Student-Athletes benefit as Theodore Roosevelt High School joins Suburban League
The Kent City School District has a sports rivalry with the Ravenna School District that’s built to last a century, literally. But Kent’s recent decision to switch conferences could change everything about the future of this feud. Alyssa Morlacci and Gabriel Kramer spoke with athletic directors, administrators and athletes about how the change could sabotage the locally famous rivalry, but also about the benefits the decision will make for students.
[rpavideo caption = “Despite winning a district championship this season, the Kent Roosevelt girls golf team has never had the chance to compete for a conference title. That will change when Roosevelt High School joins the Suburban League. TV2’s Gabriel Kramer found the benefits for the Roosevelt girls golf team joining a new conference.”]RPA_03_Kramer_Conferences[/rpavideo]
Theodore Roosevelt High School sacrifices rivalry for student opportunity
by Alyssa Morlacci
KENT, OHIO – Theodore Roosevelt High School football captain Kardell Jackson and his fellow teammates hold a muddied black casket above their shoulders.
Pumpkins, hay bales and tomb stones have been placed outside the gymnasium door the team members push past, carrying the coffin containing a crafted paper raven.
No tears are shed. Instead, the student body cheers, whistles blow, and the band plays a victorious melody.
It’s about 2 p.m. on the afternoon before the famous rivalry football game against Ravenna High School. Next year, the Roosevelt Rough Riders and the Ravenna Ravens will play their 100th opposing game; and their last conference matchup.
The Rally
The student athletes drop the box in the center of the gym and sit cross-legged while the senior cheerleaders file in behind, holding black roses.
The band rests and English Teacher Jeff Harr is called to the floor. He’s dressed in a black and red robe with a cross dangling by a silver chain that’s wrapped around his waist. He is to perform the eulogy.
With one hand he cracks open a novel with a golden cover. With the other he raises a microphone and begins:
Listen now riders
And you shall hear
Of the death of the raven
That’s last breath is near
He pauses. Students in the stands laugh. Some pull out their smart phones and press record.
This bird right here
So wretched and weak,
Just like Ravenna,
Home of the freaks.
The red and black decorative audience applauds and cheers. Harr prepares his next line.
Tonight we ride
To the wretched town
And as soon as we get there
They’re going down!
A louder, more synchronized outburst occurs, and Harr is later proven to be correct.
[rpavideo width=”300″ caption=”Roosevelt’s senior football players toss the Ravenna Raven into the fire.” float = “right” ]RPA_03_Kramer_Fire[/rpavideo]
The football team carries the coffin to a fire prepared by maintenance workers outside the building with classmates following behind. The team enters a circle roped off by caution tape and promenades the box before tossing it at the fire.
They miss.
One player dashes to the side of the fire to fix their mistake, scooting the cardboard into the flames.
The team has better luck on the field that night, beating Ravenna 28 to 14 and changing the rivalry winning records to Roosevelt 49, Ravenna 47 with three ties.
But after next year’s 100th rivalry game, Theodore Roosevelt High School athletics will leave the Portage Trail Conference, where their rivalry resides, to join the Suburban League. Although the playful hate between the teams is well-known to the city residents, many fear this move could cause the opposition to fizzle.
Making the decision to leave
[rpavideo width=”300″ caption=”Assistant Superintendent of Kent City Schools Thomas Larkin gives his take on joining the Suburban League .” float = “left” ]RPA_03_Kramer_ThomasLarkin[/rpavideo]
This past June, Athletic Director Mark Pfaff, Principal Robert Klinar and Assistant Superintendent Thomas Larkin, attended a luncheon hosted by the Suburban League at Tallmadge High School.
The Kent City Schools received an invitation prior to the meeting, which was used to “share with the invited schools the benefits of the Suburban League and a desire to possibly expand it,” said Larkin.
Roosevelt’s attendance at the meeting was followed up with an invitation to join the league. At this time, Pfaff decided to poll coaches.
“I got input from the coaches in my office,” Pfaff says. “When I’d see them in passing, I’d say ‘Hey, what’s your thoughts?’”
Pfaff has worked at Theodore Roosevelt High School for nearly two years. Before, he was employed for more than a decade as the athletic director at Green High School, which participated in the Suburban League.
[pullquote] “Can we compete? We’re very successful, what’s it going to do if we’re not? What’s it going to do to our student body? Is attendance going to drop?” [/pullquote]
Pfaff said his experience with in the Suburban League allowed him to provide reassurance to coaches who asked difficult questions like “Can we compete? We’re very successful, what’s it going to do if we’re not? What’s it going to do to our student body? Is attendance going to drop?”
Ravenna attended the meeting and received an invitation as well; however, the school did not accept.
What will change
Theodore Roosevelt High School’s move to the Suburban League will take place beginning in the fall of 2015. While it will no longer be a part of its century-long rivals’ conference, the school district officials say the decision was made for the good of its students.
Coreena Wise, sophomore golf team member, will now be able to compete for a league title.
“We in our league right now don’t play any schools close by and [the ones we do play are] all private schools,” Wise said. “So, it will be nice to play other public schools and know some of the people, so I’m excited.”
Theodore Roosevelt High School will play in the smaller division of the 16-team league, matching up with Barberton, Highland, Copley, Aurora, Cloverleaf, Revere and Tallmadge.
Because the PTC hosts schools with smaller attendance, most of them don’t have women’s golf teams, swimming and diving teams, and freshman teams, which the Suburban League schools do have.
Wise believes other athletes will appreciate these teams more once they’re able to compete for a conference title and a line on the banner that hangs in the gymnasium.
“We’re really trying to get that league to put our name up there in the gym and have everyone recognize that there is a girl’s golf team and that we are a really good golf team actually,” Wise said.
Theodore Roosevelt High School also hopes to improve its facilities in order to stay competitive in the new conference by adding another auxiliary gym and a baseball and softball field. In addition, the switch-over will add to the cost for travel, increasing most team’s yearly travel by about 44 miles.
As for the Ravenna rivalry, the teams already have plans to schedule a game for the third week of the football season for as long as possible.
“It’s a part of the two communities,” said Larkin. “It’s a friendly rivalry and the two of us have a great amount of respect for each other.”
Pfaff hopes to continue fueling the fire by continuing to playing Ravenna year round.
“My quote to the coaches is ‘We will play Ravenna, no matter what sport we are in,’” Pfaff said.
