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Tuesday, November 19, 2019

Detroit Lions TE T.J. Hockenson breaks record vs. Cowboys








by Don Drysdale

November 17, 2019

On Sunday, against the Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions rookie TE T.J. Hockenson hauled in a 6-yard pass from quarterback Jeff Driskel in the first quarter.

With the catch, Hockenson broke a record as he became the first tight end in Lions franchise history to catch at least one pass in each of his first 10 career games.











Congrats, T.J.!!!

Monday, November 18, 2019

Women's basketball great Katie Smith speaks to Atlantic City students



 GUY GARGAN Staff Writer
 Nov 15, 2019





  






ATLANTIC CITY — The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball championships will be held in March at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, but the benefit to the local community has already begun.
Former WNBA seven-time All-Star and coach Katie Smith and current Monmouth University women’s basketball players spoke to students at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School Complex on Friday.
Their appearance was part of the MAAC Gives Back community outreach program, which pairs Atlantic City students with men’s and women’s basketball student-athletes and coaches from the 11 MAAC schools.
Smith, 45, a former Ohio State University star, played 15 seasons in the WNBA, retiring in 2013. She won WNBA championships with the Detroit Shock in 2006 and 2008. She retired as the all-time scoring leader in women’s professional basketball history with 7,885 points and was second in WNBA scoring with 6,452 points. She won Olympic gold medals in 2000, 2004 and 2008. She was head coach of the WNBA’s New York Liberty for two seasons.
“With the MAAC Tournament coming to town, they’re really trying to engage the community and get people involved and also give back,” Smith said.
“I was able to say a few words and be there and engage with the students, and to share about what they can be a part of if they work hard, and hopefully spark something in the kids. They can follow their dreams, working hard and having success in their lives, if they just continue to do the day-to-day. They can be like the ladies who were in the front from Monmouth, who will also be in Atlantic City in March.”
Smith said she started playing basketball in the fifth grade on an all-boys team.
“I played a lot of other sports, and ballet and tap,” Smith said. “But sports definitely stuck with me, and I fell in love with it. Whether it’s music, sports, art, academics or your school work, the reason we can do things that we love is if we do the work in school and make sure we take care of that first.”
The MAAC men’s and women’s basketball championship will be held March 10 to 14 at Boardwalk Hall. The conference’s teams include Canisius, Fairfield, Iona, Manhattan, Marist, Monmouth, Niagara, Quinnipiac, Rider, Saint Peter’s and Siena.
“We have 22 teams, 11 men’s and 11 women’s, and we’ll be here in March,” MAAC Commissioner Rich Ensor said. “We think it’s going to be special to have all these athletes in one place, and for the community to come out and support it. They’re going to see some great basketball.”
Ensor was also with Smith and the Monmouth players at the MLK School.
“We’re really working to engage the Atlantic City community in staying in school,” Ensor said. “They have a program called Never Be Absent, NBA, and we’re trying to enforce that. By never being absent, they can come to the MAAC Tournament as our guest. Additionally, they’ll have the opportunity to advance in school and someday perhaps get a scholarship to play in a MAAC school.”

Sancho, Hancock, & Coon Collect Golds At ’19 Bill Farrell Memorial






 















NEW YORK CITY — To cap the first tournament of the 2019-20 season for US athletes, four of its best pulled through with gold — although at 60 kilograms, Ryan Mango‘s (Army/WCAP) victory was earned in the most unique fashion possible.

The final round of the 2019 Bill Farrell Memorial began at 6:00pm ET and aired live in the US on FLOWrestling.

Mango was matched up against 2019 World/Army teammate Max Nowry. Given the pair is already qualified for the 2020 US Olympic Trials — and face off on a daily basis in the WCAP wrestling room — they decided to save the combat for another time. Which is why when both took the mat and squared off, they played Rock, Paper, Scissors, and Mango came out on top.
From then on out, it was business as usual.
Alex Sancho (67 kg, Army/WCAP) dug immediately against Hayanobu Shimzo (JPN), at one instance clamping over the top and causing Shimzo to jump back in pain. After they reset, the hand-fiighting resumed with Sancho working off a lead right leg scanning for positions. The first passivity/par terre chance was all his. From top, Sancho locked for a side lift and hoisted it up. Shimzo twisted and contorted to avoid danger; so, Sancho adjusted his lock and attempted to drive forward instead. Sancho was credited with two but Japan challenged. Following the review, the score was adjusted to 4-0 in Sancho’s favor.

