Basketball Media Day Videos: Eastern Kentucky

Each weekday between now and the beginning of the basketball regular season we will preview a men's and women's team from each of the 11 OVC member institutions with video interviews with head coaches.

Basketball Media Day Videos: Eastern Illinois

Each weekday between now and the beginning of the basketball regular season we will preview a men's and women's team from each of the 11 OVC member institutions with video interviews with head coaches.

Get To Know Your OVC Football Players - Part 6 (Who is your biggest rival?)

At the 2011 OVC Football Media Day, OVC intern Olivia Walter sat down with the student-athletes in attendance to ask them some questions. Each week during the football season we will feature a different question. This week the question is "Who is your biggest rival?"

OVC Insider - Episode 8

Episode No. 8 of our weekly show about the happenings of the Ohio Valley Conference is now online. The show is hosted by OVC interns Olivia Walter and Patrick Robinson.

This week the episode features a look at the recent OVC Basketball Media Day.

Basketball Media Day Videos: Austin Peay

Each weekday between now and the beginning of the basketball regular season we will preview a men's and women's team from each of the 11 OVC member institutions with video interviews with head coaches.

Get To Know Your OVC Football Players - Part 5 (Do You Have Any Superstitions?)

At the 2011 OVC Football Media Day, OVC intern Olivia Walter sat down with the student-athletes in attendance to ask them some questions. Each week during the football season we will feature a different question. This week the question is "Do You Have Any Superstitions?"

OVC Insider - Episode 7

Episode No. 7 of our weekly show about the happenings of the Ohio Valley Conference is now online. The show is hosted by OVC interns Olivia Walter and Patrick Robinson.

This week the episode looks at a former Murray State kicker turned actor as well as a preview of the OVC Cross Country Championship among other things.

Former Murray State Kicker Turns Actor

This week the OVC Insider looks at a feature story on former Murray State football student-athlete Paul Hickert. Hicker was a kicker for the Racers football team and is now an actor.

FORMER RACER FOOTBALL PLAYER HICKERT ENJOYS SURGING ACTING CAREER
By Dave Winder

Former Murray State football student-athlete Paul Hickert, well known for kicking the longest field goal in program history, will be appearing this fall on the small screen and the big screen.

Hickert will appear on the ABC daytime drama “One Life To Live” (Oct. 17) and in the motion picture “Tower Heist” (Nov. 4) starring Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy.

As a player, Hickert was part of the Racers’ 1986 Ohio Valley Conference championship team under Coach Frank Beamer. In his senior season in 1987, Hickert was named All-Ohio Valley Conference. He still holds the Murray State record for the longest field goal, a 62-yard boot as the first half expired in 1986 at Roy Stewart Stadium against Eastern Kentucky.

“When I came to MSU, I wasn’t an accurate kicker, but I had a good leg,” Hickert said during a phone interview from his home in New York City. “Coach Beamer always gave me scenarios to stress the positive. He always made me feel I had control over the situation. That’s the way it is in acting, you have to believe you have control.”

Hickert was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1988 National Football League draft. His stay was short as he was cut before the first practice.

“In the NFL, I felt like I had no control, but maybe that was because of the contract process,” Hickert said. “That experience damaged my confidence for a while, because I never got the chance to show what I could do.”

The very fact that Hickert is pursuing an acting career is a bit surprising, given the fact that when he played football for the Racers, he was an honor student with a degree in physics. He has worked in private business as an engineer and consultant. He also has a patented invention, one that prohibits oxidation of wine in a bottle. Hickert also did some print modeling and that led to him pursuing an acting career.

His starting point was the time he spent at Murray State.

“Murray was magical for me and the place changed my life,” he said. “Coach Beamer, assistant coaches, teammates, the town and university, it all was great for me. Murray was great training ground for me. It’s such a great place to develop and I don’t think I could’ve accomplished what I have in my career from any other place.”

In the comedy “Tower Heist”, Hickert plays an FBI agent in his big screen debut. The story is about a group of good men who get swindled by a wealthy businessman, so they decide to rob the man’s penthouse home.

“Tower Heist is a fun film, it has a huge cast of characters like Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda and Tea Leoni . I have a small role, I play a part in a group of FBI agents. I only have five lines, but we spent about a week doing the scenes. This film has a large budget and when that kind of money is going into a project, it’s going to get attention.”

