Tag Archives: Bobby Harrington

07.11.24
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Bobby Harrington: Losing an All-World Person

Stan Drayton with Bobby Harrington talking about matching shirts at last month’s golf outing.

The last time I saw Bobby Harrington was at the Navy at Temple game and he walked up to me in Lot K and said: “Mike, we’re going to win this one. I have no doubt.”

“I don’t know, Bobby, Navy is pretty good.”

“Trust me. We’re winning this.”

Temple won, 34-16.

Haason Reddick with Bobby at last year’s Cherry and White game.

I didn’t get to see him after the game but messaged him on Facebook to congratulate him for being right.

“I just had a feeling,” he responded.

I had a feeling I would seeing Bobby Harrington again. His feeling was right. Mine was wrong.

A couple of days ago I woke up and saw a post on Facebook with a photo of Bobby holding a fish and a comment that said something to the effect that someone in the photo was in Heaven.

I assumed it was the fish. Later, I learned it was Bobby.

Hard to process that because, to me, Bobby Harrington was healthier than 90 percent of the people I know.

They must have meant someone else.

He worked out at the Swarthmore College track every day.

I will probably still be processing on opening day when I look around and he’s not in Lot K.

I posted on twitter that Harrington was a backup linebacker at Temple but an All-World person and I meant it. A walk-on at Temple, he worked his way from the scout team to second-team linebacker for both Bruce Arians and Jerry Berndt. While he wore No. 51 in his freshman year, he changed his number to 55 for the last three years and was known as 55 to most people.

His story is pretty well-known. He was addicted to drugs once but clean and sober for more than the last dozen years. He dedicated his life to helping people with similar problems cross the other side into a clean and sober life.

Who knows how many people he helped but it must have been in the thousands.

Knowing Bobby was an All-Catholic at Monsignor Bonner, I introduced him to another former All-Catholic quarterback, Bishop Egan’s Tony Russo, at one Cherry and White tailgate. Mr. Russo is the father of Anthony Russo, the fourth-leading passer in Owls’ history.

The two immediately hit it off and had a great conversation about Catholic League football that left my jaw open.

That’s the effect Bobby Harrington had on everyone, though.

To meet him the first time was to be his friend for life.

Bobby was always at Cherry and White, always at the practices reserved for football alumni and even made the golf outing last month.

He loved Temple football and Temple loved him back. He had a way to connect with the current players most alumni don’t and always looked at things positively.

Hopefully, he will be sending positive vibes to this year’s Owls from above he will “have a feeling” about a lot of Temple wins in 2024.

Monday: Hidden Figures

04.09.23
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Plenty of things to like at Cherry and White

Former Temple running back Marc Baxter (here with former TU LB Bobby Harrington), wins the best Temple swag award at this year’s tailgate. I asked Marc where he got the shirt and he said at the Temple bookstore and that it was a Temple ice hockey shirt. (Photos courtesy of Bobby Harrington)

Every good story needs a protagonist and antagonist and, after arriving about three hours early for the Cherry and White game, I did a lot of looking for both.

Having found none 2 1/2 hours in, I entered the Edberg-Olson Football Complex, sat down with my bag of Temple swag (everyone knows Cherry and White is the best place to get Temple stuff), looked at my watch and found out the game was a half-hour away.

That was still time to find an antagonist so I carried my Temple swag bag back to my car to put it in the trunk (I missed the train so decided to drive and parked the car on Broad Street) and used the half-hour to walk through campus.

I was hoping to find the same police presence throughout the rest of the campus that existed around the E-O (plenty of security at 10th and Diamond). Fortunately, the rest of the campus was more locked down than I’ve seen it in the last five years.

The new “Senior Leadership Team” appears to be serious about safety on campus and that’s a good sign.

Still, couldn’t find a single bad guy as Joe Greenwood’s tailgate was kicking it strong.

Walked back to the game and found my antagonist: The game itself.

Sitting there in the far end zone I realized how far the “football experience” of Cherry and White has fallen since I first started going to this game at old Temple Stadium in the 1970s.

Back then, there was one team (The Cherry) against another team (The White) and it was a real game with four quarters, the first-team offense playing against a second-team defense and a first-team defense playing against a second-team offense. Touchdowns were six points, an extra point was one, a field goal was three, and a safety was two.

You know, like a regular game. None of this new math.

Seemed fair to me.

Cherry and White was a little colder than usual and that kept the crowd in the 2,000-people range, about 2/3rds of the usual size.

Four quarters. The team that scored the most won.

Now, ostensibly for the reason of “avoiding injuries,” the game is broken up into something only slightly resembling real football.

If you can figure out who won with this criteria, you were a math major:

Offense:
Touchdown = 6 points
Field Goal = 3 points
2-point Conversion = 2 points
Extra Point = 1 point
Explosive Play (Run of 12+ yards/Pass of 18+ yards) = 3 points
Two or more first downs on a drive = 1 point

Defense:
Three and Out = 1 point
Sack = 2 points
Missed Field Goal = 3 points
Turnover = 3 points
4th Down Stop or 2-point Conversion Stop = 3 points
Defensive Touchdown = 6 points
TFL = 1 point
Stopped Drive = 1 point

Penalties:
5-yard penalty = -1 point
10-yard penalty = -2 points
15-yard penalty = -4 points

Adding all that up, the Cherry offense beat the White defense, 65-28.

I wonder if any team in college football plays a real game anymore in the spring? I doubt it.

Those concerns never existed in the 1970s and 1980s when the two greatest Temple players, Joe Klecko on defense, and Paul Palmer on offense, never missed a game as a result of spring practice participation.

Only now it’s a concern and I think it’s an overblown one. We haven’t seen a “real game” (with kickoff and punt returns) since Al Golden’s second season and that was in April of 2007, some 16 years ago.

I realized that I’ve been to this game in Mount Airy, South Philadelphia, Ambler, and three spots on Temple’s campus (I did not make the one time the game was at Cardinal O’Hara). Always a great time with great people and great food and even better music (thanks to the DJ).

Despite the “glorified practice” I came out of there thinking Temple hasn’t had this much talent in at least half a decade. Are there concerns? Certainly two come to mind: The running game doesn’t have a bonafide stud like Bernard Pierce, Jahad Thomas or Ryquell Armstead. The new defensive coordinator, Everett Withers, while a great friend of head coach Stan Drayton, doesn’t have a good record in places where his sole job was DC. From a player standpoint, the Owls have talent pretty much everywhere else.

Owls have always looked good playing against the Owls. In a few months, playing the bad guys starts. For the first time in five years, I feel sorry for the bad guys.

They are the real antagonists and that story is yet to be written.

Friday: Why it’s Bowl or Bust?