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EDITOR’S NOTE: Months of research led to a series, “Year of the Quarterback,” being presented in three waves. The first wave — 10 articles covering the volatile new world of the transfer portal — was published recently. This is the 10th part in the second wave, which tracksthen-and-now journeys of 10 Stark County quarterbacks.
Wonderland glistened on Todd Blackledge’s face.
He had just turned 18. He had just led Hoover to its first Federal League basketball championship. He had just committed to a Penn State football team fresh off the nation’s game of the year, No. 1 vs. No. 2.
Hoover basketball coach Don Eddins gave his postgame speech and stepped outside for a victory cigarette. Blackledge appeared in the hall, floating through the clouds of happy North Canton faces.
Flash forward 45 years. At 63, Blackledge is as familiar as almost any face in college football, an analyst who hopped from ABC to CBS to ESPN and now is a top dog at NBC.
Todd Blackledge in the booth during his time at ESPN
Might his football life have been much different had he not swerved through North Canton?
“It might have been,” he allows.
On his way to playing quarterback on Penn State’s 1982 national championship team, before the family moved away, Todd was a little boy in Stark County.
There was plenty of moving as Todd’s dad, Ron, climbed the coaching ladder.
Ron was a star athlete at Canton Timken High School who followed an older Canton guy, Don Nehlen, to college. They roomed together at Bowling Green.
Nehlen was 23 when he became head football coach at Canton South High School. By the time Todd was born on Feb. 21, 1961, Ron was with Nehlen at South, soon to be on the move to high school jobs at Timken and Glenwood.
Todd Blackledge speaks to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Luncheon Club in 2014.
“I remember living in this giant white…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/quarterback-todd-blackledges-hoover-rockets-101105681.html
Author : The Repository
Publish date : 2024-10-31 10:11:05
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