Aug. 14, 2009

Dear Falcon Fans,

Following are some important dates and upcoming events.

Friday, August 21
Annual Falcon Hog Roast at Kilkarney Hill Golf course. This is open to all parents, friends and supporters of Falcon football. Registration will start around 5:30 p.m., at the course. There is a fee for the meal ($12 adults & $6 under 10). We’ll eat and then we normally have some announcements. We will also introduce our seniors.

We have two practices that day (9 a.m. & 3 p.m.) and any parents who would like to come and watch are very welcome. We have had large groups over the years and that is great for the young men in our program. In all honesty our practices are always open to anyone who is interested. Keep in mind that we will NOT be at our normal practice facility. We are practicing all week at our intramural site. Check the campus map! You can also google Kilkarney Hills if you need a map and directions to it.

Friday August 28
Scrimmage at St. Thomas in St. Paul at 1 p.m. This is also open to anyone. It will be right on their game field and it is free.

We will NOT be bringing all of our players. By that time we will have a pretty solid first and second team and we cannot afford to let everyone scrimmage. We play St. John’s in eight days (Sept. 5) and we’ve got to prepare our players who will most likely be performing in that game.

Come on over! St. Thomas is a beautiful campus in a great neighborhood in St. Paul.

Saturday, September 5
OPENING DAY against the Johnnies here at Ramer Field! Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

It is also Jim Baier Day. Please read the July Enewsletter for more details. There has been one change that day. We will have our post game at Junior’s Bar which is located at the south end of the new Best Western Hotel on Main Street right next to Sweed’s gas station.

Saturday, September 26
Homecoming vs. Alma College. We are honoring our Conference Championship teams from 1979 and 1984.

We are having our annual Alumni breakfast with the team that morning. It will start at 8 a.m., with registration and we will eat at 9 a.m. I am still working on the site for this. I am not necessarily having it on campus. I will let you know in the September Enewsletter.

Please rsvp to Dori Holter (doris.holter@uwrf.edu) and let us know who and how many are coming! You can also contact any coach.

Falcon Touchdown Club
We are starting a new Booster Club for Falcon football. Dan Vande Yacht, Chris Krueger, Chris O’Brien and Phil Gribble have been the driving force behind this great development. This will be a private non-profit organization. The membership fee will be minimal this year - $25. We will also finalize the membership process that includes opening an account for our fees. This will also be done in the very near future.

The primary goal of the Touchdown Club is to promote the University of Wisconsin–River Falls football program.

Here are some of the events they will sponsor.

Tailgate for each home game. I can tell you that we are hoping to provide free brats at both our St. John’s game and our Homecoming game for all members.

Sponsor a Community Service event every spring.

Sponsor a fund raising event.

Sponsor the Annual Falcon Get Together.

We also hope to develop our own website.

We know that if we can be successful this first year we can expand some things as time goes on. It is an exciting development and I am very appreciative of the work that has been done by Vandy, Kruegs, OB, and Phil. Let’s get this going. This club can help our proud program for years to come.

If you are interested in joining the Falcon Touchdown Club make your checks out to: Falcon Touchdown Club and send them to me or Dan Vande Yacht : 410 S. 3rd Street, River Falls, Wis. 54022.

Because this is a non-profit you can get a tax deduction!

Hall of Fame
I am excited to announce that two of our great players have been inducted into the UW-River Falls Athletic Hall of Fame. They are Jim Abbs and Steve Frantl.

I coached here during Jim’s years. He came to us from Indiana. He was very cerebral and was one of our first QB’s who could make many mental and physical decisions on the field. He was able to see things like Coach Mike Farley could. We won a couple of titles with Jim and it is great to see him get inducted!

Steve Frantl played during my years away from RF but I know that he was a great linebacker. All of his teammates that I have met thought of him that way. They enjoyed enormous success during his years and he played a big part in it. In that era RF dominated like Whitewater is today!

Congratulations to both of these Falcons and of course their families. The Hall of Fame game will be played on Oct. 17 vs. LA CROSSE!! More information with regard to specific events for that weekend will be available later.

FINALLY
We of course are getting into our season with the players reporting on Aug. 15. I will attempt to do a weekly wrap up of our games. I hope to be able to add other information as it develops. I also want to let you know that if you want to stop by my place after home games you are welcome to do so. I get home about an hour after the game. Stop by if you’d like!

Go Falcons!

John O

John O'Grady

2009 Falcon Schedule