.

“For me, he was just an incredible leader,” professor of sport management Brett Burchette, who had worked with O’Brien at both Temple University and Northeastern University prior to Drexel, said. “He was someone who inspired us, and we tried to emulate and be like him in every aspect of his life. He set the bar very high.”

In 1989 O’Brien made the leap to athletics after spending time with the New Jersey State Senate and Montclair State University by joining Long Beach State University as the director of athletics. He oversaw the construction of the unique multi-purpose arena known as “the Pyramid,” as well as multiple national championships by the 49ers.

Following a move to Temple University in 1996, O’Brien continued his successes, overseeing the construction of what is now the Liacouras Center and growing the football program’s on-field success and attendance. He also hired Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Dawn Staley, who initially had no interest in becoming the head women’s basketball coach and had turned down the position on multiple occasions. O’Brien was persistent, knowing that Staley had what it took to lead the program. Staley eventually agreed at O’Brien’s urging and became the winningest women’s basketball coach in the program’s history.

O’Brien’s final stop as an athletic director was at Northeastern University. From 2002 to 2007, he helped the school transition its athletic department from the America East Conference to their current home in the Colonial Athletic Association, as well as hired current men’s basketball coach Bill Coen and women’s basketball coach Daynia La-Force.

At each of his stops, O’Brien always fought for fairness and led with a clear vision. He stabilized each athletic department and hired the best people he could find to fill the voids. He had the uncanny ability to recognize strengths and talents in people that they may not have even seen in themselves.

O’Brien built Drexel’s sport management program with the same clear vision. From his first day as program director in 2007, he identified talent and put a talented team of faculty together. He fostered a culture of success within the department and a sense of family among the faculty and students. Whether it was the faculty or the students, O’Brien had a way of always getting the best out of everyone he crossed paths with.

“Right away, you get this sense that you never want to disappoint him, like a father,” professor of sport management Amy Giddings said. “I think that really permeates, and it makes you want to be the best you can possibly be, so he can see that and appreciate what you’re doing.”

Students remember O’Brien as an educator who challenged them intellectually in the classroom, yet someone who could keep the atmosphere light and humorous, whether it was by pretending to turn a double play or using one of his catchy and colloquial phrasings to explain a complex concept. He also helped students develop into better leaders professionally and well-rounded people in life. He pushed his students to be better in every aspect.

“Even though his classes were some of the toughest I have taken, he always taught them in an enjoyable and entertaining way,” junior sport management student Greg Monforte said. “He pushed me to want to work harder, which has helped me in school and as a professional.”

“We just wish that every student can find their Dave O’Brien,” Burchette said of his mentor.

Even as the illness took its toll, O’Brien remained dedicated to his role as an educator, teaching until the past fall term.

Outside of the classroom, O’Brien served as a legal adviser, the editor of College Sports Business News, and the author of numerous law review articles. He was a devoted and loving family man to his wife, Eva, and sons Kevin, Daniel, James and the late Michael. O’Brien was also an avid and accomplished golfer with multiple club championships at Cedarbrook Country Club.

There will be a visitation at St. Rose of Lima Church in North Wales, Pa., March 8 from 9-10:50 a.m followed by a funeral mass at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Mike O’Brien Memorial Fund, which benefits the little league baseball field that is named after his late son.

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Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

The Drexel wrestling team finished up its regular season, dropping duals to both Rutgers University and the University of Pennsylvania over the weekend. However, there was a silver lining, as the program honored five seniors on Saturday’s Senior Night. The Dragons finished the regular season with a 7-15 team record overall and a 1-6 record in their first season in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.

Drexel began their weekend on the road on Friday, visiting the Scarlet Knights. Head coach Matt Azevedo knew that on paper the Dragons were outmatched by their new conference foes and would need a few upsets if they wanted to head back to Philadelphia with the win.

His caution turned out to be justified, as his mat men dropped the 33-6 team decision. The two Dragons to pick up decisions were none other than seniors Austin Sommer and Brandon Palik. Although Rutgers proved to be the tough opponent that Azevedo and the Dragons had expected, they can take solace in the fact that they lost five of the matches by only four points or fewer; momentum could have been shifted with just one takedown in any of those matches. It goes down as a loss on the schedule, but not all of the news from New Brunswick, N.J., was negative.

The Dragons returned home to the Daskalakis Athletic Center on Saturday to take on Battle of 33rd Street rival Penn in the first-ever fight for the Abner’s Cheesesteak Trophy. In the end, the cheesesteak proved too greasy for Drexel to grasp, and the Quakers took the trophy and bragging rights back across the street after earning the 20-10 decision.

“We thought we could win that match, and I think anybody who watched the dual meet saw that we could have won that match,” Azevedo said. “I kind of looked at it that we were one takedown away from tying or winning the match.”

He continued, “It’s a tough pill to swallow, but obviously I’m proud of their effort.”

Saturday was Senior Night at Drexel with Azevedo and the wrestling program honoring the program’s five seniors. The starting trio of Kevin Matyas, Austin Sommer and Brandon Palik, as well as Shane Fenningham and Steve Winfield, came out to center mat and were greeted by Azevedo and Deputy Director of Athletics Nick Gannon, who presented wrestlers and their families with individualized commemorative portraits.

When the action on the mat switched over to wrestling, it was clear that Penn would be a challenging opponent. The Dragons would need some wins from unexpected weight classes if they wanted to cap off the regular season on a victorious note.