“I’ve been training as an actor for about six years now and the more I get into it, the more I enjoy it,” Hickert said. “The competition is tough, it’s amazing how much talent there is going for jobs. I want to be involved with films that motivate people or make them have a strong emotional connection and films that entertain.”

For this former Racer, his experiences playing football for Murray State are never far from his thoughts.

“Acting is a lot like football…what you put into it is what you get out of it on game day,” Hickert said. “There have been so many great kickers come through MSU after me. Since I left I think all of my records have been broken except two and that’s what’s great about the records I set, those were goals for the next guy to obtain.”

Going into Saturday's homecoming game, current kicker Kienan Cullen is tied with Hickert for the MSU career made field goals record of 49.

Get To Know Your OVC Football Players - Part 4 (All-Time Favorite Player)

At the 2011 OVC Football Media Day, OVC intern Olivia Walter sat down with the student-athletes in attendance to ask them some questions. Each week during the football season we will feature a different question. This week the question is "Who is your all-time favorite football player?"

OVC Insider - Episode 6

Episode No. 5 of our weekly show about the happenings of the Ohio Valley Conference is now online. The show is hosted by OVC interns Olivia Walter and Patrick Robinson.

Among the topics this week is a look at some of the "pink" initiatives during the month of October to raise awareness about breast cancer.

OVC Schools Thinking Pink During October

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month which is an annual campaign by major breast cancer organizations to increase awareness of the disease. This includes educating the public about early detection, the cause, diagnosis, treatment, and support for survivors.

Every year, this year being no different, teams from around the country are doing things to raise awareness and funds. Below are just a few of the events OVC schools are holding during the month of October. Included below are links to the school's website for more information.

Eastern Illinois
Eastern Illinois has four of its fall sports teams doing things during the month to gain awareness. The football team wore pink apparel at its Oct. 8 game while the rugby, women's soccer and volleyball teams are hosting "pink game" where the team will wear pink shirts and they are encouraging fans to wear pink to those games.

Eastern Kentucky
During the mont of October the EKU volleyball team is using pink balls, wearing pink socks and shoe laces.

Murray State
On Friday, Oct. 21 (National Mammogram Day) the school and Murray Calloway County Hospital will host a lunch, which will include door prizes, giveaways and an inspirational time with Mary Beth Hall, author of Lessons from a Bald Chick.

Western Baptist Hosptial will also help with awareness through PINK GLOVE DANCE. Recently 225 Western Baptist employees donned pink gloves and danced in the national PINK GLOVE DANCE competition.

Southeast Missouri
For many years the Southeast Missouri Athletic Department and Saint Francis Medical Center are proud to team up once again for the annual Dig for Life Campaign during the month of October. Members of the Southeast volleyball team secured pledges per dig that were tallied through October home matches at Houck Fieldhouse. The money raised is then allocated to Saint Francis Medi­cal Center for the campaign's purpose of educating women in the Southeast Missouri area about breast cancer awareness, providing early detection opportunities and improving prevention efforts.

The school will also do “Pink Up” games to kick of the month long campaign with women's soccer program.

SIUE
SIUE's volleyball and women's soccer programs will host events during the month. The soccer team will hand out free pink t-shirts at a game on Oct. 14 and donate $1 of every ticket sold to the event to the Saint Louis chapter of Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

The same thing will occur at an Oct. 21 volleyball match.

Tennessee State
The TSU volleyball team will host a "Think Pink" night on Oct. 29 against Tennessee Tech while the Tigers football team is wearing pink wrist bands, gloves and towels for the entire month of October in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month.

Tennessee Tech
Tennessee Tech is hosting a “Think Pink” event this Friday at its soccer match, and the volleyball team will host a “Dig Pink” the following weekend.

OVC Insider - Episode 5

Episode No. 5 of our weekly show about the happenings of the Ohio Valley Conference is now online. The show is hosted by OVC interns Olivia Walter and Patrick Robinson.

This week a look at the Sgt. York Trophy among other things.

APSU Football Player Also an Apache Helicopter Pilot and Father

This week we take a look at a feature produced by one of the schools in the OVC. Austin Peay's Isaac VanMeter is a member of the APSU football team at the age of 32, becoming a full-time student after serving in the military.



