John Nemec reflects on friendship and rivalry at Kent Roosevelt-Ravenna Captains' Luncheon

ROOTSTOWN — Whether Ravenna-Roosevelt is played in the final week of the regular season or the first football night of the year, perhaps no one knows the rivalry better than John Nemec.

The former Rough Riders athletic director and head football coach eloquently summarized what makes one of the state's oldest rivalries so special in his Captains Luncheon' keynote address Tuesday afternoon.

He centered on the brilliant contrast present in every Ravenna-Roosevelt game.

It is the most intense competition.

It is the best of friends.

It is, as Nemec said, about hitting as hard as one can.

It is, as Nemec also said, about helping your neighbor up.

"In my 29 years as the head coach, we never had an incident," Nemec said. "This is not an in-your-face game. This is a respectful rivalry where you all play as well as you can and you hit as hard as you can and you help the other guy up. That's the way it's been and those are the expectations from old men like me and from all the Riders' and the Ravens' ghosts of the past, who may be just in that stadium somewhere, guys. We expect the behavior to be championship behavior from all of you."

To illustrate his point, Nemec drew upon a few Ravens-Rough Riders games from his coaching career, as well as a lunch he had with superintendent Robert Stanton upon taking the coaching job.

Stanton, a "very intellectual guy" per Nemec, surprised the young coach when he outlined two musts at their lunch.

He must consistently beat Stow-Munroe Falls, a longtime rival.

He must more than consistently beat Ravenna.

That was how a Pittsburgh-area native began to understand the importance of the Ravenna-Roosevelt rivalry.

"I thought, 'Why did I put money down on that house?'" Nemec said with a chuckle. "But that showed you, that showed me, a young coach, how important this is."

Over the years, he got many more examples, and he spoke Tuesday of some incredible moments from the rivalry, which Ravenna leads 54-51-3 after 108 games, but he also reflected back on a moment that illustrated its deep humanity.

Nemec recalled when the Rough Riders' Ryan Anderson was battling osteogenic sarcoma and the longtime Roosevelt coach paired with Ravens coach Jim Lunardi to honor Anderson.

Well, more than honor Anderson.

Nemec recalled Lunardi and his players presenting Anderson with a check.

"It doesn't matter who won that game," Nemec said. "It doesn't matter because the lesson in the game was two communities and two football teams that cared and respected each other."

Nemec noted how much he valued the many friendships he made on both sides of the rivalry, including a particularly tight bond with Ravenna quarterback Jeff Huber.

"When you guys are sitting at separate tables and you're trying to be nice to each other and you two coaches have your stomachs kind of churning because you know in two days it's on, I want you to know that someday you guys some way you will be friends, all right?" Nemec said. "And you might be close friends like we have been. The friendships are probably one of the number one things."

Outside of Nemec's keynote address, many others testified to the power of the rivalry, including Frank Hairston, who helped found the luncheon and who was particularly thrilled to be back Tuesday after missing last year's event with COVID-19.

"Believe me, I was at home thinking about this thing all day," Hairston said of last year. "I've been thinking about it all year."

Hairston said the luncheon was relatively easy to get started given the ample support from both communities, including administrators and the head football coaches from both schools. He also noted the critical support Brimfield Insurance Group owner Chas Madonio offered then and now.

The annual luncheon, held at NEOMED's NEW Center in Rootstown, was in advance of Thursday evening's opener between Ravenna and Roosevelt, with the winner receiving The Big R Trophy presented by Brimfield Insurance Group.

This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: John Nemec talks Kent Roosevelt-Ravenna rivalry at Captains' Luncheon