Promising freshman Kevin Devoy got the Dragons on the board with a major decision at 133 pounds, and junior Noel Blanco got the job done at 149 pounds. Penn flexed their muscles at the middleweights, though, reeling off wins at the next four weight classes. Senior Brandon Palik, ranked No. 17 in the country at 197 pounds heading into the match, was the only other Dragon to pull off a win.

Again, it was a similar story against Penn as it was at Rutgers. Six of the matches that Drexel dropped were decided by three points or fewer; freshman Alex DeCiantis took the No. 11 ranked 184-pounder down to the wire, and freshman heavyweight Joe Giorgio went to overtime with his opponent. A takedown here or an escape there, and the Dragons could have been right back in the match.

“The difference was that they scored in the third period more than we did,” Azevedo said. “Basically all of the one-point matches we lost, they got a third-period takedown and we didn’t. That’s the difference.”

Even the loss could not take away from the emotions of the evening. It would be the last time that Matyas, Palik and Sommer would wrestle in front of the home crowd before they head into their final opportunity to reach nationals.

“It was fun. There was a lot of emotion, and I really wanted to win,” Matyas said. “You always want to go out on top, but it’s not over yet. We still have EIWAs in a few weeks, and I have a lot of opportunities there.”

“I accepted that this wouldn’t be my last match. I accepted it a couple of weeks ago that this day was going to come, and it is what it is,” Palik said. “Just take it as another match.”

With the regular season now behind them, the Dragons’ focus turns to the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Championships March 8-9 at the Palestra, where spots in the NCAA Tournament will be on the line. Drexel’s hopefuls know that these upcoming matches are what their whole season, all of the hard work and dedication, comes down to. For the special group of seniors, EIWAs means so much more. This is the last go-around. Each time they hit the mat in two weeks, they are wrestling to make sure it’s not their last.

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Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

Three years ago, when Matt Azevedo took over Drexel University’s wrestling program from Jack Childs — who was retiring after 35 years as head coach — the wrestlers entering their sophomore seasons were going to play an important role. They would have three seasons under Azevedo to grow into contenders at the conference and national levels but also to help Azevedo grow Drexel’s wrestling program into one with a national scope.

Kevin Matyas, Brandon Palik and Austin Sommer have done just that.

The senior trio has bought into Azevedo’s program both on and off of the mat. It’s a comforting feeling for a first-time head coach at the collegiate level to have such a level of support from his athletes from the get-go.

“They have been really supportive of what we’re trying to do, and I think they’re excited about it,” Azevedo said. “They see the program going in a forward direction. They see some good things happening. I think they’re excited to be a part of it, which is exciting to us as coaches because, when your best wrestlers and your older guys are excited about what you’re doing, it gets everyone excited as well.”

On the mat, they are among the hardest workers on the team whether it be on match day or an offseason practice. They show the team full of younger wrestlers the way and how to become successful on their journey. Azevedo has been impressed with their leadership.

“Kevin has done a great job getting wins at some unexpected times to help us win dual meets,” Azevedo said. “Obviously, Brandon is who he is, and he still has some goals that he wants to reach. I know that Austin fell short every year of making the NCAA tournament, and I know he wants to get there. He’s been working really hard over the past calendar year, and I think it has hit him, like, ‘Wow, I need to get my butt in gear.’”

Earlier in the season, Palik sent a message to the younger guys on the team. Palik came into his senior season with otherworldly expectations, and, for the most part, he has lived up to them.

“If I could leave them with one thing,” Palik said, “it would be just to keep your head on straight and just stay focused on wrestling because that’s what you’re here to do. It goes by quick, and I tell them as a senior there are so many things I got to do or didn’t do as a freshman, sophomore, junior that I’ll never get back. I’ve learned from the mistakes, and I hope they do too.”

Off the mat, Matyas, Palik and Sommer have helped create a culture conducive to winning and building the Drexel wrestling brand. When recruits come to campus, they are the first three wrestlers that Azevedo wants the potential future Dragons to see because they represent everything the young coach wants in his guys.

“The older guys are a huge part of recruiting,” Azevedo said of his elder statesmen. “It’s the kids who are the ones that sell the program. We’re obviously selling the program on the phones, in the homes and while they’re on the visit, but ultimately I think what seals the deal is when they come and meet the other student-athletes and see if they can fit in with the team and if they can make this their home for the next five years.

“Your recruiting is only as good as your kids, and I have 100 percent confidence that when we bring a recruit to campus our guys are going to be honest and get them pumped up about what we’re doing.”

As the end draws near, it’s important to reflect on how much this graduating class has meant to Drexel wrestling. At the moment, however, the emphasis is on finishing the regular season strong heading into the conference tournament. They finish out the regular season with what looks to be a tough match on paper at Rutgers University Feb. 21 before they head home for Senior Night against the University of Pennsylvania Feb. 22.

“I think with the fact that we will have three seniors in the lineup, they’re going to want to go out on a win,” Azevedo said. “I think you often see kids on Senior Night perform a little above and beyond what they normally do because there’s a lot of emotion there. Add in the fact that it’s against Penn; we’re really trying to build that rivalry up.”

To take the rivalry to new heights, the Dragons and the Quakers will be wrestling for the first annual Cheesesteak Trophy. It’s a bit ironic because many wrestlers wouldn’t dare touch a cheesesteak while trying to maintain weight throughout the season, but it will stand as a tangible — and delicious — bragging right for the winning team.

This weekend will be an important one for Drexel wrestling. They put their three-match winning streak on the line against Rutgers and then head right into the season finale against Penn for Senior Night, the Battle of 33rd Street, and the Cheesesteak Trophy. For Matyas, Palik and Sommer, it will be a weekend that the three seniors can never get back, and their contributions to their head coach and the Drexel wrestling program should not be forgotten.

