Tonight marks the kickoff of the 2019 Ohio high school football season. It also marks the first time in about 80 years the West Jefferson Roughriders have kicked off without John Kile as a fan. His older brothers played. His dad coached. His son was a scrub. His daughter was a cheerleader. And he was The Voice of the Roughriders for almost 50 years. The last game he attended was opening night 2018 when he and close friend John Baldwin inducted Dustin Blake (Mt. Union) into the WJHS Athletic Hall of Fame. A month later, on his birthday, he passed quietly.

This evening before the game his wife and children will drive down to the cemetary and place a bowl of brown and gold mums, decorated with a football, on his grave. We’ll probably play “On, West Jefferson” (Wisconsin stole it from us.) A little corny perhaps, but dad woulda liked that.