Shimzo upped his intensity level just a bit to start the second. Sancho wrangled a two-on-one and looked to straighten before the hold disappeared. Eventually, the passivity fairy rang, this time for Japan. Shimzo locked for a gut before finding his feet for a lift, but Sancho defended. Shimzo went on the attack with time becoming a factor, and nearly collected a step-out point towards the end only to have the tables turned on him at the last possible second. In the end, it was a 5-1 decision for Sancho, who clinched his third Bill Farrell Memorial tournament win along with a spot in the 2020 Olympic Trials.
’19 Open runner-up Spenser Woods (NYAC/OTS) wanted to start hot and use his athleticism, though it was Hassan Mohamed (EGY) who made the bigger first impact. Soon after the whistle, Mohamed managed to launch Woods for five. Another exchange after the proceeding reset saw Mohamed scan for another attempt and earn a step-out. But gradually, Woods began finding his rhythm. He was more commanding and confident in the tie-ups, and looked to be the fresher athlete. A step-out put the NMU rep on the board just before the end of the first to cut his deficit to 6-1.

More jockeying for position by both cracked open the second, and Mohamed came close to another step-out point. This time, Woods was ready, and he deftly circled away from the boundary to re-engage. But the pace grinded to a halt. The more Woods started coming on, the more Mohamed was in survival mode. No further points were scored, thus providing Mohamed with a 6-1 victory.
G’Angelo Hancock (97 kg, Sunkist) had himself a willing participant in the form of Ahmed Hassan (EGY) — and he put that fact to good use. Hassan went for a throw, Hancock countered and turned it into his own four at the line, and took with him an additional point for the step-out. A similar sequence unfolded. Hassan went in on Hancock again, only to be taken down. Following one more restart, it was all over. Hancock brought Hassan into his clutches coming out of an exchange, put him to his back, and the signal for the fall arrived in quick succession. The win gives Hancock his second Bill Farrell Memorial gold (2016).

At heavyweight, ’18 World silver Adam Coon (130 kg, NYAC/Cliff Keen) didn’t need much time to dispose of Jacob Mitchell (Army/WCAP). Coon’s gutwrench, which he deployed with what seemed like an extra touch of viciousness on this evening, is a weapon that is continuing to develop and wound up becoming responsible for six of the nine points he needed to seal this one up. Just over two minutes into the first, and that was it — Coon with his first Bill Farrell Memorial victory since ’15.

Alan Vera (87 kg, NYAC) and 2009 World bronze Aleksandr Kikiniov (BLR) combined for a highly-anticipated bout that was big on positional tactics, but not points. Vera received the first passive chance of the contest and came up empty. Kikinov got a point back in the second, but was then knocked for a caution-and-two for “negative wrestling”, though it was white-paddled. Shortly thereafter, Kikiniov was banged for passive. This time, Vera took advantage of par terre and rotated one gutwrench to all-of-the-sudden surge ahead 4-1, which capped the scoring and the bout.

Stay tuned tomorrow for additional notes and insights from the Bill Farrell Memorial. 

2019 BILL FARRELL MEMORIAL


November 15 — New York, New York

FINALS RESULTS

60 kg: Ryan Mango (Army/WCAP) def. Max Nowry (Army/WCAP) via RPS
67 kg: Alex Sancho (Army/WCAP) def. Hayanobu Shimzu (JPN) 5-1
77 kg: Hassan Mohamed (EGY) def. Spencer Woods (NYAC/OTS) 6-1
87 kg: Alan Vera (NYAC) def. Aleksandr Kikinov (BLR) 4-1
97 kg: G’Angelo Hancock (Sunkist) def. Ahmed Hassan (EGY) via fall
130 kg: Adam Coon (NYAC/Cliff Keen) def. Jacob Mitchell (Army/WCAP) 9-0, TF

