Former Madison star, OSU linebacker Obie Stillwell to speak at Spaghetti Bowl

MANSFIELD — Former Madison High School football star Obie Stillwell, who went on to play linebacker for the Ohio State Buckeyes, will be the main speaker Monday night at the first Richland County Children Services Spaghetti Bowl.

 

The event is a charity pasta dinner at Mansfield Senior High School’s cafeteria. Proceeds benefit the United Way of Richland County and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The game will be on Friday, Oct. 31, at the new Ram Field at STARTEK Stadium, the regular season finale for both teams.

 

Stillwell was the Ohio Heartland Conference defensive player of the year in 1990. The Rams won the conference title that season and qualified for the school’s first state playoff appearance. Stillwell was the Madison team captain that fall and an All-Ohio linebacker for coach Dana Woodring.

He spurned college offers to walk-on at Ohio State, where he rose to a key backup position and played special teams on the 1994 squad. Today, Stillwell is a commentator for the Buckeyes postgame show on WSYX-TV 6 in Columbus. He works as a Real Estate and Title Business Consultant at Genesis Title Agency.

Tickets may be obtained in advance at Wendy’s restaurants at 1145 Ashland Road in Madison Township and 1372 Lexington Ave. in Mansfield. Tickets will also be sold at the United Way of Richland County offices at 35 Park St. North.

Members of both school marching bands and cheerleading squads will perform during the evening. Members of both teams and coaching staffs will arrive around 7 p.m., depending on their practice schedules. The evening’s program will begin around 7:30. In addition to Stillwell, remarks are planned by the head coaches of the two teams — Sean Conway of Madison and Chioke Bradley of Mansfield Senior.

On the field after the game, a “Spaghetti Bowl” championship trophy will be presented to the winning team, along with checks for the charities, both of whom were chosen by the schools. Mansfield Senior selected the United Way of Richland County and Madison picked the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption. The winning team’s charity will receive a check worth 75 percent of the dinner/t-shirt proceeds. The losing team’s charity will receive a check worth 25 percent of the proceeds.

The dinner is scheduled to conclude between 8 and 8:15 p.m.