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After 20 years, Youngstown cop returns to gridiron, plays for championship
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
He’s not sure of the exact date, but it’s been at least since 1995 when Bill Burton last played in an organized football game.
Burton, 39, a Chaney High School grad who started on the offensive line for Coach Ron Berdis, was a walk-on at Youngstown State University in a junior-varsity game against Robert Morris College in Pennsylvania.
Since then, Burton has worked as a patrol officer for the city police department for 15 years, patrolling a downtown beat on midnight turn. He is the father of four with one on the way who keeps in shape by playing rugby and working out at the Ironman Warehouse downtown, flipping tires down Commerce Street.
So it was a surprise to him that a call from former Chaney Cowboy teammate Joe Davila resulted in his being back on the offensive line for the Western Reserve Scourge, a semipro team in the Ohio Football League that made the playoffs this season. The Scourge won the 2015 OFL championship Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Girard against the River City Ravens. The Scourge clobbered the Ravens, 42-13.
Burton joined the team the last week of the regular season. He said the transition back to competitive football has been a challenge in some ways and easy in others.
Rugby had gotten him used to contact sports and has kept him in shape. He also has coached the offensive line at East High School.
His main concern was finding time for the team while juggling his duties as a father and police officer.
“He was pretty persuasive,” Burton said of Davila.
Davila said he had been trying for some time to get Burton to come out for the team, and having no success, finally agreed to go out for Burton’s rugby team. That clinched the deal, Davila said.
Davila said this is also his first year with the Scourge and his first taste of organized football since he played in high school with Burton,
“I just missed it so much,” Davila said.
Davila said he spent a whole year getting in shape for the season. He, too, plays on the offensive line. He said he has had a blast.
“I wish I would’ve done it a lot sooner,” Davila said.
In his first game, which was the last game of the regular season, Burton got between 10 and 15 snaps. In the first playoff game a week later, Burton estimated he played about 80 percent of the snaps against the River City Broncos and played some of the second and most of the third quarter in the semifinal win against the Strabane Spartans, which propelled the team into the finals.
He said he is there to give the regular offensive linemen a rest, and he knows that.
“I know my role,” Burton said. “It’s all good.”
Some things came back easy, and some were lessons he did not remember until he received a painful reminder. “The biggest thing I lacked, and I forgot, was to keep my head on a swivel,” Burton said.
He said his technique and footwork were OK for being out of the game for so long, but he did admit his speed was lacking. Because of that he said he is glad he is playing guard instead of tackle, so he does not have to contend with defensive ends’ speed rushing on the edge of the line of scrimmage.
“My lateral movement isn’t like it was in high school or college,” Burton said.
Burton said the players he has faced at the semipro level are faster than he ever faced.
As a junior for the Cowboys, Burton played on a team that made it to the second round of the playoffs but lost to Louisville. As a senior, a teachers strike wiped out part of the season and a chance to make the playoffs. His final game in high school was against Wilson.
One of the team’s co-owners, Jim Craven, also a Poland Village police officer, said he has owned the team for four years. In the first year, it was 0-13 and had a 4-7 record in its second year. In 2014, the team was undefeated in the regular season but lost in the first round of the playoffs.
Craven, who plays center, said Burton’s coaching background has helped him hone his technique. He said the biggest adjustment Burton had to make was to catch up to the speed of the game and get used to football contact, which is different than rugby’s.
Davila played scholastically for Wilson but did not play in college. He said he does not remember playing against Burton, but he recently found an old videotape of a game between the Cowboys and the Wilson Redmen in which they all played. He said he is trying to convert it to DVD so they can all watch it.