Minium: Marcyana Easterly Will Cheer For Her Brother, Mario, For the Last Time Today in StaffDNA Cure Bowl

By Harry Minium

ORLANDO, Fla. – Mario and Marcyana Easterly aren’t twins, although you’d hardly know that by how close they are.

Twins, it is said, have a closeness that goes well beyond the typical relationships that most siblings have. Growing up in York, Pennsylvania, they went to school together, and often took the same classes even though they were born 13 months apart.

Mario started school a year late, which is why they have always been in the same grade.

As Mario entered elementary and later middle school, he asked Marcyana to be his partner while he practiced football drills, took baseball batting practice or needed a wrestling partner.

“Yes, I would get on the mat and wrestle with him or do all of the football drills on the field with him,” she said.

Marcyana was a good athlete who chose to use her athletic skills as a cheerleader rather than on the athletic field. She cheered on the sidelines while he played football at Bishop McDevitt High in Harrisburg, Pa.

And when Easterly came on his official visit to Old Dominion, his sister came along for the trip with their parents. When he committed to ODU, Marcyana also enrolled at the University, and has been on the sidelines cheering for her brother for four years.

Their close relationship hits a milestone today when ODU takes on South Florida in the StaffDNA Cure Bowl at 5 p.m. in Camping World Stadium. Marcyana will cheer for her brother for the last time, and in May, brother and sister will go their separate ways.

Mario, a 6-foot, 189-pound safety, redshirted and has another year of eligibility remaining. Marcyana graduates in May with her nursing degree and hopes to return home to Pennsylvania to work at the prestigious Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Cheering for him for the last time will be bittersweet for me,” Marcyana said. “I’ve been cheering at almost every game he played the last six years.

“I’ve enjoyed every minute.”

And that included road games. Often, Marcyana travels with the football team to away games, but not every cheerleader goes, and when ODU doesn’t send her on the road, she goes with her parents, Marty Easterly and Meredyth Ruppert, and some of her five siblings and three step siblings.

Tara Lynn Cannon, ODU’s cheerleader and mascot coordinator, said she’s rarely seen a family that’s closer than the Easterlys.

“It’s an awesome family,” she said. “When she doesn't go with us, Marcyana pays for her own plane ticket to go see her brother play. They do everything together.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brother and a sister closer that Marcyana and Mario.”

Marcyana said everyone in the family tries to get to every ODU game, home or away.

“Supporting Mario has always been very important to us,” she said. “I grew up going to his football games, wrestling matches and baseball tournaments.

“If I did not have a cheer event, then I went to his games.”

After living apart for the first three years at ODU, they decided to rent an apartment together this school year. They both missed being with family, and in a sense, they’ve been able to rekindle that sense of a family home.

“I would rather be with someone who I’ve lived with my whole life,” Mario said. “We know each other. We’re clean. We don’t leave trash out.

“We’re real close. We talk every day. We watch TV together, do homework together.”

Marcyana said ODU football players are at their apartment almost every day.

“And that’s great,” she said. “I enjoy being around all of them.

“I think our personalities offset each other. Mario, he’s just wild. He can be as wild off the field as he is on the field.

"I’m more laid back.”

Mario was a highly regarded wide receiver at Bishop McDevitt High in Harrisburg, Pa. who turned down UConn, Buffalo and others to come to ODU. He also starred on defense at Bishop McDevitt, especially on critical plays late in the game.

His receiving stats were outstanding – he caught 53 passes for 945 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior when Bishop McDevitt finished 12-3 and lost in the state championship game. He was selected as a member of the prestigious All-PennLive Central Pennsylvania team and was a finalist for player of the year honors in the Class 4-6A level.

Yet, when he got to ODU, Defensive Coordinator Blake Seiler realized Mario’s true talent was on his side of the ball.

“Mario has a defensive player’s mentality,” Seiler said. “He’s aggressive and a great team player. He works so hard. He’s got talent, a lot of talent, but his greatest asset is his work ethic.”

“Pretty soon after I got here, they asked me if I wanted to move to defense,” Mario said. “I’ve always been a wide receiver, but when I thought about it, it made sense.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing defense.”

He played sparingly during his redshirt season as a freshman, played in 12 games in 2023, started in seven last season and started all 12 for ODU this season. With 71 tackles, he is one tackle behind teammate Jerome Carter, who leads ODU with 72. He has four pass breakups, two quarterback hurries and a fumble recovery.

He was a media favorite in the interview room this season, as he is articulate, honest and respectful when facing cameras. He is a communications major who hopes to find a career in sports broadcasting.

If that's where he chooses to go, he should be successful.

Marcyana has wanted to be a nurse, and hopefully work with children, since she was a child.

“I was nine years old when I had my first surgery,” she said. “The nurses explained everything and took really good care of me.

“Ever since then, that is what I’ve wanted to do. I want to make people comfortable in a situation that is not comfortable, in a place where they don’t want to be.”

Mario, it turns out, is also a pretty good nurse. As a freshman at ODU, Marcyana tore her Achilles Tendon.

“I was tumbling at a clinic,” she said. “I called Mario to come take me to the ER because I didn’t have anyone else.

“He took me there and sat with me for hours. It was my right foot, so for a long time I could not drive, so Mario drove me around.”

That included trips to ODU’s Virginia Beach campus, where the University’s School of Nursing is located.

“We have such a good relationship,” she said. “That was one of my lowest moments. It was right before we went to the nationals cheer competition (in Daytona Beach, Florida), and I was pretty upset that I could not go.

“But he was there and supported me, all through my recovery.

“He comes and watches our team perform because he knows cheering is important to me.”

She says she’s so glad she chose to go on Mario’s recruiting visit to ODU.

“I had never heard of ODU,” she said. “I had my heart set on going to Pitt.

“But when I got here and saw the campus and how nice it was, and how nice the people were, and then he committed to ODU, I was thinking, this would be a good place for me.

“He asked me if I wanted to come to school here, and I said yes. So, I applied.

“I’m so glad we both came here. We love ODU. We’ve enjoyed every minute here.”

 The ODU Bowl Season is presented by Miller’s Home Comfort. For over 40 years, Miller’s has remained a powerful presence in the Hampton Roads community. From our initial start as a simple oil company to our growth as one of the area’s leading heating, cooling, IAQ and plumbing businesses, we've thrived because our customers trust our knowledge, honesty, reliability and professionalism.

Minium is ODU's Senior Executive Writer for Athletics. Contact him at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram

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