David Fleming
ESPN The Magazine
By Jim Kelley
                   
Tim Newman introduced David Fleming. David is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine, a columnist for ESPN.com's Page 2 and the author of two books. Before joining ESPN in 2000, Fleming covered the NFL for six seasons as a staff writer at Sports Illustrated. During the past thirteen years he has profiled nearly every major star in the NFL and his work, which includes more than 25 cover stories for SI and ESPN, helped The Magazine win the 2003 and 2005 American Society of Magazine Editors National Magazine Award for general excellence - the most prestigious honor in the magazine industry. He is the author of the memoir Noah's Rainbow: A Father's Emotional Journey From the Death of his Son to the Birth of his Daughter and the book Breaker Boys: The NFL's Greatest Team and the Stolen 1925 Championship. He is a native of Detroit and a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
 
David talked about his favorite interview as a writer for ESPN and discussed his book Breaker Boys. David interviewed people from Reggie Jackson to Peyton Manning to Tony Gonzalez but his favorite interview was with Ben Roethlisberger. Ben has family roots in Switzerland and David went with Ben to Switzerland for a story on the 2006 Super Bowl winning quarterback. Ben and David visited the city of Bern. One of the places they visited was the clock tower which is a national symbol. Ben went inside the clock tower and climbed the steps to see a great view of the city. When Ben came out of the tower, David's curiosity got the best of him and he snuck in to experience the tower himself. . Unfortunately the door closed behind him and he was locked inside the tower. Hoping to avoid attention he whispered to Ben to see if he could get him out. Instead Ben announced to all the other media that the guy from ESPN was stuck in the tower. When David got out, all the media took pictures and reported on the story - making David more famous in Switzerland than Ben was.
 
David then proceeded to tell us the story behind his book Breaker Boys. The Pottsville Maroons, a football team from the heart of Pennsylvania coal country, joined the fledgling NFL in 1925. The team dominated the NFL in their rookie season. They outscored their first seven opponents 160 to 7. In the final game of the season the Maroons beat the Chicago Cardinals 21 to 7 to win the championship game for 1925. The Maroons then played the 1924 Notre Dame team with the Four Horsemen. In those days, the NFL was playing week to week not sure if it was going to survive. College football was king. The Maroons won that game as well. To put that into context, David said that was like ASU beating the News England Patriots. The NFL claimed that the Maroons had violated the rules by playing another team and the NFL suspended them, never giving them their rightful championship. To this day, the Bidwell family, owners of the Arizonan Cardinals, has single-handedly stopped the NFL from giving the 1925 championship to the Maroons. According to David, it was because of this that the Cardinals are cursed and lost the Super Bowl to the Pittsburg Steelers this month.
 
In the following question and answer period, David was asked what his most interesting interview was. He talked about Jermaine Lewis, then of the Baltimore Colts, who he interviewed following the 2001 Super Bowl. Lewis's son, Geronimo, was stillborn just a month before the Super Bowl. David related to Lewis because he had also lost a son in 2000. He was so moved by the interview experience with Lewis that David came up with the idea to write the book Noah's Rainbow about his son.
      
   
Head Table: BG Metzler, Ed McMahan, Mac McCarley, Tim Newman, Gene Williams, Jessica Brasington;
Invocation: Al Allison;
Visitors & Guests: George Robinette; Health & Happiness: Elsie Garner; Song: Biff Virkler; Photos: Bert Voswinkel

• John Tabor recognized several club members for their contributions to The Rotary Foundation. Paul Harris Fellow: Jack Marks, Leslie McCarley, Bill Loftin, Nancy Roberson, Charlie Bones; Level 1: John Scharer; Level 2: Ed Wadsworth, Level 8: Herb Harriss. The club is on the way to reaching the Million dollar mark this year: $983,684.09 is the current all-time giving.
         
• Members on the Mend: Lee Morris, knee surgery on Tuesday; John Johnson, chemo treatments on his eye; Elsie Garner gave a shout out to Shay Merritt for her great work in the community.

• Don Haack presented a Spirit Award to community leaders who have made significant contributions to the arts. Fred Lowrance was among the recipients of the Award.

• Remember to check the Host Dinner schedule. On board: 3/7/09 Chuck Cocke; 3/21/09 Bill Staton; 3/28/09 Lynn Wheeler. Reserve your spot on the website HERE.

• Bill Loftin, Sr. made the difficult decision to resign from the club a couple weeks ago. Mr. Loftin had been a member since 1970 and was the publisher and editor of the Charlotte Reporter for at least 25 years. He called last week to say he should be removed from the US Mail newsletter distribution since he was no longer a member and wished to be added to email to save the club some money. He was quick to say he didn't know how to use email, but would get someone in the office to help him. He's just called to say he read the newsletter successfully on-line and even printed a copy. Way to go, Mr. Loftin. And you said you couldn't learn a new trick. (Miss you, Mr. Loftin.)

• Tom Burgess is coordinating Flight of Honor applications and will be glad to discuss the opportunity to participate. Contact Tom at 704-366-5911 or email tnburgess@bellsouth.net. If you wish to sponsor a veteran for $500, your tax deductible donation can be made payable to Rotary Flight of Honor and mailed to P. O. Box 495, Gastonia, NC 28053.

Should you question the eligibility of any nominee, contact the Rotary office by 03/02/2009.