Hoover's Howard knows there are no guarantees after Mr. Football season

Monday, August 24, 2009

Todd Porter, Canton Repository

He hasn’t slept with it or introduced people to it. He hasn’t even visited the Hoover High School trophy case to

look at it.

Previous Mr. Football winners

2008 Erick Howard, RB, Hoover

2007 Bart Tanski, QB, Mentor

2006 Brandon Saine, RB, Piqua

2005 Delone Carter, RB, Copley

2004 Tyrell Sutton, RB, Archbishop Hoban

2003 Ray Williams, RB, Cleveland Benedictine

2002 Ben Mauk, QB, Kenton

2001 Maurice Clarett, RB, Warren Harding

2000 Jeff Backes, RB-DB, Upper Arlington

1999 Brandon “Bam” Childress, WR-DB, Bedford Chanel

1998 Ryan Brewer, RB, Troy

1997 Tony Fisher, RB, Euclid

1996 Derek Combs, RB-DB, Grove City

1995 Andy Katzenmoyer, LB, Westerville South

1994 Charles Woodson, RB-DB, Fremont Ross

1993 Curtis Enis , RB-LB, Mississinawa Valley

1992 Marc Edwards , RB-LB, Norwood

1991 Derek Kidwell, QB, Fostoria

1990 Bobby Hoying, QB, St. Henry

1989 Robert Smith, RB, Euclid

1988 Robert Smith, RB, Euclid

1987 Ronald “Buster” Howe, RB-DB, Zanesville

The senior running back has, however, looked at the list of past Mr. Football winners, young men like himself

named the best players in Ohio. He knows the history a little bit. He knows the award should come with a

disclaimer:

Past results are not indicative of future success.

There are former and current NFL players on that list. There are players who didn’t pan out even at the college level.

One won the Heisman Trophy. Another is in medical school.

Two are serving time in prison.

It is, after all, an award voted on by a statewide panel of sportswriters and broadcasters, none of whom ever drafted for an NFL team or offered a scholarship on a major college’s behalf.

Howard never thought about winning for the 2008 season. He didn’t even know it existed.

“I never heard of it,” Howard said. “When I heard I was in the running, I thought, there are so many other better guys. I never thought I’d win it.”

Howard rushed for 2,304 yards and scored 34 total touchdowns last season. He was a wrecking ball who took over games in the second half — close games that Hoover found a way to win. That’s what Mr. Football does.

But that was last year, part of a past Howard will look to learn from as he focuses on his future.

“Last year is last year. I think it is pretty well forgotten, and we’re looking forward to this season,” Hoover head coach Don Hertler Jr. said. “The thing with Erick is he has always stayed humble and has always given someone else credit. He knows it’s a team game, and team victories create individual awards.”

ROAD SPLITS TWO WAYS

Being Mr. Football is both a blessing and a bull’s-eye. Howard was the first junior to win the award since Euclid’s Robert Smith in 1988. Smith, still the only two-time winner, earned it again in 1989 before going on to star at Ohio State and with the Minnesota Vikings.

Others have not fared so well, including Buster Howe, the first Mr. Football, out of Zanesville in 1987.

“Oh yeah, you can get lazy winning something like that,” Howe said.

Howe turned down an offer from Michigan State’s George Perles, who needed a running back to replace Lorenzo White. Instead, Howe signed with Ohio State and John Cooper.

Howe had to sit out a year because of academics. He then found himself buried on the depth chart behind Smith, who started as a true freshman.

The one-time best high school football player in Ohio who ran for 1,795 yards and 34 touchdowns his senior year, Howe lasted just two years in Columbus before transferring to Muskingum and never played football again.

“Only Buster can answer if going to Ohio State was the best decision,” said Whit Parks, Howe’s high school coach. “At the time, we all thought it was the right decision.”

Howe said that when he returned after missing the year, the Buckeyes wanted him to play defense, an idea he didn’t agree with.

“There was a lot of pressure coming out of high school and — boom — it’s not the way it’s supposed to be,” Howe said. “It was hard to take.”

Howe doesn’t blame just Cooper. He shoulders his share of it, too.

PLANS CHANGE

Parks has been coaching for 36 years. There was only one Buster Howe in his career. Most coaches never get one.

“When you get a player like that, he’s a once-in-a-lifetime player. I guess I thought maybe I’d get another, but I didn’t.

“You get other great players, but you’ll never get another one with the complete package like that.

“Buster was a single-wing tailback. He did it all. He passed. He was the punter. He was the kickoff guy. He played safety. ... I still have people come up to me today and tell me he was the most complete football player they’d ever seen.”

But winning Mr. Football was the highlight of Howe’s football career. Today, Howe works for Anchor Glass Container in Zanesville. He is married with five girls, including one who lives in Alliance.

“I wouldn’t change one thing about how my life turned out,” Howe said. “My family is the center of my world now.”

Like Howard, everyone in the Zanesville area knew how good Howe was. He was reminded of it on a regular basis — and still is by some today.

PLAY WITHOUT REGRETS

The final paragraph of Howe’s football career was written just a couple of years after high school.

“You get to a point where you say, ‘I’m burned out,’ ” Howe said. “You just let it go. It was like letting a hobby you love go. It was hard. I dealt with it, and I don’t regret a thing.”

Howard has higher aspirations. Half of Ohio’s Mr. Football winners have played in the NFL.

Like Howe, though, Howard wants his career to end without a single regret. He has scholarship offers. He’s waiting for Ohio State.

There’s a chance it could come.

Howard needs to raise his grade-point average to 2.5 after boosting his ACT score during the summer.

Just playing this fall will be difficult enough. On Friday nights, no opposing coach is going to refer to Howard by name. Every team is getting ready to play “Mr. Football.”

“Everybody is going to be out to get me 10 times harder,” Howard said. “It will be more pressure. Everyone is going to want a piece of me because I’m Mr. Football, and on top of that, they already hate Hoover.”

Howe warned that laziness can creep in after winning this award. Howard has battled that feeling.

“Sometimes, but then I think there are a lot of people gunning for me, so I can’t slack off,” Howard said.

A TOTAL TEAM EFFORT

There are Mr. Football winners — Warren Harding’s Maurice Clarett and Benedictine’s Raymond Williams — in jail. Others had superb college careers but that’s it. Many played in the NFL.

“It’s just not smart for that to be the highlight of your career,” Howard said. “This is an opportunity in your face. You want to make it, not just in football, but in the real world.”

A year ago, Howard was in Washington state. His mother moved there temporarily because of a family situation. Howard found himself in a distant land and his mind wandering.

Back in North Canton, his teammates pooled money to get him home. After consulting with the Ohio High School Athletic Association, Hertler agreed to let Howard live with him.

Howard feared if he didn’t come back he would turn his back on football and find unproductive, if not troubling, ways to occupy his time.

His teammates cared enough to get him back home. Howard knows without the entire locker room, he wouldn’t be Mr. Football.

He thinks back to last season and how blessed his path seems to be.

“It’s a feeling that’s indescribable,” Howard said. “It’s great. I love this place and the community and the people. We’re like a family.”

There is a sense of duty to that act a year ago. There is a sense of responsibility to the award and his teammates. Howard talks as if he gets it.

He’ll help his team any way he can. He plays linebacker and returns kicks as well.

The final paragraph on his football career won’t be written, he hopes, for some time to come. The history of past Mr. Football winners makes the NFL a realistic goal.

But, “I know because of this award a lot of people recognize me,” Howard said. “I have a lot more to lose now. I can’t be stupid.”r

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