Wooster, Ohio deputy teams up with Central Fla. internet newspaper publisher in coming up with player rankings
Headline Surfer® photo / Joe Copenhaver, an Ohio deputy, shown at far left, and Henry Frederick, publisher of the 24/7 internet newspaper, are avid sports fans who share a Facebook fan page: Cope & Headliner Sports. They are teaming up for Super Bowl Sunday.
DAYTONA BEACH -- Headline Surfer® has a special treat for Super Bowl fans on Sunday: The internet newspaper is ranking of the top 100 offensive players and top 100 defensive players in the history of the Super Bowl.
Headline Surfer® Publisher Henry Frederick called on his friend Joe Copenhaver, a Sheriff's deputy from Wooster, Ohio, to rank the top 100 offensive players while he does the top 100 defensive players. Frederick and Copenhaver first met on Sirius Satellite radio's "Mad Dog Radio" a couple yers ago whre they got into sports banter. On Jan. 1, they launched "Cope & Headliner Sports on Facebook, which has 230 "likes."
Here are examples of offensive and defensive players profiled:
84. ROCKY BLEIER, fullback, Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowls 9, 10, 13, 14
Rocky Bleier was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1968, but after his rookie year, he did a tour of duty in Vietnam. While on patrol in Heip Duc, Bleier was wounded in the left thigh by a rifle bullet when his platoon was ambushed in a rice paddy. Already knocked off his feet, he was further wounded after an enemy grenade that bounced off a fellow soldier and sending shrapnel into his lower right leg. Bleier was later awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star. His rank was specialist 4. The No. 4 is significant because that's how many Super Bowl championships Bleier was a part of as the blocking back for Franco Harris. When Bleier returned home from the killing fields of Vietnam, he defied the odds of his doctors not only in returning to the field but going on to become part of a dynasty. While Harris was clearly the featured runner, Bleier had no problem blocking for him and he even had a chance to shine in his own right: He caught the touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that gave Pittsburgh a lead for good in Super Bowl 13.
20. JACK SQUIREK, linebacker, Los Angeles Raiders, Super Bowl 18
Jack Squirek only lasted four years in the NFL, but it's the one play on the biggest day of his professional life that endures for the Cleveland, Ohio native: He made a key interception for the LA Raiders against the Washington Redskins that helped put Joe Theismann and Company into a hole at the end of the first half they would not recover from. Here's what made Squirek an immortal: The Raiders were faltering when a third down pass from Jim Plunkett was incomplete. But Ray Guy delivered on a 27-yard punt that pinned Washington on its own 12-yard line with 12 ticks of the clock left in the first half. On the very first play, Squirek intercepted a Theismann screen pass and sprinted into the end zone to give the Raiders a 21-3 halftime lead. The Raiders won 38-9. Squirek was featured the following week on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the improbable touchdown.