Blogs > The Best of Don Seeley's Columns

Former Mercury sports editor Don Seeley passed away in June 2013 from a heart attack. For more than a decade Seeley wrote about local sports. Featured here are his columns that were previously printed in The Mercury.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Endy invests in future Trojans

Brett Myers already has drawn up his share of offensive and defensive drafts in two years as Pottstown High School’s head football coach, but before any of his players get to look at them, or any part of the playbook, Myers gives every one of them a copy of a more-important sketch he calls the “Block T” — an oversized dark blue “T” with six one- or two-word philosophical phrases in and around it.

“The ‘T’ is for Trojans, and the words represent the six pillars of our (football) program,” Myers explained. “We want our players to understand the importance of such things as academics, physical fitness, becoming part of a football family, being part of their own family, being a good person, about caring and giving back.”

The “Block T” isn’t just a handout, either.

Myers sits down with each of his players — a copy of the “Block T” in hand — and discusses their thoughts, their goals and dreams, and how they plan to accomplish them.

To say Jeff Endy was moved by the illustration would be an understatement.

The 15-year-old Endy, a sophomore quarterback who began making an impact on the team when he worked his way into the lineup midway through last season, has been making an even bigger impact off the field since Myers packed away the gear soon after last Thanksgiving’s season finale.

A lot of people, young and old alike, have been truly inspired by Endy’s game plan … none more so than Myers.

“With Jeff, giving back is No. 1,” Myers said. “He’s just an incredible young man.”

Endy has visited all five of Pottstown’s elementary schools — Barth, Edgewood, Franklin, Lincoln, and Rupert — as well as the middle school, and spoken to the youngsters about playing sports, about being a good student, about being an even better person … about his own youth football camp next month.

“I’ve been telling them about how playing football is such a great opportunity,” Endy said. “You get to learn certain techniques, the fundamentals of the game, and how great it feels to be part of a team. I also talk about the importance of academics, about being good to other people.

“I’ve lived all my life in Pottstown. I’ll always be a Trojan. I just want to make sure they’re aware of all the opportunities here for them. I want to do whatever I can to help them become good Pottstown people.”

Endy is hoping his two-day camp — set for Saturday and Sunday, May 2-3 — is a step in that direction.

“Growing up, I was fortunate to go to a lot of (football) camps,” Endy explained. “They were held at a lot of different schools, but there never was one at Pottstown. I just thought it would nice to have one here for once.”

Endy’s enthusiasm was infectious.

“Jeff started planning all of this back in December,” said his father, Toddy Endy, a Pottstown graduate himself and one of Myers’ assistant coaches. “He contacted the principals at the middle school and elementary schools to ask if he could speak to their students, and he got a few coaches as well as some older players from Pottstown to help him with the camp.”

Jeff Endy also convinced WPAZ to sponsor the t-shirts that, along with lunch and other refreshments, will be given to everyone who participates in the camp. And he’s cut virtually every imaginable corner as far as expenses, keeping registration ($30) considerably lower than any other.

“A lot of the elementary school kids really seem excited about everything,” Endy said. “They seem really excited about the camp, so I’m hoping to keep (the registration free) as low as possible. We want to make it affordable for them, make it great opportunity for them.”

The youngsters will indeed learn a thing or two about football in the morning and afternoon sessions. In between, during lunch, they’ll hear about being good on the football field alone isn’t good enough.

It’s the message Endy feels can’t be heard enough.

“We’ll have some individuals talk to them about doing things right in school, and that’s before, during, and after school,” Endy explained. “They’ll talk about athletics, academics, and our community … about being good student-athletes, about being good people, about being the kind of people our community can be proud of.”

No one will need to look beyond the lunchroom walls for a better example of that good student-athlete, that good person, or that individual the Pottstown community is so proud of, either.

Endy is a great role model.

He’s a member of the Key Club and Distributive Education Club of America (DECA) — a business-related organization — and plays percussion in the high school’s concert band. And when football is over in the fall, he’s playing basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. Just recently, he convinced Myers to hold morning passing sessions for quarterbacks and receivers — and it’s been quite popular despite the 6:30 a.m. start every Wednesday.

Oh yeah, he’s not too busy to get the homework done, either. Endy carries a perfect 4.0 grade-point average in the classroom, and he’s a member of the National Honor Society.

“Jeff actually came to me a year ago, when he was a freshman, with the idea of the non-contact youth football camp goal as his one of his goals for giving back to the community,” Myers explained. “Well, I didn’t act on it like I should have, but he came back to me with it again this year.

“He’s such a leader. He sure rallies the troops. What he’s done is incredible.”

Endy prefers to think he’s just one of many Pottstown students doing the right thing. He was quick to point out that eight players on the Trojans’ football team are members of the National Honor Society, and that almost everyone on the team helped in sponsoring less-fortunate families during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

“We hear the negative things said about our school and about our students,” Endy remarked. “We hear those things, but we shake them off. It’s very sad some people perceive us to be like they say, but it’s something we’ll never accept.”

The Jeff Endy Football Camp is open to youngsters in third through eighth grades and will be held at Pottstown High School, rain or shine. Youngsters may sign up via a link on the Pottstown School District’s Web site (www.pottstownschools.com), or at 8:30 a.m. the first day (Saturday, May 2) of the camp. Discounts are available for families with more than one camp participant. Proceeds benefit the Trojans’ football program.

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