THIRD PLACE RESULTS

60 kg: Sammy Jones (NYAC/OTS) def. Matt Schmitt (WV) 8-0, TF
67 kg: Nolan Baker (USOPTC) def. Calvin Germinaro (Minnesota Storm) via fall
77 kg: Corey Hope (NYAC) def. Jesse Porter (NYAC/OTS) 7-0
87 kg: Chandler Rogers (UA) def. Satoki Mukai (JPN) via fall
97 kg: Taichi Oka (JPN) def. Lucas Sheridan (Army/WCAP) 2-1
130 kg: Toby Erickson (Army/WCAP) def. Bryson McGowan (UA) 7-4

Friday, November 15, 2019

NOTEBOOK: Flowers stepping up his game




Thursday, Nov 14, 2019 05:27 PM
·       












Tim Twentyman
SENIOR WRITER

Trey Flowers has been on a roll the last month, playing the kind of football the Lions expected from him when they signed him to a big free-agent deal this offseason.

He’s the only defensive end in the NFL actively on a three-game sack streak. He’s recorded eight quarterback hurries over his last three games and notched 14 tackles, seven quarterback hits and five tackles for loss over that span.

“I feel as though I’m taking better advantage of my opportunities,” Flowers said this week. “Whether it’s watching more film and just kind of doing the extra things to being more in tune with the offensive linemen and things like that.”

Flowers missed all of training camp rehabbing a shoulder injury. He didn’t play in the preseason and was admittedly trying to knock some of the rust off when the regular season began.

“Anytime you can practice with repetition and get a source of confidence going into each week it always helps you as a player,” he said. “I feel as though anytime you start off the season shaking the rust off, you just want to continue to get better week in and week out and I think I’m continuing to work and get better each week.”

That’s certainly shown itself on the stat sheet over the last month or so.

Since 2017, only Flowers and Khalil Mack have recorded at least 155 tackles, 19.0 sacks and seven forced fumbles. Flowers has been back to being that kind of productive player.

He’ll have his work cut out for him this week against Dallas trying to keep his sack streak intact, however. The Cowboys have allowed 11 sacks all season, tops in the NFL.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

News & Notes: Marshal Yanda Is Having a Blast in His 13th Season











Wednesday, Nov 13, 2019 04:24 PM
·          

Clifton Brown
BALTIMORERAVENS.COM STAFF WRITER













Halfway through his 13th season, Marshal Yanda is having one of his best and most enjoyable years.

When the Ravens drafted Yanda, Lamar Jackson was just 10 years old. Now they are teammates and despite their age difference, Yanda and Jackson share a bond as teammates – the veteran guard who loves Jackson’s competitiveness and talent, and Jackson,[comma] who values Yanda’s presence as one of the NFL’s best offensive linemen.

After Sunday’s win over the Bengals, Yanda said Jackson is “ridiculous.” On Wednesday, Jackson returned the compliment.

“It starts with the line, I need my linemen to love me, protect me,” Jackson said. “I’d rather them not hate me. It starts with him. He’s the O.G. the G.O.A.T, future Hall of Famer. I need to send him off right. Get a Super Bowl, I’ll be set.”











The idea of winning another Super Bowl sounds good to Yanda, who made one of his seven Pro Bowls in 2012 when the Ravens won their last championship. Yanda thought about calling it quits after last season, but after entering the offseason healthy, he instead signed a one-year contract extension to keep him in Baltimore through 2020.

He’s having a blast, largely because the Ravens are having success.

“We’re winning,” Yanda said. “That’s what we’re all paid to do here. We’ve won some really big games as of late. To win those big games is something I’m relishing.”

Yanda also loves the shot of adrenaline he gets from playing with Jackson. He was totally on board with Jackson in Seattle two weeks ago, when Jackson came to the sidelines and vehemently urged Head Coach John Harbaugh to go for it on fourth down, leading to Jackson’s 8-yard touchdown run on the next play.

This past weekend in Cincinnati, Yanda got a kick out of watching Jackson wearing sunglasses on the sideline, something Yanda said he would never do.



Winning another Super Bowl would only strengthen Yanda’s resume as a potential Hall of Famer. Harbaugh is glad that the Ravens’ five-game winning streak is bringing Yanda more attention.

