|
|
By admin, on November 13th, 2010%
 Obaseki Hometown for me is Washington, Indiana. I was born in Houston, Texas. My family moved to Washington when I was pretty young. So, I have been calling Washington home since elementary school. My parents met in Texas. They came back here because that is where my mom is from. She had a lot of family. They wanted to come here while my Dad finished school and to raise a family. I have two brothers, a sister and a cousin that has been lived with us since I have been growing up. My brothers are older. The oldest one is a dentist he lives in Evansville right now. The second oldest brother is a senior at I U,…he is going for business. My sister, is a senior in high school at Washington right now. My cousin is in her last year at grad school at IU to become a reporter.
My brother, Derek, was a really good running back at Washington High School. He had a lot of the records for a long time. He wanted to play a year in college but, he decided to do his school work. My Dad is from Nigeria. He was a professional soccer player in Nigeria for a couple of years. My other oldest brother he is a good athlete. He is a really good basketball player. He just played in high school.
Right now I am studying physical therapy. I hope to go on and be a physical therapist after I graduate. It is a new program here at ISU. I think it is going to be opening next semester.
There is nothing I really hate about myself, but people notice my lisp, I kind of have a lisp. It’s not a big deal to me. I kind of brush it off my shoulders. My lisp can be embarrassing sometimes. When you first meet me I can be a kind of a shy guy at first, but when you get to know me I am definitely an outgoing and fun person.
Continue reading In His Own Words – Ben Obaseki
By admin, on November 5th, 2010%
 Brock Lough My hometown is Terre Haute IN. South-side of Terre Haute. Down where they call it Youngstown. My parents separated when I was a little kid. My Dad moved to the north end of Terre Haute. My Mom and my little brother moved to the south side of Terre Haute. I actually have friends from all areas. Growing up playing youth football and stuff like that.
My Dad played football in high school. My Mom she was a cheerleader and played tennis. My little brother is a very good wrestler and football player at Terre Haute South right now. If I could do it all over again I would have wrestled too. It makes you a better football player.
I am studying Communications and International Studies. I would like to work in an embassy or become an ambassador after college. That would be my goal.
Role models in life would probably be my Dad and my Mom. Being separated, they still raised my brother and I really well. I think they did a really good job. Not bragging on myself, … my brother and I we were a load, but we stayed out of trouble. A role model around this area, a local guy, Mel Burk, he was my running-back coach in high school. I got pretty close with him. My Dad was always my coach in football growing up so he is probably my role model. My role model in football is Jim Brown. I like the old school guys Gayle Sayers. In high school they gave me the nick-name “Throwback” because I liked to play like the old school guys.
I am just a pretty laid back guy. That’s why I like playing football. I just get out on the field and let loose. I am a Christian I value my faith heavily.
When I graduated high school I wanted to play right away. Everybody does right out of high school nobody wants a red shirt. I told my Dad, if Coach Miles got the job at ISU that would be one of my main choices. He did get the job and he told me if I came here I might have a great shot at being on the field my freshman year. I came in as a linebacker and in camp I was moved to the fullback position. Because some guys got hurt or were moving around not getting the job done. I was very fortunate… enough to get to play. I actually started every game my freshman year and I have since. I missed a couple of games. I was hurt last season I think I missed three games. I have started every game since I have been here I have been very fortunate to do that.
Continue reading In His Own Words – Brock Lough
By admin, on November 4th, 2010%
 Ryan Roberts I am from West York, Illinois. It’s a small country town, out in the country. A lot of country boys. It fits me perfectly. The population is no more than one hundred, probably. If you blink, you will miss it if you drive by. You have to really look for it.
I have a Mom and Dad, Greg and Jeanae. Two siblings Matt and Mandy, they have two children each. So I am an uncle. My Dad works for Heartland Labels in Marshall. My Mom, she’s a great lady. She does everything I ask; she helps me out a lot. She’s always there for me… she even helps me clean my clothes when I don’t have enough time. I have a great family, very loving. They are always out to watch the games. They’re always good… very supportive of me. I love them very much.
My Dad was a pretty good basketball player in high school. My brother played basketball. Sports has always been my favorite thing to do, especially growing up. My Dad really likes playing basketball, so that was the thing when I was little. Football was the thing I started. Nobody in my family played football. I was the first one. I was pretty good at basketball. I went to a small school. We were usually around five hundred each year. I played almost every position on the floor. I had to score a lot of points so that was fun. I was a two sport athlete. I played basketball and football. When I wasn’t playing one I was playing the other. Half of the year I was playing basketball, like travel AAU. The other half of the year I was working out getting ready for football. I guess you could say I was star of both sports. I averaged around thirty points in basketball in my senior year. I ended up being the all time school record holder. I passed my Dad. My Dad was third on the list. It was fun passing him I gave him a hard time about it. I couldn’t have done it without my high school teammates. It was a great experience for me. My school was about one hundred and twenty students. I had about twenty in my graduating class. Yeah, we had a football team. We had a co-op with Palestine high school which was only about 15 miles from Huntsville. My senior class was my best friend, Tyler Terry and I. We were the only seniors on the football team, from our high school. It was fun.
