Mansfield Senior and Lucas are both making history this week. No football team in Richland County has reached the state championship game before these two schools broke through over the weekend.
Hence, who better to reflect on the enormity of that achievement than the most historic figure in Richland County football? I wondered what Mansfield product Pete Henry, Ohio’s lone charter member of both the college and pro football halls of fame, would think?
Curious, I poked around Arlin Field after the Tygers finished practice on Monday night, hoping to catch a spirit on the wind. I peeked through the gates. Nothing. Peered around the corner of the weight room. Zilch.
Slowly I ambled back to the car, deflated. I climbed in the vehicle, turned the key, and there he was. An enormous specimen with a huge smile and a gregarious posture.
ME: Is it really you, Pete?
PETE HENRY: Yeah, but it’s snowing. If you want to talk, I’m not doing it outside. I did my time on cold, wet, muddy football fields.
ME: Understandable. I just wanted to see what you thought of the Tygers and Cubs and these runs to Canton.
PETE HENRY: I never saw anything like it. My first two years in high school were pretty bad. My sophomore year at Mansfield was 1912. We went 4-7, and some teams really put it on us. We played Akron Central twice and lost 99-6 and 74-0. Massillon beat us 87-0. Fostoria took us to the woodshed 74-0. And my junior year we were worse. In 1913 we finished 2-7 and they fired our coach, Roscoe Roy Siedell.
Finally, in my senior year, we had a good season. We had our third different coach in three years, but Harry Patton was the best in my time at Mansfield. We went 8-1, so in my three years we were 14-14. But as good as we were in 1914, our team wasn’t as good as these Tygers.
ME: Your 1914 Mansfield team and this year’s squad both have one thing in common. Your only loss was to Wooster.
PETE HENRY: Yeah, I know, and both games were close, too. We lost 6-0. This year’s Tygers lost 18-17, and they should have won that game. They led it the whole way until the final seconds.
ME: What do you like about your alma mater?
PETE HENRY: Everything! Angelo Grose plays like I did, everywhere. Offense, defense, punts. That young man is just like me. Cam Todd is a smart quarterback. Terrance Flickinger is that shifty running back that can pop a big one from anywhere. And those big guys up front, you know they’re talking my language. There’s the beef, on both sides of the ball.
ME: What are your impressions of coach Chioke Bradley?
PETE HENRY: After I retired from the NFL, I was an athletics director at Washington & Jefferson College for 20 years, so I dealt with a lot of coaches. I keep up on the Tygers. I watched Chioke when he played at Mansfield and I think he’s benefited by learning from some very good coaches. His team has great spirit. They have a great attitude. They’re having fun. They’re disciplined. They’re fundamentally sound. Those are the things you look at with a high school coach.
ME: What do you think of their chances in Canton?
PETE HENRY: They’ve already won. The town’s excited, the school’s excited, I’m excited. They’ve already won.
ME: Have you had a chance to see Lucas play?
PETE HENRY: I caught up with them in the playoffs. Now you’re talking about a brand of football near and dear to me. Line splits are foot to foot. Wing-T. Everyone in tight, gut-tough, lots of sweeps and belly action. It’s all about toughness with them. They play football like we did in my day. It’s one-platoon. Almost everyone plays on both sides of the ball. Look at the All-Ohio team, five Cubs: Logan Niswander, Blake Coffman, Tristan Arnold, Tommy Zirzow and Carson Hauger. Those kids are old-school.
ME: What surprises you about Lucas?
PETE HENRY: It’s amazing a town that small can produce a football team like this. I’ve heard people clamor for Lucas to merge with Madison. But look how that team has galvanized their community. You can tell those kids absolutely believe in Scott Spitler’s system. They aren’t throwing it all over the yard. There’s no spread or Air Raid, or whatever they’re calling that wide-open stuff today. They don’t play like they’re underdogs. In fact, it’s the opposite. They play like they’re they toughest team around, and they know it. Pound, pound, pound until they’ve worn you down.
ME: Both these teams have won multiple times in dramatic fashion in the playoffs. What does it mean when a team finds a way to win consistently, even if it shouldn’t?
PETE HENRY: It means they’re mentally tough. It means they have proven they can get it done, even if the breaks go sideways on them. It makes them dangerous, too, really dangerous. They’re a tough out, too tough for anyone to this point.
ME: You won NFL championships with the Canton Bulldogs, All-American honors, Hall of Fame status. You’ve played in the biggest games. What would you tell these teams if you could slip over from your Hall of Fame bust and deliver an inspirational pregame speech.
PETE HENRY: This is your moment. Have fun with it. Enjoy what you’ve accomplished and look up in the stands. Remember how much it means to all those people up there watching you. The whole county is following you. What you’re doing is special, very special. Like I said before, you’ve already won.
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