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Chick Ludwig covers the Cincinnati Bengals. He also writes about his other passions: college football, basketball and golf.Home > Blogs > Chick Ludwig At Large > Archives > 2009 > May > 05 > Entry
ESPN’s College GameDay trio touches down in Dayton at Sonny Unger Banquet
Chris Fowler, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit go together like peanut butter, jelly and bread; like hot dogs, mustard and buns; like Willie, Mickey & The Duke.
They should be co-joined because you can’t mention one without the other, such is their popularity in the hemisphere known as college football.
ESPN’s College GameDay trio — united since 1996 — liven up living rooms from a different college campus each Saturday in the fall.
Ah, the autumn wind is Chris … Lee … and Kirk.
“It’s become an event,” Corso said about the GameDay experience. “It’s a party now, with hundreds of tents and thousands of people, and we just happen to be the three guys leading the party.”
The party came to the Dayton Convention Center on Tuesday night, May 5, for the annual Sonny Unger Foundation Banquet, Proceeds from the fund-raiser — 500 folks paid $65 each — benefit the Sonny Unger Memorial Scholarship Fund established in 1967 to honor the 1963 Centerville High School graduate who died in Vietnam while serving with the U.S. Army.
Centerville seniors Logan Hanes and Adam Replogle are the 2009 recipients of the scholarship — the most prestigious award a Centerville athlete can earn, Hanes was the Elks’ irresistible force at quarterback, while Replogle was an immovable object at defensive tackle.
“You dream about winning this award ever since your freshman year,” Replogle said. “It’s a great honor to receive it.”
And to have the GameDay gurus here?
“It’s a thrill,” Centerville football coach and athletic director Ron Ullery said, “and it’s for a great cause. Sonny was a great representative of Centerville High School and the Army — a true American hero.”
Herbstreit, who quarterbacked the Elks and Ohio State before striking broadcasting gold, brought his sons to the banquet. Kirk and wife, Allison, have four boys — twins Jake and Tye, 8; Zak, 6; and Chase, 2.
“When you’re trying to develop a team dynamic, in sports or in television,” he said, “I’ve always found that if the chemistry is there naturally and it’s authentic, you have a chance to have success.”
College GameDay’s smashing success can be attributed to the trio’s friendship — and the fans.
“We’re trying to convey the fun of college football and how excited we are,” Fowler said. “We get along well and have a blast doing the show. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have lasted this many years.
“The energy of the fans won’t let us mail it in. We’re not going to be able to do a low-energy show with that as a backdrop.”
Corso held court outside the banquet hall with several of his players from Indiana, where he coached from 1973-82. Then he pulled out his trademark No. 2 pencil, the one he waves & taps on the GameDay set as he utters his famous catch phrase: “Not so fast, my friend!”
As the director of business development for Dixon Ticonderoga, a Florida-based pencil manufacturing company, Corso waves the instrument like a magic wand. His pencil has purpose.
“That’s a little publicity,” he said.
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