Continue reading In His Own Words – Ryan Roberts
By admin, on October 4th, 2010%
 My family is very sports oriented. Both of my parents played college sports. My Dad played quarterback for Arizona State University. My Mom played volleyball at University of Redlands. They’ve always been hard on my sister and I about being leaders. We always had to finish our schoolwork before we could go to practice or go outside and play. At a young age, my sister and I learned early what it takes to play at the next level. We both dreamed about getting scholarships since we were little. My sister is a freshman now. She just signed for San Diego State. She’s starting as a true freshman. I am very proud of her she’s worked very hard. I attribute my sister and my success to my parents and how hard they pushed us to not only be leaders on the field but also off…. and present ourselves in a manner that would not hurt our family name, or disrespect people. I had a grandpa, my Dad’s dad, he played for USC. He played running back. He was one of the main reasons I played football. He was my idol and so is my Dad. My grandpa passed away two years ago it was very hard for me. I think about him every day and I practice hard. When I am on the field, I‘m thinking about him and what he would want me to do. I always picture him watching me. I never try to take plays off.
Continue reading In His Own Words – QB Ronnie Fouch
By admin, on September 29th, 2010%
 Pat Bruke Home for me is on the north side of Chicago, …Niles, Illinois. It’s about twenty miles north of downtown Chicago. I have a Mom, Dad, and little sister. My Dad works for Northwest Airlines, which is now Delta airlines. My Mom works with a financial company Morgan-Stanley, Smith, Barney. They have been great. They have been great with me getting me through the years. I love them to death. My sister is a freshman at Illinois State. So there’s some rivalry there. She picked the redbirds, but I am at the real ISU, so that’s good. She’s great, she’s going to be an English teacher and go from there.
My Dad played some high school basketball. For the most part, he always had me out there throwing the ball around. Make sure I was an athlete. I just ate a couple too many burgers growing up, so the offensive line was perfect for me. I was a three sport athlete. I played baseball, basketball, and football. I was a bigger guy, so in baseball first baseman and pitcher. Basketball … center. I played three sports through my sophomore year. I decided football was the route I wanted to go and try to pursue a college career. I went down to one sport… football for junior and senior years.
Basically, I really liked the area being only three hours away from Chicago. I saw a good atmosphere here. I like the campus. I like the school. I want to bleed blue. I love ISU. I study business administration with a minor in insurance and risk management. That’s a mouth full. Who knows what I will have with the economy the way it is right now. I am happy with taking a business degree. I couldn’t be happier.
Continue reading In His Own Words – Pat Bruke
By admin, on September 18th, 2010%
 Darius Gates The things I was expecting last year, any player would expect… to win every year. But this year, it just seems a little bit more realistic. Just because, we got a quarterback in, that started in big time PAC 10 games. He brought in a lot of leadership and challenged our receivers. He’s got a lot of different receivers. A lot of junior college receivers that helped us out on the perimeter. Having a passing game more opens up the running game. It’s helping our offense out a lot. Offense is finally doing a better job. The offensive line coaches, Coach Etheridge and Coach Simmons, they came in and changed the culture from the old lines perspective. Those are two great coaches that are here because they want to be here. They could be at big time schools, coaching, and it’s a blessing they are here. Wanting to be here when they don’t even have to be.
Coach Simmons played here. The type of coach he is, I think, he is giving out charity and giving out community service by being here. He should be somewhere big time. So it’s a blessing he came here. He helped our offensive line out a lot. The offensive line mentality is way different, now that those two coaches are here.
It feels great to have a hole to run through. I don’t have to worry about those big defensive linemen every play. So I can finally focus on getting past the linebackers and the defensive backs. It’s a better situation than going up against linemen in my face, as soon as I get the ball. It’s a good feeling.
Continue reading In His Own Words – Darius Gates
By admin, on September 14th, 2010%
 Alex Sewall Western Springs, Illinois is in the Chicago area. It’s about 20 minutes west of Chicago. I always say Chicago. I say Western Springs, I get a lot of where is that. I, get tired of answering that, so I say Chicago.