Apache helicopter pilot, father and football Gov, VanMeter truly an exception
By: Brad Kirtley



For every rule, an exception exists.

Isaac VanMeter embodies it. It is more than just the Henderson, Ky., native playing college football for the first time at Austin Peay at age 32, an age most male involvement in such a physical sport is reserved to the Fantasy variety.

VanMeter also is an exception in being a fulltime college student for the first time at a point in many men's lives they already are taking out a second mortgage on their house.

Not only is VanMeter a first-time fulltime college student who is playing football for the first time, he is as well the exception in being a single father raising three young daughters.

VanMeter will have a large cheering section, Saturday night, when the Governors play host to Tennessee State. Not only will his daughters be in attendance, but members of the 3rd Battalion, 101st Aviation Regiment will be there as well cheering him during APSU's annual Military Appreciation Night.

APSU fullback/specials team performer Isaac VanMeter, who sports Govs uniform No. 52, also wears the uniform of the U.S. Army. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Isaac VanMeter is a member of that 101st Aviation Regiment. He is an Apache Helicopter pilot who has made four combat tours, two in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. He has flown countless missions. He has been engaged and taken fire in combat numerous times.

Now he is at Austin Peay as part of the Active Warrant Officer Service Degree Completion Program, a program that allows active duty officers to complete a baccalaureate degree within a 12-to-18-month span. Since enlisting in the Army in 1997, he has taken several classes along the way and combined with 75 flight-school hours, he will graduate in the spring.

In other words, he is at Austin Peay for one year, with the Governors football team for just one season. What would drive a man who regularly flies what enemy ground forces believe is the most terrifying machine to attempt a sport he has not played competitively since he was a teenager?

"I just love the game-I love football," VanMeter said. "It's a passion. We follow it a lot at work. We play the fantasy leagues for pro football. We follow the college game-when we are on deployment we stay up because it is on in the middle of the night. Everyone wants that next day off so they can stay up and watch the games.

"I have never lost the passion for it."

In fact, the football passion has been a part of the VanMeter family. He and his father Allan, a Western Kentucky graduate, were Hilltopper season-ticket holders and their trips together to Bowling Green always will be some of the fondest family memories for the younger VanMeter.

"Three years ago I told my dad, while we were at one of the games, I am trying to get into this degree completion program," he said. "I told him wherever I go I am going to try and walk on to the football program.

"He said that would be 'humorous," considering I already was in my late 20s."

He started formulating a plan but a year later it became more than that-it became a promise to himself to fulfill that dream he shared with his father, who died in 2009 from colon cancer. As the calendar turned to 2011 the degree completion program came to fruition.

At only 5-foot-8 inches tall and in the 185-pound range, VanMeter knew at his age, his position options would be limited. An option quarterback/safety during his prep days, he looked at possible positions he could play. He knew he wasn't fast or quick enough to play wide receiver or defensive back and certainly not big enough to play along the lines. Fullback/running back was a possible option.

Now it was up to him to get into "football shape." He went to the internet, looking for different schools' offseason workout programs, like the one at William and Mary. He spent the summer working relentlessly in the Olive Physical Fitness Center room at Ft. Campbell. He then would drive to the Austin Peay campus and sprint up the hills behind the outfield fence at Raymond C. Hand Park and then utilize use his own ladder and cones for speed and quickness drills.

He also spoke to APSU assistant coach Marcus Gildersleeve, who was in charge of APSU's walk-on program, about joining the Governors.

"I sent him an email because I did not want to fill out that recruit thing that would indicate to them what my age was, at least until they got to see me," VanMeter said.

The first steps were gaining admittance to school along with receiving NCAA Clearance.

"The NCAA people were funny," VanMeter said. "They wanted to know 'why did you take your ACTs in 1996 and now are playing (college football). Did you play minor league baseball? Where have you been?' I told them I had been in the Army, flying helicopters.

"I asked the guy if flying helicopters would make me ineligible? He laughed and said, 'I don't know. I have never been asked that before.'"

Next came a face-to-face meeting with Gildersleeve.

"Coach Gildersleeve was great," VanMeter said. "He asked me some questions and when it came to my birth date I just kind of blew through it, Jan. 16, 1979. He said the 16th of January and left it at that."