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Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

The Drexel wrestling team continued its late season push Feb. 7 and 8, extending its winning streak to three with victories over Rider University and Franklin & Marshall College. The wins improved the Dragons to 7-13 on the season and 1-4 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.

It all began Feb. 7 in front of a raucous crowd at the Daskalakis Athletic Center against Rider for the Dragons’ annual Spirit Night. The Broncs are certainly not an easy win scheduled just to put on a show for the packed DAC; they are a national top-30 team. Drexel, though, used every bit of the crowd’s energy and unconditional support to work its way to the narrow 20-19 victory.

Freshman Kevin Devoy opened up the scoring on the Dragons’ side at 133 pounds in the closest match of the night. Devoy’s endurance was on full display as he outlasted his opponent, Chuck Zeisloft, in five overtimes to take the 7-6 decision.

With the DAC already buzzing, the crowd became electric when freshman David Pearce pulled off an unexpected come-from-behind pin of his opponent Paul Kirchner. The six-point pin threw the DAC into a frenzy as Pearce, adrenaline pumping full blast, sprang to his feet immediately after the referee’s hand hit the mat to fire up the crowd even more.

“We normally don’t have crowds like this, so it was really fun,” Pearce said after his victory. “After I stood up and saw everyone was jumping and cheering, it felt so good. To know I did it for the team and we hadn’t beat Rider in a while, it was awesome.”

Pearce’s head coach agreed with his assessment.

“At 141 pounds, Pearce getting that win when he’s losing; it’s huge,” head coach Matt Azevedo said after the match.

After dropping a decision at 149 pounds, the Dragons recorded an important decision at 157 pounds as one of their senior leaders, Austin Sommer, took care of business and continued to build on his solid year.

The 165-pound match could be considered the turning point of the meet; redshirt freshman Jason Fugiel earned three points for Drexel, earning the improbable decision over Rider’s Ramon Santiago.

“At 165 [pounds] on paper,” Azevedo said, “there’s no way we should win that match. No way.”

Things were going Drexel’s way; however, after dropping a major decision at 174 pounds and a technical fall at 184 pounds, the Dragons needed a big night from their star wrestler, Brandon Palik.

They got exactly what they needed. Palik went out and dominated Rider’s Jeff McElwee, winning by technical fall to give Drexel a 20-16 lead heading into the final match of the night.

Drexel’s fate was in redshirt freshman Joe Giorgio’s hands. If Giorgio lost by anything other than a regular decision, the match would end tied or with a Drexel loss. But Giorgio took care of business for his team, losing by a regular decision, and secured the 20-19 win for the Dragons.

“He’s been in wrestling long enough, he knows what’s going on,” Azevedo said. “He knew he had to go out, be smart and wrestle hard; don’t make any mistakes. He even had a chance to win that match. Ultimately he knew that he just needed to not get pinned or [lose by technical fall]. He wrestled smart and he wrestled tough, and he ends up being the hero.”

Azevedo said he knew that the fans were the difference in the match. His guys would have been wrestling hard no matter what, but with a packed house and high energy, they went out with a little bit extra. That little bit was the deciding factor.

“It’s huge. It makes a difference,” Azevedo said after he thanked the crowd as they were filing out. “If we don’t have that crowd, we don’t win that dual meet. That’s how I really feel about it. I felt the same way last year when we were wrestling Boston [University]. If we don’t have that crowd, we don’t win. The kids feed off of it.”

Riding the wave of momentum from the big win over Rider, the Dragons downed Franklin & Marshall by a dominant score of 25-11. Drexel only dropped matches in three weight classes to close out the big win, the team’s third straight.

The Dragons are putting everything together at the right time, as the conference tournament draws nearer each match.

“I think that we’re being consistent,” Azevedo said after the Feb. 8 match. “When you’re consistent, good things will happen. I think that’s what we’re seeing. That was our struggle all season: one guy shows up but the other guy doesn’t. We had some tight duals, but without everyone at the same spot, we weren’t getting those close wins where the last three duals we have been.”

Drexel now has a week off before they return to the mat at Rutgers University Feb. 21 and close out the regular season on Senior Night at home against the University of Pennsylvania Feb. 22.

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Drexel’s official mascot — Mario the Dragon — is a familiar face at many of the school’s athletic events, but he is not likely to appear on a football field any time soon.

THE SECOND INSTALLMENT OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.

Why doesn’t Drexel have a football team? It’s the question, even to this day, that Director of Athletics Eric Zillmer gets asked the most.

To this question, Zillmer often gives the short answer: money. But he rarely has the time to fully explain himself. The long, full answer really hinges on two aspects: cost and perception.

“Those football teams have 85 scholarships and a 10-person coach[ing] staff; that would overwhelm our athletic department,” Zillmer said about playing football at the Division I level. “We just can’t manage that.”

Most of Drexel’s athletic teams play in the Colonial Athletic Association. The CAA also has football, which includes many of Drexel’s rivals like the University of Delaware and Towson University. Those teams compete at the Football Championship Subdivision level — formerly known as Division I-AA. Aside from the resources needed to compete at the same level as their conference rivals, Zillmer sees geography as a big hurdle.

“Football is perceived [geographically],” Zillmer explained. “The farther north you go, the tougher it is to sell. You go south, people breathe it. You go to Texas, it rules the world.”

