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Warren football greats gather
Browner finally meets Warfield
By Greg Gulas
WARREN
Last February, Virginia Holmes helped to coordinate Warren Harding High School’s football banquet and the presentation of its three NFL gold footballs this past February, emblematic of school alums who have participated in the Super Bowl.
She found it rather odd that Ross Browner, the 1977 “College Player of the Year,” had never met fellow Warren alum and Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Warfield.
A phone call was all it took for Holmes to convince Warfield that a reunion for Warren’s 31 pro football alums who played for the Warren Harding or Western Reserve teams was long overdue.
On Sunday at the Trumbull Country Club, the efforts of Warfield, Holmes and Ray Yannucci, a high school teammate of Warfield’s, were realized at the initial gathering of its NFL Legends of Warren Reunion.
The banquet was the third part of planned weekend festivities. The other activities were the alums speaking to the Harding football team prior to Friday’s game with Ursuline, an autograph session on Saturday and today’s golf outing.
“This is a very special night for everyone because this is our alma mater and our hometown,” said Warfield, who played for the Panthers under Gene Slaughter and Woody Hayes at Ohio State.
After a stellar professional career with the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins, Warfield was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
“I have always believed that it takes teamwork and people coming together in order to attain goals,” Warfield said. “From my high school days, then in college and also on the professional level, everything successful came because of those who elevated their game and came together as a team.
“For me, it started right here in my immediate family with my mother and father, who taught me the importance of closeness. Later, Coach Slaughter, Coach Hayes and then Don Shula exposed those principles.”
Browner helped Western Reserve to the 1972 Ohio Class AAA state championship and won two national championships at Notre Dame. The first was in 1973 as a freshman with Ara Parseghian as head coach. The second was in 1977, his senior year under Dan Devine. He also played in Super Bowl XVI with the Cincinnati Bengals.
Browner was the nation’s Outland Trophy recipient in 1976, won the UPI Lineman of the Year award in both 1976 and 1977, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999.
“I cannot tell you how very special this is for me,” Browner said. “To be grouped with the guys that are legends from our alma mater is truly a wonderful honor.
“Western Reserve High School prepared me for being a great student-athlete,” Browner said. “I was a student first because I had to make grades in order to play. We proudly played for our school, city, community and also the university that we represented.”
Like his brother, Jimmy Browner is a Western Reserve alum who also attended Notre Dame and played professionally for the Bengals.
“What a run the City of Warren had back in the early 1970s with Western Reserve winning a state title in 1972 and Warren Harding in 1974,” he said. “Plus, we finished runners-up in 1973 so that was a very special time for everyone in the city.
“We pushed each other to be the very best.”
The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry also remains heated locally with Warren grid alums ultimately lining up against each other representing both schools.
“I played for Phil Annarella while I was at Western Reserve and was a part of Bo Schembechler’s last recruiting class,” Alfie Burch said of going on to play for Michigan. “Under Coach Annarella, we had a leg up on the competition because of the preparation we got both on and off the field.
“We trained at the Varsity House, which was a state-of-the-art facility and with Coach Schembechler, you became his son the moment you stepped foot on campus.”
Former Buckeye Aaron Brown, who played six seasons professionally, currently teaches reading and writing to at-risk students at a Tampa high school.
“Our coaches always put us in position to win,” Brown said. “The coaches had great teaching skills, we had good listening skills and just wanted to get better.
“We always felt like we had a talented group that could win.”
Daniel “Boom” Herron is a Warren Harding graduate who also played for Ohio State.
“The older guys paved the way for us and we’re hoping to pave the way now for the younger guys,” Herron said.
Former Penn State Nittany Lion Deryck Toles played professionally for the Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns.
“When we worked out at the Varsity House, we looked at their pictures and saw all of their stats and awards but had never met those that came before us,” Toles said. “We wore their numbers and played on the same field so now we finally get to meet them and share many heartfelt stories and memories.”