Coach Andy Waddle knew his football team wouldn’t think twice about adding a service project for the College to their already busy camp schedule.
“Marietta College has been so good to us, Dr. Ruud, specifically has been very supportive of our guys,” Waddle said. “I told them when we got our new helmets, ‘Let’s try to find a way to give back to the College,’ and they were happy to do it.”
On Thursday, the returning players of the Pioneer football team took shifts spraying, scrubbing down and rinsing the McCoy Memorial Gateway at the corner of Fourth and Putnam streets.
“So far, I’ve been doing the scrubbing,” said Michael Quealy ’19, who is a cornerback on the 102-member team. “It’s nice for us to be able to do this because our community shows us so much support.”
The players reported to campus on Aug. 10 to begin football camp and will travel to Geneva College for their opening, non-conference game on Saturday, Sept. 2nd.
James Knox ’20, who also plays the cornerback position, joked with his teammates between his shifts. It took the team about an hour to scrub years of weather and dirt off the brick and stone signage.
“It’s a good opportunity to help out at the school. We help out as much as we can, but most of the time we’re in camp,” Knox said. “This is a nice stress-reliever and it gives us a chance to come together as a team and have fun; plus, it gives us a chance to give back to the College, which we’re happy to do.”