He looks at universities like Boston University, who dropped football and have used hockey to create a strong brand for their athletic department. This is also the case with CAA foes Northeastern University and Hofstra University, who also compete at high levels without football. Former CAA member Old Dominion University did the opposite, adding football to try to bolster their national audience, but have struggled across the rest of their athletic department ever since.

Zillmer explained that there is another perception inhibiting the sport: If you decide to add football, then you are playing bad football at the start. To get a program off the ground and maintain interest, there has to be a certain competition standard that would need to be met.

The City of Philadelphia is full of cautionary football tales. Temple University just cut seven varsity sports, a move believed by many to, in part, allocate extra funds to their struggling football program. For a school like Drexel, which has been a respected leader in gender equity, the idea of cutting seven sports to fund one is unsettling.

Zillmer looks to another football program, one that has likely been long forgotten: La Salle University’s. La Salle had fielded a football team for about a decade up until the U.S. got involved in World War II in the early 1940s. The school tried to revive the program in the late 1990s, which again lasted about a decade, but it ultimately got cut in 2007.

But there is more to La Salle’s second foray into football than simply a failed attempt. Preston Plevretes was covering a punt in a game against Duquesne University back in 2005 when he was knocked unconscious by a hit. Plevretes ended up in the hospital with a severe brain injury, an injury that the family contended in a lawsuit was the result of misconduct on the part of La Salle for allowing him to play after suffering a concussion from a helmet-to-helmet hit in an earlier practice.

Plevretes and his family settled with La Salle for $7.5 million in 2009.

Proponents of football at Drexel look toward programs like those at the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University. Penn plays on a suitable level in the Ivy League and has the resources to cover the extensive football costs. Villanova plays at the FCS level, which still takes tremendous resources to fund, but puts them on a much more competitive level. It’s a matter of finding the right fit for the athletic department, and Drexel does not feel like they have that necessary fit.

Some argue that Drexel could start up football at a lower level, like Division II or even Division III. Zillmer contends that competing at those levels just would not fit with the current plan for Drexel athletics.

“What we’re trying do in athletics is we are trying to compete at the highest level, that’s why we’re Division I,” Zillmer said. “In the sports in which we compete, we’re trying to do the best we can. Field hockey, we’re top 20. Lacrosse, we’re top 20. Squash, we’re top 20. In basketball last year, our women finished in the top 35, which is very good for basketball.”

Even if Drexel were to consider taking a dip in the football pool, the question of money would always come into play. If the cuts at Temple have taught the sports world anything, it’s that college athletics are now more of a business than ever before.

“It’s a really tough challenge,” Zillmer concluded. “At the end of the day, the money just isn’t there. You just have to think of it from a cost-containment perspective.”

There are plans for a Drexel football reunion. It won’t be sponsored by the school, though; this is the players’ idea. It won’t be held at the school either. When meeting with Steve Spagnolo for this story, it was only his second time back on Drexel’s campus since 1975, the other time being in 1994 with the members of football past.

In the coming fall, a handful of former players — including Spagnolo and Barry Cole — will make the nearly 3,000-mile trip from Philadelphia to Los Angeles to go to the University of Southern California.

The team’s former quarterback, Al Checcio, is now the senior vice president of University Advancement for the Trojans. He invited his old teammates to reunite, play some golf and take in a USC football game.

There will surely be old stories of the Drexel gridiron shared and jokes of still having eligibility left told. It’s the trip made possible by friendships and bonds formed 40 years ago on and off the football field.

As for the days of football at Drexel, only bits and pieces of the history remain. Most of the newspaper clippings, letters and artifacts live in the University’s archives in the basement of the library. Other pieces survive in the possession of the players who once donned the uniforms. The comedy group carries the name in irony.

Drexel University is full of mysteries, some of which are tougher to crack than others. As for the complicated history of the sport of football at Drexel, history is all that remains.

The post Why doesn’t Drexel have a football team? Part III appeared first on The Triangle.

Photo Credit: Ajon Brodie

With friends, family and groups of younger wrestlers looking on, the Drexel wrestling team notched its first home win of the season Feb. 1 with a convincing 24-14 decision over the Duke University Blue Devils at the Daskalakis Athletic Center.

The home win came in dominant fashion in front of an avid group of followers, giving the DAC crowd a glimpse into what they can expect over the coming years under head coach Matt Azevedo.

“It was long overdue in a lot of ways,” Azevedo explained after the match. “We lost by one point and then two points previously, and I thought this match was going to go along the same route. I thought it was going to be another one, two-point match, but some things went our way that allowed us to run away with it.”

Drexel started off with a quick 6-0 advantage over Duke after freshman Tanner Shoap won on forfeit for a second straight match. Another one of Azevedo’s talented freshmen, Kevin Devoy Jr., followed up with a dominant decision of his own at 133 pounds.

At 141 pounds, freshman David Pearce took home six points for the Dragons in the scariest of ways. Late in the match, Pearce’s opponent, Xaviel Ramos, who was standing up, had Pearce on upside down hanging off of his back. In a desperate attempt to score points, Ramos fell back, slamming Pearce to the mat and landing on top of him. Ramos was disqualified for flagrant misconduct and the Dragons took a commanding 15-0 lead in the match.

After Matt Cimato dropped a 3-0 decision at 149 pounds, one of Drexel’s senior leaders, Austin Sommer, took to the mat. Sommer was going up against a top-30 wrestler in Immanuel Kerr-Brown. The two 157-pounders were evenly matched and the score was tied 7-7 coming down to the end of the third period.