“Marshal, in my mind, is a Hall of Fame player,” Harbaugh said. “If you’re going to make the Hall of Fame as an offensive lineman, you’ve probably got to play your Hall of Fame level at the end when people are watching. Because for most of your career, most people, including the media believe it or not, don’t pay attention to those guys up front. I believe Marshal’s doing that at the highest level. I think he’s playing some of his best football, if not his best football, right now.”





Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Lions Week 10 player of the game: Trey Flowers






















It was the first time in 136 games the Detroit Lions were without Matthew Stafford as their starting quarterback — and it showed. What started as a promising defensive showing against the Chicago Bears, ended in disappointment at the final whistle.
One player who was consistent was defensive end Trey Flowers and that’s why he is our Lions Wire player of the game.




Flowers’ is our first defensive player to win player of the game honors this season. Today, he had seven tackles, two tackles for a loss, two quarterback hits, and a sack.



Congrats to Flowers on taking home this week’s award!

Thursday, November 07, 2019

Nate Ebner's Fatherland, Part One: Junkyard Doggedness









Tuesday, Nov 05, 2019 09:39 AM

Erik Scalavino
PATRIOTS.COM WRITER

















A young Nate Ebner (left) with his father, Jeff, and Magnum, their yellow Labrador Retriever.

The trial ended sooner than it otherwise might have.

All involved seemed relieved to varying degrees, as both temperatures and emotions were soaring. With the mercury outside approaching a midday high of 90, the drama inside a Springfield, Ohio courtroom reached its climax on Thursday, July 22, 2010, the fourth and final day of proceedings.

A 43-year-old defendant familiar to law enforcement was already in jail a year earlier on a separate parole violation and burglary charge when authorities accused him in this particular instance of murder, assault, robbery, and tampering with evidence – nine counts in all – in connection with a brutal slaying. That crime occurred two years earlier, less than a half-mile away, literally down the road from and virtually within sight of the Clark County Courthouse where the case was being heard.

Initially, defense attorneys attempted to establish reasonable doubt by suggesting it could have taken more than one person to kill the victim, a rugged former rugby player 10 years their client’s senior, who earned his living crushing old cars. However, the accused’s unforeseen confession brought the trial to an abrupt halt.

Nearly a decade since, while the admitted perpetrator sits behind bars, Nate Ebner takes a seat inside the Patriots locker room. He’s in the midst of trying to rehabilitate a groin injury that prevented him from traveling to Washington for New England’s 33-7 win over the Redskins the previous day.

Yet, for the better part of an hour, the veteran special teamer shares intimate details and fond recollections not only of an eventful 2019 – his romantic wedding in Italy and poignant pilgrimage to Israel – but also of his loving father, Jeff.

As he speaks, Ebner fiddles at times, perhaps subconsciously, with a black rubber bracelet that’s adorned his right wrist for the past decade. On it are inscribed, in capital white letters, the words “FINISH STRONG.”
















The type of FINISH STRONG bracelet that Nate Ebner has worn since 2009.

Before you finish hearing the story he is going to relate, Ebner makes one small request: that you not feel sorry for him. He makes abundantly clear that under no circumstances does he want your pity, well-placed though it may be. His intention in divulging his most private thoughts and feelings is not to solicit sympathy or unwarranted attention for himself or his family.

His hope? That you come away with a broader perspective.

“Life is short, could be shorter. Take advantage of every single opportunity and day and moment that you have. It’s real... I’ve experienced it first-hand. It sounds cliché to people who haven’t experienced that.

“I don’t need to air all my business to make me feel better,” he emphasizes. “I’ve never really been like that, but… If somebody wants a real message or they’ve maybe had that situation in their own life and they’re having trouble and they want to have a real conversation, I’m down for that all the time.”

That’s because Nate’s father, Jeff Ebner, was a man who devoted every weekend to spending quality time with his only child.

A man who believed his son should understand and appreciate his Jewish heritage, but never pressured him to practice it.

A man who encouraged Nate’s seemingly outrageous athletic dream, when most other people, had they heard it, might have laughed young Ebner out of the room.

A man – the very same man – whose life so violently ended 11 Novembers ago.
















Jeff and Nate Ebner take in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game.

 FAITH, FAMILY, AND FISTICUFFS

 Among Hebrew speakers, “Shabbat shalom” is a commonly employed greeting, intended to wish someone a peaceful Sabbath – the 24-hour period between nightfall on Fridays to nightfall Saturdays.

