Beaver finds happiness in turmoil Special to D3football.com After what Justin Beaver has fought through in his lifetime, running with a bull’s-eye on his back and being chased by a couple of defenders isn’t much of a problem. Beaver, UW-Whitewater’s record-setting running back, will be presented the Gagliardi Trophy as Division III’s best football player on Thursday in Salem, Va. Two days later, he’ll lead the Warhawks into the championship game in hopes of toppling the Mount Union dynasty. All of that is impressive. So are his 6,335 career rushing yards, which rank second in Division III history and top the school and WIAC lists, and his school-record 43 touchdowns. He’s a three-time all-American and three-time Gagliardi finalist. With even a modest performance on Saturday, he’ll pass former Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne (6,397 career yards) for 10th place on the all-divisions rushing list. He’s equally impressive off the field. The dean’s list student boasts a 3.55 grade-point average and is a second-team academic all-American. Whitewater coach Lance Leipold can’t talk about Beaver’s on-field exploits without talking about his character. Same for Mount Union coach Larry Kehres. What’s most impressive, though, is how Beaver has gotten to this lofty point. He’s lived with his paternal grandparents since he was 3 months old. His father died in an altercation at a bar during Beaver’s junior year at Palmyra-Eagle High School in Palmyra, Wis. “What some people would call a rough family life, I say I’m grateful for,” Beaver said this week. “I was born into a family where my mother and father were pretty young, and that made me stronger. I had them there at certain times and not there at certain times. And when they weren’t there, I’ve had a great group of grandparents that stepped in to raise me. “Most people would look at it like I had a rough childhood, but it made me grow up faster and be stronger.” Beaver is quick to compliment his friends and family, particularly grandparents Donald and Joanna Beaver, who watch all of the Warhawks’ games and are departing Thursday to watch Saturday’s Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. “I guess we did a good job raising him,” Joanna Beaver said with a laugh. “He’s been a very easy child to raise, and he’s a good role model for other people, other students.” “It’s putting the right people around me,” Beaver said. “I have a lot of great friends who put me in line when I needed to put me in line. I have some great family and even a couple of old girlfriends. When you start to drift, they’ve been there.”
“In my short time with Justin, the thing that really sticks out, the things most people see as adversity, he sees as another challenge that motivates him to succeed. When some people get down and pack it in, he uses it as motivation. Whether it’s his personal life or an injury, you see the drive that comes about him and the look in his eyes that he’s ready to take it on.” Leipold was hired in January to replace the retired Bob Berezowitz. So, Leipold got to know Beaver the person long before he got to watch Beaver live on the football field. “I had about eight months with Justin before even seeing him play,” Leipold said. “What Justin brings off the field, he’s had to overcome considerable obstacles in his personal life with the passing of his father and so forth. When adversity strikes or injuries, that just pushes that young man even more. He handles challenges or bumps in the road that most people sometimes don’t bounce back from. “He brings the same attitude in practice that he brings to the weight room and the classroom. He’s, when you talk about a D-III student-athlete, he’s the prototype of what you’re looking for. He has great respect from his teammates, and he jumps in to help with recruits. I don’t know how you ever replace a guy like that. He’s the heart and soul of this program.” Beaver has been the driving force to Whitewater’s third consecutive run to the national championship game. In 2005, Beaver set a Division III single-season record with 2,420 rushing yards and added 24 touchdowns. He rushed 30 times for 125 yards and a touchdown in the title game, but the Warhawks lost to Mount Union 35-28. Last season, Beaver missed five games with a broken collarbone, but got back in time for the playoffs and finished with 1,369 yards and four TDs. Facing Mount Union again for the championship, Beaver was held to 87 yards on 23 carries in a 35-16 loss. This season, powered by the veteran offensive line of junior left tackle Mike Sherman and a group of seniors — left guard Brady Ramseier, center Brent Allen, right guard Don Anstett and right tackle Cal Schmidt — Beaver has rushed for 2,206 yards and 14 touchdowns. During a second-round victory over North Central, he passed Carey Bender of Coe (6,125 yards, 1991-94) for second place on the Division III rushing list. “He’s a tremendous football player,” Kehres said. “Last year, bouncing back that quickly from a broken collarbone and leading his team through the playoffs the way he did, and then have another marvelous season (this year), I really admire him. He’s one of the role-model types of student-athletes that all of us coaching in Division III admire. He’s an outstanding student and outstanding young man.” He’s a modest young man, too. Several times, Beaver was asked to talk about what it meant to win the Gagliardi Award. Each time, he deflected the credit to his teammates, friends and family. “This one, to me, is not a personal award. It’s definitely a community award,” he said. “It’s definitely a reward for all the people who have been involved in Warhawk football in the past — forever.” Finally, asked if he could perhaps give himself a little praise, he did. “I guess at this point, I can do that, because it’s one of the last times in my career to do that,” Beaver said. “The biggest thing I take out of this whole thing, if I could put it in two words, is hard work. I definitely had people push me to work hard, but I’ve had to do it, also. That’s one of the things I will give myself credit for.” Not surprisingly, with the Warhawks in the midst of another playoff run, Beaver hasn’t had time to reflect on what he’s accomplished during a brilliant career. Nor has he thought much about this being his final collegiate game. “It hasn’t hit me completely yet,” Beaver said. “It’s kind of hit me, but it will hit me a lot more when the game is over, win or lose.” Faced with the daunting challenge of again facing a Mount Union squad that has been too good the last two years, Beaver speaks of this team’s heart. A turning point in this season was a 26-16 loss at Division II St. Cloud State. The Warhawks doomed themselves with four turnovers, “but a lot of great things came out of the game,” Beaver said. “We were down and there were a couple of minutes left, but we never gave up. To see the guys care so much just kind of propelled us.” Then there was the game against UW-La Crosse two weeks later. With Beaver sidelined by leg cramps, the Warhawks rallied from a 28-10 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat their archrivals 35-28. “Without those emotional rollercoasters, you can’t really be happy,” Beaver said, a statement that speaks volumes about his life. Beaver and Co. face another rollercoaster on Saturday against college football’s version of John Wooden’s UCLA basketball juggernaut. The Purple Raiders have won 37 games in a row, the longest current winning streak in any division, and are seeking their 10th national title since 1993. Beaver, however, sees no reason why he and the 22 other Whitewater seniors can’t walk out of Salem Stadium with the championship trophy. After what he’s been through, would you bet against him? “It’s important to me, but it’s so important to everyone around this program,” he said. “It’s how anyone would want to go out. There’s a lot of guys on this team who want to go out with a win. We’ve seen the guys go out with a loss and how much it hurt, and we don’t want to go out that way.” | ||
| Permalink | Dec 13, 2007 | ||
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