Desperate to avoid overtime, the senior, head up with his opponent and time ticking down, scored a match-winning takedown for two points. His late win got his coaches and teammates up off of the bench and the crowd on their feet. It put the Dragons in a position where they were not about to look back.

“We worked all week on just how to beat this one kid since this was the only match this week,” Sommer said. “I went out there really confident knowing I could probably win and I did that. It feels good.”

“It was a huge win for Austin,” Azevedo said. “He has probably wrestled the toughest schedule out of anyone on our team. It seems like every team we dual, one of their best kids is at 157 pounds. He has gone through the gauntlet, wrestled the tough schedule, and he was due for a big win like that.”

Sommer is admittedly not a vocal leader. He lets his wrestling show out on the mat and hopes the younger guys follow his lead. His ability to score late in the match to win, instead of letting the match go into overtime, is something that he hopes his teammates can learn from.

“I’m not much of a talker, so I try to lead by example whenever I can,” Sommer explained. “Tonight was a perfect example of how I do that. I try to get the team motivated any way I can, win or lose, just go out there and fight for seven minutes as hard as I can and give it everything I have.”

After Sommer’s win and a loss at 165 pounds, Kevin Matyas secured the win. Wrestling at 174 pounds, Matyas went out, put what his coaches have been telling him to work and pinned Duke’s Andrew DeHart. The six-point pin gave the Dragons an insurmountable 24 points.

“We know that Kevin is strong from that position, the top position,” Azevedo said of Matyas. “When he gets his opportunities, he usually locks it down. We thought we could get a win there, and it wasn’t going our way for a while. He stayed patient, got to where he knows he’s strong, and he made the most of it.”

With the match in hand, the Dragons went on to drop their final three matches. It did not matter, though, as Drexel came away with the 24-14 win at home. In those three matches was perhaps the most surprising result of the night: Brandon Palik lost.

Palik went up against Duke’s Connor Hartmann, who he beat on a 3-2 decision at the Southern Scuffle earlier in the season. However, it was Hartmann who got the best of Palik this time, winning a 7-4 decision in overtime. It was a surprise to everyone, but Azevedo wasn’t worried about his nationally ranked senior.

“It’s good for Brandon,” Azevedo said, confident that Palik would learn from the loss. “He beat that kid earlier in the year in a one-point match, so we knew it was going to be a tough match. He’s been off for a while. He has had two matches, but he pinned both kids in the first period so he hasn’t been tested. His conditioning isn’t quite back where it will be, but it was good for him to be tested. I’d rather take that loss now, improve, and be ready for when it really counts.”

The team win was big for the Dragons, as they improve to 5-13 on the year. From here on out, it’s strictly Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association matches for the Drexel mat men. They return to the mat with home matches against Rider University Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. and Franklin & Marshall College Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.

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In 1973, the Drexel football team defeated Albright College in their annual Pretzel Bowl. The Dragons won the game in upset fashion by a score of 16-7. It would prove to be the program’s final victory, as the team was cut at the conclusion of the season.

THE FIRST INSTALLMENT OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.

The 1973 Drexel football season began just like seasons past had begun. Sterling Brown was at the helm to coach the team. Barry Cole, who along with Steve Spagnolo was among the first group of freshmen to be allowed to play varsity football, described Brown as “this little fiery guy who was probably about 3-foot-2 and chewed tobacco.”

Prior to the 1971 season, Brown sat his team down and gave a short speech that Cole hasn’t forgotten to this day: “You guys aren’t here to go school,” Cole said, mimicking Brown’s raspy voice from over 40 years ago, “you’re here to play football.”

Behind the scenes, though, the University did not seem as committed to football as Brown wanted his players to be. The board of trustees had taken issue with the amount of money that football was taking from the athletics budget starting in 1971. They had quietly formed a committee to look into the issue.

Brown and the players pushed on through the 1973 season, not paying attention to the board’s proceedings; they had a tough schedule and needed to stay focused.

The team started off the year with back-to-back victories, the first over Fordham University and the next over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After dropping their third game of the year to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Drexel got back on track and improved to 3-1 with a tough win over Gettysburg College in the 1973 homecoming game.

The win over Gettysburg still sticks out in the minds of Cole and Spagnolo to this day. Homecoming festivities were in full swing, students and alumni were back together, beer and spirits were ever-flowing. Gettysburg — one of the tougher opponents on Drexel’s schedule — was trying to ruin the party.

“We were down 21-nothing in the first quarter against Gettysburg,” Spagnolo recalled. “We scored a touchdown before the half to cut it to 21-7.”

Drexel wouldn’t go away, though. They couldn’t fall that easily in their own homecoming game, could they?

“We came back to win it 28-24 on a last-minute touchdown,” Spagnolo said, a twinkle of nostalgia in his eye. “We had some pretty exciting games.”

Their next opponent was Long Island University C.W. Post Campus, in a game that should have served as a cautionary tale for the bad luck that was to come. LIU Post came out “looking like the Green Bay Packers,” as Cole remembered, and proved to be a tough test. Drexel lost the game 16-15 on a last-minute field goal that tipped off of the upright and in to give LIU Post the victory. It was Drexel’s first of three losses in their final four games.

That final win of the 1973 season came against Albright College in their annual Pretzel Bowl. Albright was a strong opponent, and nobody really expected Drexel to hang around with them. Prior to the game, Drexel running back Andrew Stopper, who was from the Reading, Pa., area, not far from Albright, was fielding bets on the game, a majority of which were placed on Albright. He told them that Drexel was going to win, for which he was met with crazy looks.

Drexel pulled off the unlikely upset, winning the game 16-7. Stopper looked like a genius and happily collected his winnings.