I have a wonderful Mom and Dad, Joan and Dan. One older brother Michael, who just graduated from Missouri. A younger brother, Mark, who is a senior in high school. He also plays football, looking to play in college. Maybe we will get him here, which would be nice. I also have a sister, Kathryn, who is just a freshman in high school.
My Dad played football at Ball State. He was a running back. My Mom was in cheerleading and track when she was younger. I come from a pretty athletic family.
We all play in sports so probably just going out and supporting each other was my favorite activity with the family. We’re always at sporting events whether its my football game, my brothers football or basketball games.
For fun, I just like to chill with friends, hang out and listen to music. Work out. Play football obviously. Watch football on TV. Try to get better. Mainly, just hang with a lot of guys on the team just because we’re so close. We spend a lot of time together. I live with a few of my team mates. They’re some of my good friends on the team.
Continue reading In His Own Words – ISU FB Player Alex Sewall
By admin, on September 3rd, 2010%
 Ron Hardy - Junior Defensive Tackle My Dad, he works for the Indianapolis Airport. He was a basketball player coming up. He played in the army. My Mom is a beautician and an air traffic controller. Both are just regular hard working people.
I played football, basketball and baseball at Pike. I just kind of got into baseball. Not too many played baseball in my family. My mom did a lot of softball. They didn’t want me coming home after school. They wanted me to stay active. So I picked up baseball. Actually coming up… basketball was my favorite. With my Dad playing in the army always had time to train me. Teach me different things. Football, it just kind of came about, like I said my parents didn’t want me coming home they wanted me to get involved in stuff at school. I picked up football and before I knew it, it was my best sport.
Indiana State was a good pick for me. Coach Miles gave me the opportunity to go to school and get a degree while playing football. It was close to home. My family would be able to see me play. My brother loves to come to my games and watch me play. So I wanted to give my family the opportunity to experience the college athletics atmosphere. Like I said, Coach Miles gave me the opportunity so I took full advantage of it.
I love everything about Indiana State. I would offer Indiana State to anybody. I think the professors are good, the coaching staff, the administrators. Everything’s going in the right direction. Everything’s positive around here. I really love it.
I study psychology with a minor in African American studies. I plan to go to law school. I picked up philosophy and different things. I took a lot of political science and legal studies courses. Just working. I know law school is going to be heavy but those are my plans.
Continue reading Rod Hardy — In His Own Words
By admin, on July 14th, 2010%
 ISU Men's Basketball Coach, Greg Lansing My first comment was, “you people are crazy”. No, I don’t think it can get any better. You kind of go through your life working to a point you have goals and things you want to accomplish in life. And this has certainly been my goal my whole life. And, 20 years into coaching, it’s how I’m celebrating my 20th year… in my first head coaching job in college. I’m just really, really happy and feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be the head coach at a place that means a lot to my wife and I.
A line of very good men have coached mens’ basketball here. We’ve had Curtis, Wooden, Kluegh, King, Waltman and I’d certainly add Kevin McKenna there too. We had a lot of work to do when he got hired and hired us as assistants. And I think we did a really good job of building this thing and the talent level where we needed to. And if it hadn’t been for two or three injuries last year I think we’d have been talking about something a little more special than what it was. I don’t know. I’m not going to put any we have to win this many games or this is what I want to do. All I know is I’m going to want to win championships. I’m going to want to win the Missouri Valley every year. I’m going to want to play in the NCAA tournament every year. I’m going to recruit guys that would have the same types of goals. Granted we were pleased with how we survived last year with the injuries, but .500 in the conference isn’t good enough. It’s not what we’re shooting for. We want to be up there fighting for a conference championship every year. , putting a really good product out on the floor.
You know, I’m a basketball junkie. I’m a high school coach’s kid. So it’s been from since I could walk and talk that I’ve been doing basketball stuff. My dad was a tremendous coach. He’s in the hall of fame in Iowa
Continue reading In His Own Words – Greg Lansing
By admin, on June 5th, 2010%
 Harry Marshall by Tony Harper
I’m originally from Louisville, Kentucky, a lot of people think I was born and raised in Bowling Green. Moved to Owen Valley, Spencer, whenever, I was 10. Loved the quietness. Loved the peacefulness. Real quiet out there Bowling Green, Indiana. Great place to live. People are nice. People welcomed me.
Family of course Mom and Dad –love them both. Dad’s probably one the most hardest working guys or man I’ve seen ever in my life. I have three brothers Antonio, Jordan, Brandon and one older sister, Carolyn. All of us played basketball. Three of us still play basketball now. So a very competitive family and you know… we learned from each other and we back up each other. I think without family I really wouldn’t be here. I really wouldn’t be anything in life.
Continue reading In His Own Words – Harry Marshall
|
|
