Honoring Legends, Looking To The Future

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Two icons of Central Michigan football, the university's storied athletic program, and the university itself.

Roy Kramer and Herb Deromedi, names that are woven into the very fabric and fiber of CMU, have been honored with statues that stand outside the new Chippewa Champions Center at the north end of Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

Fitting that two men responsible for laying the foundation and embodying the very spirit of CMU and its athletics program are celebrated and honored with their respective likenesses forever standing guard, front and center, at the home of CMU football.

Kramer led the program from 1967-77, compiling an incredible 83-32-2 won-loss record before becoming the athletic director at Vanderbilt and then commissioner of the Southeastern Conference.

Deromedi immediately followed Kramer in the CMU head coach's office, leading the Chippewas to a 110-55-10 mark from 1978-93. Deromedi's 90 Mid-American Conference victories is a record and, in 2008, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. He is just the second coach in history to achieve that honor primarily for his work at a MAC institution.

Kramer, with Deromedi as his defensive coordinator, led the 1974 Chippewas to a 12-1 finish and the NCAA Division II national title. Both Kramer and Deromedi, along with the entire '74 team, are members of the Marcy Weston Central Michigan University Athletics Hall of Fame.

"Really it's more of a tribute to the players," Kramer said of the statues. "That statue wouldn't be there if we hadn't had some success and that success was due to hundreds of young men who came to Central and put their passion, put their excitement for the game, into winning.

"That statue stands on a platform and that platform is a foundation. I'm really just standing on their shoulders. That's what I really want people to know. That statue's not me, it's in recognition of all those young men who played for me through the years. There's a sense of pride there that, way back, you were a part of this tradition."

After hanging up his coaching whistle after the 1993 season, Deromedi became the CMU athletics director, a position he held for 13 years. Proving that his leadership acumen carried over from the football field, Chippewa teams won 34 MAC championships during his tenure as AD and the Chippewas claimed the MAC Institutional Academic Achievement Award eight times in a nine-year span.

"It's a phenomenal honor," Deromedi said. "It's an honor to all former players, players who have been a part of Central Michigan University football. Obviously, I would not be recognized if it were not for the manner in which they conducted themselves and the manner in which they performed. It's very meaningful to be alongside Roy Kramer and what he has meant in the history of Central Michigan University football."

One of those players was Mike Franckowiak, who quarterbacked the '74 squad and is also a member of the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame.

"It was very sentimental, and it just brought back a lot of memories of playing for those two and playing right on that field 46 years ago," Franckowiak said at the unveiling of the statues. "They are legends and I realize that now more than ever, but I can also look at them as friends. My greatest memories are just the day in and day out of playing football for them.

"I realize our national championship year drew a lot of attention, much-needed attention and helpful attention to the university and possibly helped expand the program. But those two, Roy and Herb, were totally responsible for that."

The statues were commissioned by Todd Anson, a Mount Pleasant native, CMU alum, and now a member of the university Board of Trustees.

"It's all about making a difference," Anson said. "My first introduction to the CMU campus was as a 4-year-old Mount Pleasant kid attending the university laboratory school. In a very real sense, 61 of my 65 years have been spent affiliated with the university. It means a lot to see CMU grow. In my era in Mount Pleasant, nobody crossed Broomfield Road; there was nothing out there but cow pastures. And now to see the stadium that coach Kramer had the vision of and then the ability to execute on and now with the new Chippewa Champions Center and Herb and Roy standing out front it means a lot. It symbolizes how far CMU's come and it signifies where we're about to go."

The majestic statues were designed and sculpted by Brett Gill of East Grand Rapids. His impressive resumé includes sculptures of President Gerald Ford, Bo Schembechler and Pat Summitt. Gill said that in researching both Kramer and Deromedi, he got the opportunity to meet both legends and that helped immensely in capturing their personalities in their respective statues.

"It was amazing being with them," he said. "It just felt like you knew why they were successful, they felt like guys that you wanted to follow. I was ready to sign up for the team. These go out and become an expression of the values of a place. These guys embody a lot of what Central Michigan and Central Michigan athletics – who they are now."

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