The bus ride back from their 9-0 loss to the United States Coast Guard Academy in the final game of the season was sure to be depressing, even without the news they were about to hear. A class of seniors was graduating, including standout linebacker Ed Shubert, who Cole and Spagnolo both said was the best player with whom they had ever played. Shubert went on to try out for the hometown Philadelphia Eagles but didn’t make the cut.

Those who remained saw the hopes of yet another season dashed and a long offseason of training ahead. However, the bus ride back dashed the hopes of the very future of the Drexel football program.

The players were notified that the University’s board of trustees president, William Hagerty, and Director of Athletics John Semanik had cut the football program. Scholarships would be honored and transfers would be granted if so desired, but that was it.

The end of Drexel football came Nov. 19, 1973.

“From our standpoint, we were just totally floored,” Cole said about the cut.

“The coaches were blindsided too,” Spagnolo added. “I don’t think they saw this coming either.”

Spagnolo continued, “We were both finishing our junior years when they cut football, and when you think about it, we were the ones who got screwed the most. If we were freshmen or sophomores, you can still play for a couple more years. If you were a senior, you were done your senior year. But for us, nobody is going to take you for a year, and you’re not going to want to transfer for a year. We got screwed.”

In the press release sent out to make the announcement public, the school cited the budgetary issues with continuing to fund football as well as opening the new Physical Education Athletic Center. The Triangle reported that the new center cost about $8.6 million to build and would cost $250,000 annually to operate. The administration put a fund drive in place to help raise $700,000 per year to make payments on the building. Still, the football program was axed to help fund it.

As people investigated further, more reasons for the cut came out. There seemed to be a growing frustration with the lack of interest in the sport. Hagerty told The Triangle that the low student interest and the sport’s “impingement” on other sports in the athletic department were considered.

“Students at a co-op university are doers rather than watchers,” Hagerty said at the time, trying to explain the low interest.

When football was cut, it was taking up somewhere in the range of 40-50 percent of the athletics budget. The Nov. 30, 1973, issue of The Triangle reported that the overall athletics budget was about $320,000 and football ate $142,873 alone, mostly in operating expenses and scholarships. Students were paying a $30 student activity fee at the time, but football just took up too much of the money in athletics.

Hagerty said in the same issue, “It was a matter of eliminating five or six different sports or football to balance the budget.”

“I got to interview [Hagerty] on about a weekly basis,” former news and managing editor of The Triangle Pat Joy said. “It gave me pretty good insight as to what the administration was thinking, and I clearly remember him discussing the football team. He pointed out — and this would be in the 1965 time frame — that the football team took 50 percent of the total athletic budget.”

Football was already the biggest mouth for the athletic department to feed, and it was about to get bigger as well. The NCAA, the main governing body and rule-maker for college sports, was reorganizing their competition structure. There would now be three divisions — I, II and III — so Drexel would have to make a decision on where they stood athletically.

Division I was for the big boys, the powerhouse football and basketball teams that were a way of life in some parts of the country. Division II, where many of Drexel’s local rivals would look to play, was too expensive for the football team. They would have had to pour more resources into a program that they felt was already overfunded. Division III, though, would have required Drexel to develop new rivals and ultimately take a financial risk that administration was not willing to take.

There were other theories, too. Some thought it was to satisfy the landmark Title IX that was passed as part of the 1972 Educational Amendments Act, which requires gender equity at all institutions of education that used any kind of federal funding. Some thought that football lacked the proper alumni support for long-term sustainability. Some thought that football was cut because of an institutional bias towards basketball.

“Someone was out to get rid of football,” head coach Sterling Brown told The Triangle of the decision.

One of the committee members was a professor, John Savchak, who had played basketball at Drexel as an undergraduate, so some saw that as a conflict of interest. There were rumors floating around that Drexel was looking to use the extra funds left in football’s void to bolster funding of the basketball team so that they could join the Philadelphia Big 5.

The Big 5 was formed in 1954 and consists to this day of La Salle University, the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, Saint Joseph’s University and Villanova University. Brown didn’t see why it would ever happen.

“That’s a lot of B.S.,” Brown told The Triangle in 1973. “Big 5 schools would never allow Drexel to share the spotlight. If I had a good thing going, as the Big 5 schools do, I would want to cut someone out, not in.”

There was also uproar over the fact that there was no football player represented on the committee; the team felt that their voices should have been heard.

Graduating linebacker Ed Shubert pleaded to The Triangle for football to be reinstated, even though he had just played his final game as a senior.

“A person who has not played intercollegiate football could not understand what the game really does for a person,” Shubert said, pointing out football’s intangible benefits. “The close friendships and the tremendous sense of accomplishment it affords its participants simply cannot be measured in terms of dollars and cents.”

If the voices of Brown and the players weren’t heard, then fans and alumni certainly tried to make theirs loud enough. Letters poured in, some by mail and some by Western Union.

One said that even though Drexel football would be remembered as more of a “doormat” than a “football power,” some of their games were unforgettable. Fans relived memorable comebacks and unforgettable rain-soaked games. “Why take away the ability to relive old memories?” another asked.

The cut of Drexel’s football program would be looked at by the school, students, alumni, athletes and fans from every angle imaginable. But it didn’t change the fact that football was gone and the hopes for reinstatement were reduced to the outside chance at revival.

CHECK BACK NEXT WEEK FOR THE FINAL INSTALLMENT OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES!

The post Why doesn’t Drexel have a football team? Part II appeared first on The Triangle.

