By Harry Minium
NORFOLK, Va. - It was minutes before Old Dominion would kick off the biggest football game it ever hosted, and claim the most significant victory in ODU sports history.
You’d think that Jerry Bowman, an ODU booster, would have been among the first to grab a seat at Foreman Field at S.B. Ballard Stadium for the Monarchs’ historic first home game against Virginia Tech.
Instead, as kickoff approached, he put his arm around his 13-year-old grandson, Patrick, in a stadium tailgate lot, got into his car and they headed to downtown Norfolk waterfront to tour a tall ship.
Jerry made sure the radio wasn’t tuned to the game, nor did he enter The Waterside District, where ODU’s 49-35 victory was played on a big-screen TV.
Before I tell you why he avoided the game, you should know that Jerry and wife Judy Bowman are among ODU’s most dedicated athletic supporters. They began a golf tournament more than a decade ago that has raised more than $800,000 for the women’s basketball program.
Judy is an assistant vice president for undergraduate studies at ODU. Jerry is a prominent Norfolk attorney who serves on the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation Board, the organization that raises funds for ODU athletics.
For 364 days a year, they both bleed ODU blue. But not so with Jerry when Virginia Tech and ODU squared off in football.
Jerry, Virginia Tech class of 1972, still loves his Hokies. He adores Frank Beamer, savors memories of the Hokies’ appearance in the 2000 Sugar Bowl national championship game and enjoys it every time Tech beats Virginia in football (14 times in a row for those who are counting).
He says he just can’t bear to watch when his beloved Monarchs and Hokies play.
“We’ve raised a lot of money for Old Dominion and we love the school,” he said. “But I would not enjoy watching Virginia Tech lose. And I would not enjoy watching Old Dominion lose.
“And I surely don’t want to hear any snide comments” from fans of either team.
“I’ll have some good one-on-one time with my grandson,” he added, before leaving. “I’ll be glad when the game is over.”
Last year, when the Monarchs fell, 38-0, to the Hokies in Blacksburg, the Bowman’s didn’t go to the game, nor did they watch on TV or listen on the radio. “It would have been too painful,” he said.
Judy, a William and Mary graduate, wore ODU white Saturday. But she was joined by her sister, Kathy Estep of Chesapeake, a Tech graduate who wore maroon.
“I’ve been to a lot of games at Foreman Field and root for ODU,” she said. “But not today.”
They were far from the only families with split loyalties. Brad Hobbs, who heads a Norfolk heating and cooling company and is a Tech alumnus, has season tickets to both schools.
He’s a trustee for ODAF. “But at heart, I’m a Hokie,” he said.
He spent the first half of the game in a luxury box with ODU athletic director Wood Selig and the second half in a suite with Virginia Tech athletic director Whit Babcock.
“In the first half, it felt like a birthday party,” he said of being in Selig’s suite. “In the second half, it felt like a funeral.”
But he notes, unlike Virginia and Virginia Tech or North Carolina and Duke, this is not a rivalry that inspires spite in anyone.
“The camaraderie among the fans from both teams in the tailgate lots was amazing,” he said. “The atmosphere was so good.
“This is the way college football should be.”
I spent a couple of hours walking through the tailgate lots and saw lots of people who usually wear blue dressed out in maroon and orange.
Joe and Dare Query – I worked with Dare at The Virginian-Pilot – were among them. Joe, an ODU graduate whose insurance business gives generously to ODU, was dressed in white. His wife Dare, and daughter, Allison, also often come to games in ODU attire.
But both Dare and Allision, who attends Virginia Tech, wore maroon.
Dare’s parents are both ODU alums. “We have season tickets for both Virginia Tech and ODU,” Dare said.
But there was no doubt who she rooted for. She’s a volunteer for the Hokie Club. She and Joe have a cabin in Blacksburg so they have a place to stay when they go to Tech games.
“I’m a diehard Virginia Tech fan,” she said.
So, normally, is Jenn Selders, a Tech graduate from Virginia Beach. She also wears ODU colors when she heads to Ballard Stadium.
On Saturday, she wore a neutral shirt that extolled the virtues of football, with No. 55 on the back.
She wore the number for a good reason. Her son, Cameron Washington, is a defensive lineman for ODU. And yep, he wears No. 55.
Her husband, Jason, wore ODU blue.
“I want them both to win and that can’t happen,” Jenn said. “I just hope everyone does well, especially my son.
“I hope this is a game that ODU can use to raise its profile in college football.”
Prophetic words, given that ODU’s victory was one of the biggest ever in college football.
Even Selig had split loyalties in his family.
Selig’s wife, Ellen, is a Tech graduate and their son, Nick, is a sophomore in Tech’s Corps of Cadets.
“He brought some members of the Corps of Cadets with him to the game,” Selig said. “They stayed at our house. That was pretty cool.
“I know a significant number of our fans are in a similar position. That’s one of the reasons this is such a great series for us. Tech resonates with our fans.”
Yours truly also had a split family. I went to ODU, as did my Mother and both of my daughters, Amy and Ginny. But I covered Virginia Tech football for years at The Virginian-Pilot and even though I wrote some critical stories about the Hokies, I grew to admire the people there very much.
So does my wife, and for good reason – two of her three sons, Eric and Kevin, are Tech graduates. She and I attended a number of Tech home games with them.
She wore ODU white, but had orange socks on.
She went to the game with her sister, Susan Vanderploeg, who lives in Springfield, Virginia. Her daughter, Amy DeLaura, a TV journalist in San Francisco, is an ODU graduate. Her son, Art DeLaura, was the drum major of the Highty-Tighties band at Tech. He’s now a captain in the Air Force.
“I’m kind of 50-50,” she said.
So was a couple sitting in front of them. They wore half maroon, half blue shirts. The blue half of the woman’s shirt said (ODU) Class of 1993. On the maroon half: Husband of a Hokie since 12-29-06.
In the end, it seems most of the fans with split loyalty cheered when the Monarchs outscored the Hokies, 28-7, in the fourth quarter.
My wife and Susan cheered and took a selfie as the crowd rushed the field.
And Dare Query cheered too. ODU quarterback Blake LaRussa was the quarterback at Bishop Sullivan Catholic when her son, Ryan, played for the Crusaders. Her daughter also went to Bishop Sullivan and remains close friends with LaRussa.
LaRussa had the game of his career, completing 30 of 49 passes for 495 yards and four touchdowns.
“We’ve been rooting for Blake for four years,” Dare said. “I said to myself in the first quarter, ‘if Blake could play the whole game and get this win, I’d give it up.’
“I hate that it squashed our season. But I’m super happy for Blake and his family.”
As is Hobbs.
“It hurts,” he said. “This was a difficult loss. But Virginia Tech football will move on. The program will be fine.
“But for ODU, this was a defining moment, a victory that made a national statement about its football program. I’m happy for Wood and Bobby Wilder. This will do so much to help ODU football.”
Email Minium: hminium@odu.edu