Not even Mother Nature could stop a slew of former Ohio State football players from giving back to their community.
Under dark and rainy skies and with nothing but good thoughts in their hearts and minds, a group of former Buckeyes took part in the second annual All-Star Celebrity flag football game Friday night at Veterans Stadium in New Albany.
Proceeds from the event in the form of admission fees, sponsorship donations and concessions benefited the After-School All-Stars Ohio and the SKNLUV skin cancer awareness program, the name of the two squads who did battle on the gridiron.
"It was fun, it was for charity, but honestly I'm completely thankful for the people who came out because the weather was completely miserable," former Buckeye Kirk Barton said. "We had some people that stuck it out and that was awesome."
Team SKNLUV fell behind 14-0 early, but used big second and third quarters to run away with a 50-26 victory over the After-School All-Stars.
Former Buckeyes on each team included:
SKNLUV: Matt Wilhelm, Scott McMullen, Jay Richardson and Mike Doss (coach)
ASAS: Maurice Clarett, Dan "Boom" Herron, Chris "Beanie" Wells, Antonio Pittman, Tyler Everett, Jordan Hall and Barton
If you're counting at home, that's 12,004 rushing yards and 114 rushing touchdowns at Ohio State on one team for the After-School All-Stars, but clearly it needed more help.
"Obviously, we wanted to get the victory, but the main cause was to raise money for skin cancer and also for After-School All-Stars," Clarett said. "The rain, the weather was a bit of a hazard this year, but all in all it was fun."
Ex-wide receiver and current ESPN analyst Joey Galloway was also in attendance but did not play.
The After-School All-Stars could have used the burner's speed in the open field, but did have a few highlights despite the loss:
Boom Herron to Kirk Barton. That's a big target. pic.twitter.com/0pvUsoPrKq
— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) June 27, 2015
Boom Herron with some nice moves and a Braxton Miller-esque shovel pass for a TD. pic.twitter.com/1QwjAKaZlM
— Eric Seger (@EricSeger33) June 27, 2015
Early returns from the event look to have raised roughly $40,000, which is roughly $20,000 more than a year ago, according to event coordinator Kevin Rine.