Whenever his son came to visit, Jeff Ebner did his level best to provide Nate with serene Saturdays. As Nate got older, peace proved far more elusive most Sundays, which followed a familiar pattern.

First, Jeff and Nate got limber by stretching. Then they’d lace up their cleats and pop in their mouthpieces. Rather than going to a nearby athletic field, father and son instead hopped on their bikes and headed to 420 E. North Street, where the family’s auto reclamation business, Ebner Sons, has existed for as long as the NFL has been playing professional football. Nate affectionately calls it “the junkyard.”

There, the Ebners would participate in an extracurricular physical activity of an altogether different variety – a secret they kept pretty much between themselves. And the authorities.

“Man, we used to chase robbers. We used to beat the [$#!+] out of robbers,” Nate recalls wistfully, the slightest hint of a mischievous grin forming at the corners of his mouth.

A busy, four-lane road, Springfield’s E. North Street runs one-way toward the west of town. Several car dealerships occupy the real estate directly across the street. Any would-be criminals venturing onto the Ebner Sons property might therefore try their escape through the back, by way of a wooded area and old train tracks that mimic the contours of Buck Creek. In all likelihood, the scoundrels wouldn’t have accounted for the proprietor and his strapping young boy ambushing them.

“Springfield’s a bad area, man,” Nate adds with emphasis. “People were always stealing. We knew where the holes in the fences were. We’d set [the robbers] up, basically, to run out. I’d chase them, he’d usually be waiting for them… We did it all the time. We’d chase them, we’d catch them, beat the crap out of them, and then we’d send them to the police. I couldn’t tell you how many times we did that.”

Whether or not she was aware at the time of their roughing-up of robbers, Nancy Pritchett didn’t mind at all that her son kept company with his father, her second ex-husband. She encouraged it, actually. Having split up when Nate was still an infant, Nancy and Jeff nevertheless remained on friendly terms. She had primary, weekday custody of their son in Mason, a community on the northern outskirts of Cincinnati, about an hour from Springfield. But Jeff and Nate saw each other two or three times a week, and many weekends as well.

“Jeff could see Nate anytime he wanted. Jeff was a great dad, a good person,” Nancy remembers. “He and I may not have made it, but that doesn’t mean Jeff wasn’t the person I chose to marry. He was a great guy. Jeff’s strengths were, if you’re going to do something, do it. Do it 100-percent, don’t do it halfway.”

Jeff’s philosophy seemed to apply to all areas of life, including the more sensitive, spiritual side.

Raised in a practicing Jewish family, Jeff felt it his responsibility to surround Nate with the same religious and cultural traditions. He also regaled his son with tales of his brief journey to Israel in 1989 as a competitor in the Maccabiah Games (a quadrennial event commonly known as the “Jewish Olympics”).

Nate’s mother, a Christian, wholeheartedly supported this exposure to multiple faiths.

“Jeff became a principal at the synagogue in Springfield that he took Nate to on the weekends,” she continues. “He knew that if he wanted Nate to understand the Jewish faith, he was going to have to participate in that. He became very involved in it. I had no problem with Nate being introduced to both religions and choosing whatever he felt he could relate to.”

While proud of his dual heritage, Nate admits, “I’m just not a super religious person.”

It didn’t take him and Jeff long to discover they could best relate to one another – worship one another – through sport.



Photo courtesy Nancy Pritchett












Even as an infant, Nate Ebner displayed athletic talent. Here, his father, Jeff, introduces him to basketball in their driveway.

 DRIVEN BY DEVOTION

 “Nate’s attitude, as a little boy and throughout his life, has always been, he just never felt there was something he couldn’t do… He was always very strong for a kid his age.”

As evidence, Nancy Pritchett recounts how her 2-year-old once carried a tricycle up two flights of stairs in their home. Immediately regretting her order to take the toy back downstairs, she watched in horror as Nate mounted the miniature bike and rode it down the staircase. He survived the inevitable crash unscathed.

Though not always the six-foot, 215-pound specimen he is today, Nate Ebner never lacked in physical gifts.