Senior 157-pounder Austin Sommer takes control during his match against Joe Bonaldi of Binghamton University Jan. 22 at the DAC. Sommer lost the bout by a 6-4 decision and the Bearcats defeated the Dragons 22-18.

The weekend looked promising for the Drexel wrestling team as they got their star redshirt senior, Brandon Palik, back from a rib injury, but the Dragons ultimately fell to both Hofstra University and the United States Military Academy.

Drexel’s weekend started with a trip north to visit Hofstra Jan. 24, but the Pride was able to slay the Dragons by a score of 29-9. Head coach Matt Azevedo got wins from two of his standout seniors, Palik at 197 pounds and Austin Sommer at 157 pounds, but those were the only individual victories the mat men could muster. Sommer won on a 5-3 decision, while Palik recorded a pin on his opponent.

Looking to bounce back and finish the weekend on a high note, the Dragons returned to the DAC to take on the Black Knights of Army Jan. 26. Drexel started the match off strong, jumping out to a quick 13-3 lead through the first four weight classes. Freshman Tanner Shoap recorded an easy six points when his opponent forfeited, and freshman 133-pounder Kevin Devoy dropped his opponent in a major decision. After freshman David Pearce fell at 141 pounds, freshman Matt Cimato came away with a gritty 4-0 decision to give the Dragons an early 10-point cushion.

After the slew of freshmen early in the match, the results started to head south for Drexel. Sommer dropped a hard-fought 8-5 decision at 157 pounds, followed by Jason Fugiel and Kevin Matyas falling in major decisions. Then, at 184 pounds, freshman Alex DeCiantis dropped a close 6-2 decision, leaving the Dragons in a 17-13 hole heading into the final two weight classes.

This was when Azevedo and his coaching staff used a little bit of strategy to try to steal a win from Army. Palik is normally a lock at 197 pounds and can really beat anyone, however Azevedo felt that Bryan Sternlieb had a better shot at winning at 197 pounds than Joe Giorgio had at winning his heavyweight match. So, with a little bit of mixing and matching, Azevedo bumped Palik up to heavyweight and wrestled Sternlieb in the void at 197 pounds.

The strategy did not work out as planned though. Sternlieb fought hard in a tough test, but fell in a 4-0 decision. The loss at 197 pounds gave Army an insurmountable 20-13 lead heading into the final match. Army needed every bit of the advantage too, as Palik earned a first-period pin, but it was not enough, as the Dragons closed out the match with a 20-19 loss.

“If the match was close we were probably going to [move Palik up],” Azevedo said after the match. “It made sense there, but we knew it was a long shot moving Sternlieb up to 197 [pounds] just because that kid is a really tough kid. But he was in the match. If the guy slips and falls, we win that match.”

He continued explaining the strategy. “What we were thinking was if we only gave up regular decisions at 165, 175, 184 and even 197, and Brandon got a pin, we would have won the dual meet. And that could have happened, but we lost by one point,” he said.

Although Drexel lost both of their weekend matches and fell to 4-13 overall on the season and 0-4 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association, there were some bright spots. They got their senior leader back, and he did all he could be asked to do, winning both of his matches by pin.

“It’s good to get back out there after a break,” Palik said about his time off. “Every time I’ve had [a break] in the past, every time I came back like a ball on fire. Breaks for me aren’t really breaks where I’m not doing anything. I’m mostly just conditioning. I might stay off of the mats. I might not wrestle as much. It’s just on the treadmills and the Airdyne bikes just constantly conditioning throughout.”

Palik’s coach had some high praise for him following his return to the mat. “He wrestles how we want the rest of our team to wrestle: aggressive and confident,” Azevedo said. “That’s what you saw out there. He’s wrestled two matches so far, and he’s had two first-period pins because he’s just going after it.”

Azevedo also saw some promising flashes from his freshmen after the Dragons jumped out to a quick lead against Army on the backs of the young guys.

“I think the shift in weight has been good,” Azevedo said, referencing the team’s decision to bump Devoy and Cimato up in weight classes. “I think our guys have more energy. They’re happier, so therefore we’re getting a better effort out of them. They still have a lot to work on, obviously, but it’s better. I think the dynamic in the room is better. The attitude is better because everybody is not down about cutting weight.”

Drexel will welcome the Duke University Blue Devils to the DAC Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. The Dragons hope Saturday is the day they can put all of the pieces together at once and come away with a team victory.

Attendance at the football games was always higher for the homecoming game than any other, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the team struggled to draw a crowd.

It was a brisk mid-January night, and the Drexel University football team had practice. Florida State University had just defeated Auburn University in an epic National Championship Game as part of the Bowl Championship Series the week before. The college football season was over, but that didn’t stop Drexel’s team.

Luckily, practice was indoors. It was late and the temperature was plunging. They pressed on, though; they had notes to review and improvements to make.

The Drexel Football Team is an improvisational comedy group.

Their name serves as an ode to the past, somewhat of an ironic answer to one of the three essential questions every Drexel student will ask at some point during their four or five years at the school: What is the Drexel Shaft? Who is that guy yelling at the basketball games? Why doesn’t Drexel have a football team?

And just because they have traded in the gridiron for bright lights and a stage doesn’t mean they lack a fierce competitive edge. Although they have not been competing for long, the team just recently brought home third place in the Liberty Bell Regional at the College Improv Tournament. The third-place finish was their best tournament finish ever, and they may have also brought home a new rival in tournament, winner Johns Hopkins University.

“They were really good, and they deserved to win,” Drexel Football Team treasurer Frieda Beckerman said later, joking, “We hate them because they’re better than everyone. They were all good-looking and all put together.”