Turns out that Gildersleeve's father, Monroe, was a Chief Warrant Officer 4 (now retired), just like VanMeter and that APSU's wide receiver coach, who is 35, grew up with some of the same people that VanMeter served with, like Maj. Clint Cody, son of Vice Chief of Staff Richard Cody, the former Commanding General, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) and Fort Campbell.

"We started talking and laughing about things...and I realized the age thing was blown," VanMeter said. "But I kept being allowed to do things, got my physical, and we got through the whole process. We were issued equipment and we got to go out there and run into people. It was good."

And his three daughters, Scarlett, age 13; Isabella, age 10, and Virginia, age 4, were almost as excited as their father when he finally was allowed to step onto the football field.

"You know how kids are--my daughters think I can do anything," he said. "They are all girlie girls, but they love watching football with me. Scarlett knows, for instance, that it is holding (penalty) because of where the flag is thrown. Isabella isn't quite into it as her older sister but Virginia will sit there and watch the NFL Combine with me."

Although VanMeter is just thrilled to be on the football field, he has no unrealistic expectations.

"There are different approaches to things," he said. "I wanted to play football because I love the game. If I came out here and said I have one year (to play) so I need to get on the field, that would not be the reasonable way to approach it. The reasonable way is you (APSU coaching staff) are allowing me to play football and I love you for that.

"Coach (Rick) Christophel is trying to build something here-there is a lot of young talent and he could have looked at me one of two ways; one, that this guy can set the example, he is the old man and is not out there complaining, so you (the other players) can't complain.

"Or he could have looked at this, at me, as being a joke for wanting to join this program...I couldn't have asked for anything better. The coaches all have been great. The players have been really good to me."

In fact, it was one of the younger players, sophomore wide receiver Tee Howell, who may have helped VanMeter get to the football field faster.

"Tee is my guy-he has been great to me," VanMeter said. "When we were coming out of our geology class (earlier this semester) and he asked what position I was playing. I told him I was deep on the halfback chart. He told me with my size I should play fullback. I came over here that afternoon and Coach Gildersleeve (Howell's position coach) told me I would have a better chance to playing if you were on the fullback depth chart. That made sense to me."

In a sense, VanMeter is hoping to reciprocate for what was done for him early in his military career, serving in a mentoring role to young people who are searching for their own identities.

When he entered the Army, VanMeter again was an exception-he immediately became a Private First Class because he had been a member of the Jr. ROTC while at Henderson County High School. In less than four years, at age 21, he entered in Warrant Officer Candidate School in Ft. Rucker, Ala. Again, he was the exception.

"I was the baby there, I was 21," he said, "and everybody else was 26 and 27 and senior NCOs (non-commissioned officers), fast-tracking guys. There were a lot of leadership classes, lot of physical training...there were so many guys who knew what was going on who helped me so much. They allowed me to follow them around and I got pinned...as a WO1 (Warrant Officer 1).

"Then I went through flight school, they helped me develop better study habits. I got through all of that. I was then lucky to be able to pick which helicopter I wanted to fly, the Apache."

When VanMeter talks about flying the Apache the enthusiasm runs deep about the U.S. military's most intricate flying tank of nearly 18,000 pounds that serves in so many different capacities, ranging from combat to deep-strike capabilities to reconnaissance.

"This job is just like the English language, for every rule there is an exception," VanMeter said. "We usually fly between 120 (138 mph) to 140 knots (161 mph). But it is all relative. We can fly low so if you are going around 100 miles per hour your tail wheels are almost skimming the trees, you feel like you are really moving. If you are flying 600 miles per hour in a plane but you are at 30,000 feet, you feel like you are standing still. It is all relative.

"It is a fun job, it is a great job. I wouldn't change a thing."

But that passion for flying and the Apache doesn't run even close to that for his family.

They are the reason he wants to earn his undergraduate degree.

"I want to get my degree and set an example to my daughters that education is important," VanMeter said. "I don't want them to say dad didn't go to school...I want them to realize how important school is and how important education is."

He has an assortment of cousins, aunts and uncles who live in the area and have helped him manage his household, especially when he has been deployed. They certainly will be there Saturday supporting his latest mission, with the Austin Peay football program.

Yes, much of his family will be there Saturday, with one exception. If he gets to step onto the football field Saturday night, don't be surprised for a brief second VanMeter smiles, looks upward to his father, and says..."We did it."