“From the time he was very young, we knew,” adds Nancy, “he was going to be coordinated and good at sports.”

Nate started walking at just nine months. In organized youth sports – soccer, baseball, football – he naturally excelled, and Jeff never missed a game. Such devotion came as no surprise to Ann Bailin, Jeff’s younger sister and an accomplished athlete herself (she swam competitively for the University of Indiana). Despite a 14-year age gap, the siblings were fond of one another from the outset.

“My mom told me when I was born, he was so excited. He wanted to hold me,” Ann explains, her wide smile discernible through her voice on the opposite end of a phone line. “When I got older and he could drive, he’d take me places. All the girls love a guy with a baby, and I always wanted to go.”

Later, a teenaged Ann would take her friends to watch her big brother play rugby matches, and when Ann got to college, Jeff made it a point to attend her swim meets on a regular basis. After college, Ann relocated to Tampa, Florida with their parents, but stayed in constant touch with Jeff.

“He and I were very close. I confided in him a lot. He was my best friend… I’d talk to him a couple of times a week. He’d always be in the car driving to see Nate. We’d call it ‘The Nate Show,’” she laughs at the memory of those long-distance calls.

By the time Nate reached eighth grade, Nancy, his mom, had re-married again and moved to Hilliard, a small city of suburban Columbus and still well within driving distance of Jeff. Nate could have easily continued playing football, but as the new kid in town, he chose instead to fortify the already covalent bond with his father by getting more involved in the sport Jeff loved most.



Photo courtesy Nancy Pritchett












Jeff and Nate enjoying a day in the pool.

 HOME TEAMS

 Growing up in “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” Jeff Ebner loved the water. Throughout his youth and early teens, he identified as a swimmer, according to his mother, Lyla Bailin. His senior year of high school in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, northwest of Minneapolis, he decided to try something new and went out for football.

Not only did he make the squad, Jeff played both offense and defense on a team that won the state championship that year. Drake University, four hours south on the highway in Des Moines, Iowa, offered him a football scholarship in 1973.

One day, a friend invited him to attend a rugby match and Jeff, frustrated by Drake Football’s frequent on-field failures, took a shine to it. Although he remained at Drake, he abandoned football (and his scholarship) to play on a local rugby club in Des Moines for the next two years.

Word of Jeff’s fire-hydrant frame and relentless hustle got back to his hometown, where the University of Minnesota rugby team offered him a spot on its roster. Jeff transferred from Drake, moved back home for his senior year, and helped his new Gopher teammates capture the Big Ten Conference Championship.

Upon graduation in 1977, Jeff was accepted to Minnesota’s law school, but didn’t end up attending. Instead, he continued to play rugby, first in Minneapolis while working a day job, then Dallas, Texas, where that job moved him, and later on two different clubs when he returned to Ohio to take over his biological father’s family business (Lyla and Jeff’s dad had divorced years earlier).



Photo courtesy Nancy Pritchett












Jeff Ebner (with the ball) took quickly to rugby after first getting involved in the sport during college.

In 1989, Jeff competed against international opponents on the U.S. rugby squad that took home the bronze at the Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv. The previous December, when Jeff became a father, he bequeathed to his son both a passion and a talent for rugby. Infant Nate first tossed a rugby ball to Jeff while still in his stroller. Later, he often joined Jeff on the field to take part in club practices.

Before long, as he catapulted in size throughout his teens, Nate established himself as one of the most gifted youth players in the United States. Between 2006 and ’08, he represented the Red, White, and Blue as a member of the Under-19 and Under-20 U.S. National Teams that competed overseas, including the 2008 Junior Rugby World Cup in Wales. Team USA failed to win a match in that tournament, but Nate still managed to earn MVP honors.























Nate represented the United States for the first time as a youth rugby player on Team USA's Under-19 and Under-20 teams.

Not yet 20, Nate saw his options to continue playing professional rugby expand at that point, but he had considerable ambivalence toward any potential offers.

“My dream wasn’t really to go to France [for instance], learn French, then have to play rugby in France,” he confesses. “I wanted to be in the United States.”

Because as comfortable as he’d become on a rugby pitch, Nate felt even more at home at the junkyard.

