Round Two: Crowdfunding pay-to-play

Mark Novell was shocked.

Last fall, the son of Mogadore football coaching legend Ned Novell was up from his home in Florida watching his alma mater on the gridiron for the first time in decades. And he wasn’t ready for what he saw.

“For me, Mogadore is emotional, growing up with the last name that I have,” he said. “I went to the game last year, and I was stunned because there were only like 25 kids on the team. My senior year was 1975, and after I graduated I coached the freshmen team in 1976, and we had 23 kids on the freshmen team alone and went undefeated.

“I lived in like a time capsule because I left Mogadore about 40 years ago. What struck me when I went to the game were the numbers.”

What happened? Where were all the football players? That’s what Novell wanted to know. Joe Adolph had some answers – and together they have come up with what they hope is a solution.

“I was talking to Joe,” Novell said, “and I asked him how come there’s only 25 kids on the team? Joe mentioned pay-to-play, and I was shocked.”

Pay-to-participate certainly isn’t unique to Mogadore, but it exacts a heavier toll on small communities who don’t have a large pool of students to begin with. A drop of 10 players can be devastating for a football team; a drop of 20 players is potentially catastrophic.

So Adolph – who played for the Wildcats in the late 1980s and, like Novell, comes from a family regarded as football royalty in Mogadore – and Novell have joined forces to create a nonprofit called the Mogadore Football Tradition Fund, which became an official organization just last week. Its stated mission goal: To ensure that every student who wants to play football has the opportunity to do so, regardless of their family’s financial situation.

“I want to get more kids in the program,” Novell said. “I don’t ever want a kid to not be able to play because of pay-to-play.”

MOGADORE FOOTBALL TRADITION FUND GOFUNDME

The pay-to-participate situation for football in Mogadore looks like this:

– The fee for grades 9 through 12 is $300 per player, to be paid by their family

– The fee for junior high is $150 for each player, to be paid by their family

The Mogadore Football Tradition Fund recently embarked on a fundraising campaign with the aim of raising enough money to cover the pay-to-play cost of every Mogadore football player, junior high through high school, for the 2025 season. Donations can be made at the fund’s GoFundMe page.

The listed goal is $16,500. Any amount over the goal will go toward the youth football program and “any other ways we can use it,” Adolph said.

“I think we have a realistic shot at raising the money,” Novell said. “I think realistically we can do $10,000 pretty quick, and the walk from there to $16,000 will be slower.”

Complicating the pay-to-play policy for families are outside factors that can be financially overwhelming – which is where the Mogadore Football Tradition Fund comes in.

“Times are tough,” Adolph, who lives in Mogadore, said. “There was the property tax increase in Portage County and Summit County [the village of Mogadore straddles the county line], we had some school levies fail – thankfully, the village passed the school levy in May – and pay-to-play … it’s like where does it end? With all the fees and expenses, it all just adds up. We’re just trying to help these families.”

MOGADORE FOOTBALL AT THE SUMMER FESTIVAL

To help draw attention to the Mogadore Football Tradition Fund – and Mogadore’s football tradition in general – there will be a Mogadore Football Booth set up at the village’s annual Summer Festival, which will take place from Thursday, July 17 through Sunday, July 19 at Mogadore Lions Park.

“We want it to be a celebration,” Adolph said.

Current and past coaches and players are invited to the booth for a Mogadore football reunion to share stories from the past and are encouraged to bring their old jersey, helmet or other memorabilia to display. And here’s a special treat: From 1 to 3 p.m. July 18, attendees at the festival can meet players from Ned Novell’s legendary 1950s teams, including Buzz Sollers, Gino Calcei, Ralph Petit, Jack Dragash and Tom Adolph [Joe’s father].

The booth will also feature banners and signs displaying Mogadore’s football history, team photos, state and national records, etc. – including the fact that of the approximately 16,000 high school football teams in America, Mogadore ranks 49th with 729 total wins. The school first fielded a football team in 1916.

“I’m excited about it. I think there’ll be a good turnout,” Joe Adolph said. “I think it’s a good time to reconnect. I see it as a win-win for Mogadore football.”

NOT JUST PAY-TO-PLAY

Raising the money to cover the costs of pay-to-participate is the purpose of the Mogadore Football Tradition Fund. But increasing participation is also a battle for hearts and minds, not just wallets.

And in today’s smartphone-driven society, that can be tricky.

“When I was growing up, we did whatever we could do to get outside, anything to encourage physical activity, but I think that’s missing today,” Adolph said. “It’s tough now with social media. It’s a battle – a daily battle – physical activity vs. social media addiction. I want to get more parents involved. We have to do something about this, it’s getting out of control.”

Says Novell: “The world’s obviously different now, and there’s all these different [digital] platforms. There was nothing that was better than being a part of a team when I was a young boy. It was a great experience.”

The problem, they say, is that even if kids do want to play, the pay-to-participate fees can be an impediment for too many of them. The plan is for the Mogadore Football Tradition Fund to eliminate that impediment.

“This is a specific need, from talking to [Mogadore football coach Matt Adorni],” Novell said, “a concern that it would be a roadblock for kids being able to come out and play. What I expressed to Joe and Matt was, let’s not let money keep any young man from coming out for football. We thought we could be a shot in the arm to get them through a rough spot.”

For Adolph and Novell, their quest is also personal: Not only did both play football for Mogadore, their families are intertwined in the tradition – witnessed by the fact that Adolph’s father, Tom, played for Novell’s father, Ned, on the great Wildcat football teams of the 1950s.

“My community is Mogadore, even if I haven’t lived there in a long time,” Novell said. “It’s where I grew up. There aren’t too many towns left like Mogadore, in my opinion.”