They explain what they do as a mix of games and long-form skits, or more simply, stuff you would see on the television show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”

At the tournament, judges not only declared the winner, they gave each team notes of constructive criticism. The team will take the judges’ criticism and use it to improve as they near show time. The Drexel Football Team will present “Lost in Space” Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. in Nesbitt Hall.

The mere existence of the Drexel Football Team as a comedy group raises more questions than it answers for most. They remind people of what once was with their name and jokes of being undefeated since the 1970s, but the full picture of the past has seldom been explained.

Seriously, why doesn’t Drexel have a football team?

Football at Drexel University was born from humble beginnings. The first semblance of a team came in 1892 and was entirely student-run. It took three years for the team to have its first scheduled season and 15 years for the University — then known as the Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry — to even sanction intercollegiate athletics. However, due to the “lack of a proper playing field,” according to an archived summary of football’s history at the school, Drexel discontinued football, only two years after it finally became school sanctioned.

It was 1909.

A year later, students again made a push for football. They established A.J. Drexel’s Delaware County estate as their first home playing field, leaving one less reason for the school to take away the sport.

At the end of 1913, Hollis Godfrey was named the president of the school. Godfrey ended up being the president who transformed the school completely.

Godfrey is the one responsible for developing the co-op system that we know today. He also put an emphasis on engineering and created standard two and four-year academic programs. In terms of athletics, Godfrey was the first to really see their value and put a university-wide focus on them. It was a turning point for the University, and it solidified Godfrey as one of the most important presidents in Drexel history.

With its increased attention and funding, Drexel football survived World War I, and then the first coach, W.J. McAvoy, was hired in 1920. Under McAvoy’s direction, Drexel joined the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletics Conference. However, the team wallowed in perpetual mediocrity until they hired a familiar name for the position.

Walter Halas was hired as the head coach of Drexel’s football, baseball and basketball teams in 1927. Halas is the older brother of legendary Chicago Bears founder and National Football League icon George Halas. Virginia Halas McCaskey — George’s daughter and Walter’s niece — is the current owner of the Bears.

Under Halas’ direction, the football team made its turnaround. In 1928, the team went 8-1, and in the 1930s, the University saw increases in funding, interest and enrollment. The high point of Halas’ 15-year career as Drexel’s head coach was winning the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Championship in 1937, perhaps the most important win of the 71 he had during his career at the school. Halas also served 15 years as the school’s Director of Athletics and was inducted into the Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame in 1972.

World War II placed Drexel football in rocky times, and the school had to suspend the program in 1943. Fortunately, they were able to resume a year later in 1944. The odd fact about the two World Wars is that after each, Drexel saw increased football success. Football is a highly militaristic game, and perhaps Drexel reaped the rewards of the public’s growing obsession with the game.

As game attendance grew post-WWII, so did the team’s on-field success. The successes all culminated in 1955, when Drexel had its best football season in history. They had their first — and only — undefeated season, finishing 8-0. They were led by head coach Edward Allen’s stout defense, which held all eight opponents in the year to 14 points or fewer.

Vincent Vidas, whose name now brands Drexel’s Vidas Athletic Complex on 43rd Street and Powelton Avenue, was named a Little All-American, anchoring the line. A 1959 graduate, Vidas is the only player in Drexel history to be named to two All-American teams. Vidas also played a season of basketball and lacrosse, and was named to the Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973.

The magic of 1955 was to be short-lived, however. The year will forever live as the peak of Drexel football. At the time, nobody would have guessed that in less than 20 years time, Drexel football would be clinging to life support.

Homecoming used to be a tradition unlike any other at Drexel. Alumni flocked back to campus to join in the fun and relive their college days. Greek life came alive. There were wild parties. And it all centered around one football game, the capstone of the week’s events.

A schedule of events posted in the Oct. 16, 1970, edition of The Triangle boasted a concert by The Grateful Dead the Friday before a game against Lehigh University and “fraternity parties” immediately following the concert and Saturday’s game.

“Homecoming was always a big deal,” Pat Joy, class of 1966 graduate and former news and managing editor of The Triangle, said. “It was late October, early November. Everybody would go to the football game. There were big parties at night. The annual homecoming football game was a big social athletic event.”

The team and fans would parade their way down Powelton Avenue, past the row of fraternity houses, toward what is now known as the Vidas Athletic Complex. It was a trip that the players made every day on their way to practices or games. But on homecoming, the trip drew a special importance.

“The reality is we paraded up that street every day because we largely walked up to practice,” Barry Cole, a wide receiver on the team from 1971-73, said. “We sort of felt like we owned Powelton Avenue,” he added, with his former teammate Steve Spagnolo giving a nod and wry smile of approval next to him.

Spagnolo was also a wide receiver on the team from 1971-73. He and Cole met in summer training camp as freshmen and have been best friends ever since.

What was amazing about homecoming was its ability to bring the campus together. Attendance at the football games was always higher for the homecoming game than any other game, especially in the late 1960s and early 1970s when the team struggled to draw a crowd.

Basketball now serves as the sport at the center of homecoming week, although often times more of the campus focus is on the annual concert. This season, the Drexel men’s basketball team will take on The College of William & Mary for their homecoming game Jan. 25.

It will mark the 40th homecoming without football.

Surely, they will fill the 2,500-plus seats of the Daskalakis Athletic Center, but some of the tradition feels lost. Homecoming just isn’t the same without football…

THE SECOND PART OF THIS THREE-PART SERIES CAN BE ACCESSED HERE.