Jeff worked there with his own father (Nate’s grandfather) and Nate spent much of his adolescent summers there. The Ebner sons would purchase broken down cars, strip them of anything valuable, then crush and stack them to sell off the remaining steel. Before he could legally drive, Nate operated the heavy machinery to do the job; in his down time, he’d tear around the yard on dirt bikes and four-wheelers. The outdoor equivalent of a man-cave, if you will.

At day’s end, Nate and Jeff often went to lift weights together. “Finish strong,” Jeff always encouraged his son.

Nate inevitably made friends his own age at Hilliard Davidson High, and, less than two miles away, at sister school Hilliard Darby, where an ambitious, athletic girl named Chelsey caught his eye. They had friends in common and sometimes spent time with one another in group settings.

Ironically, only much later and when a much greater distance separated them did they grow closer. Nate enrolled at nearby Ohio State in 2007 while Chelsey went off to Ohio University 80 miles away. As college seniors, the two officially started dating.

“The timing just kind of worked out,” Nate shrugs. “We liked each other and have been together ever since, pretty much.”

Just like his father before him, after one year in college, Nate started becoming restless, though not for other women. For years, he’d harbored a dream that, it seemed, the time had finally come to chase.



Photo courtesy Nancy Pritchett









Wherever Nate Ebner played youth rugby, his father, Jeff, would surely follow.

 FINAL WORDS

 By staying Stateside, Nate’s opportunities to play rugby rapidly dwindled as he approached the end of his teens. Between international appearances, he kept in shape by playing rugby on the club level at Ohio State.

“Super frustrated with that,” he acknowledges. “You’re playing against the best in the world to just, a bunch of kids that – no offense to them, but they just don’t have the same experience. It was hard for me. I took what I did pretty seriously. I’d played on three Junior World Cup teams. They wanted to [%^&*] around and then drink after the game. I just never got down like that.

“But I still had at least three more years of school. That’s when I started thinking about football. I always wanted to be a pro football player.”



Photo courtesy Nancy Pritchett












Nate Ebner played club rugby at Ohio State from 2007-08.

On Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, Nate and Jeff met, as they so often did, over dinner. Jeff listened intently as Nate spelled out his desire to try to play football for Ohio State, one of the most storied collegiate programs in the country. Jeff, of course, followed the Buckeyes, as most Ohioans do, but considered himself “a rugby guy” at his core.

“‘I’m all for Ohio State,’” Nate remembers Jeff responding, “‘but I hope you’re not being persuaded by going to school there and just want to be on the football team and wear the jersey.’ We had to clarify that.”

The two agreed that Nate would put his rugby career in abeyance, not give it up entirely. If the football fantasy didn’t materialize and Nate stayed healthy, he could always resurrect it. In the interim, Jeff’s consent came with one non-negotiable caveat.

“‘We’re not going to half-[@$$] it,’” Jeff demanded, true to his nature. “‘Let’s give football a real shot… try to get to the NFL.’

“Once I had his support, I didn’t really care what anybody else thought.”

Buoyed by his father’s blessing and the approaching holiday season, Nate returned to campus with every reason to be in high spirits.

Jeff must have as well. Happily remarried to a woman named Amy, he was scheduled that coming weekend to visit his family in Florida. His sister, who’d purchased tickets for them to attend a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, recalls, “I [went online and] checked him into his flight, said we’d have a drink before we go to see mom and dad. It was going to be a fun weekend.”

Ann Bailin believes she was the last person to speak to her brother. For at some point after their phone conversation on Thursday, Nov. 13, Jeff Ebner confronted an intruder at the junkyard. An anonymously-placed 911 call led police to Ebner Sons, where they discovered Jeff in his office, supine and severely beaten about the head.

Authorities eventually arrived at the astonishing conclusion – and were prepared to present evidence at trial had it gone further – that their prime suspect not only committed the heinous crime, but also notified them of it.
Dan Driscoll, Assistant Clark County Prosecutor at the time, would later remark to reporters, “I don’t know if it’s… a criminal with a conscience or some type of psychopath here.”

Coming soon – Nate Ebner’s Fatherland, Part Two: Triumph over Tragedy, and Part Three: Peace at Last



Photo courtesy Nancy Pritchett













Jeff Ebner shares a tender moment with his infant son, Nate.


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