On November 22, 2013 the City of Dayton lost one of its high school football legends with the passing of Belmont’s 1964 gridiron star, Gary Stookey.

This article is dedicated to the fifteen senior Cougar football players who could never forget preparing for, and then facing the Belmont Bison’s premier running back, Gary Stookey. For two years when Colonel White prepared to face Belmont on Friday night, all I heard from the coaches was “we had to stop Stookey to win the game!”

Being a member of the scout team, we were assigned the task of running the Bison’s offense against our first team defense. Other than preparing for Chaminade, I can’t remember a longer or tougher week of practice. It was our thankless task to run play after play; mimicking the Bison’s offense until our Cougar defenders knew what to expect on each and every snap of the ball. One of our scout players was given the unenviable task of portraying Belmont’s star player, Gary Stookey. Needless to say, he was the prime focus of our defense on every play. Our scout team took great pride in getting him at least a few yards on every play. On a rare occasion when we ran a very successful play, our coach would loudly congratulate us on a job well done. Coach would say “now that’s how you play football!” Right on cue, the defensive coaches would jump all over their players screaming, “how could you let a bunch of scrubs run all over you?!” Then one of the defensive coaches would yell what we all knew was coming “RUN IT AGAIN!” I proceeded to huddle us up and then Stamas, with a voice of optimism and few words of encouragement, proceeded to call the same play. We broke the huddle and raced to the line of scrimmage determined to do our very best; however, we all knew what lay in store for the unlucky running back that played Stookey. As I bent over to snap the ball, I quickly glanced at Stonerock, who was fired up to unload on me, and then proceed to crush the hapless ball carrier. As I snapped the ball to Nick, the defense, true to form led by Annis, Reece, and Stonerock, came busting through our line, eagerly waiting to deliver a monstrous hit on our doomed ball carrier. Right at the moment of contact, our coach’s quick whistles saved the running back from total annihilation. As we dusted ourselves off and returned to the huddle, it was now our turn to hear our coach blast us for such a poor effort. I can remember my coach shaking his head and sadly lamenting “and you guys call yourself football players…”

After an hour of defensive practice, we finally turned our attention to practicing our offense against the scout defense. Lucky for me, I was told to snap the ball for the first team offense. I now thought – “it’s my turn to dish out some punishment to my friends on the scout defense.”

But, low and behold, that would not be the case; for after running a single play from scrimmage, I heard “Stonerock, get in there at middle guard!” We both smiled at one another and then proceeded to bang heads for the next hour.

On Friday night all of our hard work paid dividends! At the end of game, the Welcome Stadium score board read Colonel White Cougars “12” the Belmont Bison’s “0.” We then lined up and began to shake hands with the Belmont players. I routinely said the preverbal “Good Game” and then like an echo, heard back the standard reply “Good Game.” However, as I proceeded through the line of Belmont players I finally came face to face with Stookey. His head was somewhat bowed in defeat and as I grabbed his hand, instead of saying “Good Game,” I said “Hey 32. You’re one hell of a ball player!” Lifting his head up, he looked me right in the eyes, and fired back, “55, you’re not bad yourself.”

I thought that would be the last time I would hear Stookey’s name, boy o boy, was I wrong! In 1967 I began to date a most beautiful girl, who just so happened, (you guessed it,) was a graduate of Belmont High School. On our first date, the topic of high schools naturally came up. She began to tell me about how great her high school basketball team was and how Belmont had won the state basketball championship in 1964. Not to be out done, I told her, -with great pride- I played football for Colonel White High School and before I could brag how we had defeated her Bison’s; she interrupted me with this most captivating smile and stated, “Football, you must have played against Gary Stookey.” Before I could answer, she proceeded to tell me what a great player Gary Stookey was and how he received a college football scholarship. Not having had my first kiss with her, I decided not to mention how we had beaten her Bison’s. (That may have put an end to our budding romance.) But, I had to agree on both accounts; - Belmont had a fantastic basketball team in 1964 and Gary Stookey was a great football player. Oh, by the way, we were married in 1968 and will be celebrating our 46th wedding anniversary in April 2014.

Obituary from Dayton Daily News, Sunday, Dec. 8, 2013:

STOOKEY, Gary Age 68, died on November 22, 2013 in the Philippines, where he lived for more than 20 years. Gary was born and grew up in Dayton. He graduated from Belmont High School in 1964 where he was known as an outstanding football running back which won for him a full athletic scholarship to college. Gary loved all athletics, including his large speed boat behind which he expertly water skied. Gary served in the military as a Green Beret in Vietnam. His years living in the Philippines were happy for him. His death was preceded by his loving parents, Garold and Nora Stookey (Bower). Gary is survived by his son and only child, James Helms, in Washington, NC, and by his only sister Esther (Kadash) in Kettering, Ohio.