By THOMAS GRANT JR., T&D Senior Sports Writer
Frank Staley Jr. and Geb Runager have nothing but love for their college alma maters.
Runager earned his masters’ degree in education from the University of South Carolina and sent four of his five children there, including the school’s first-ever female trainer and NFL All-Pro punter Max Runager. Staley is a proud second-generation graduate of South Carolina State University whose father has a building named on campus in his honor and remains a fixture around the football team as one of its biggest fans.
Given Staley and Runager’s devout allegiances to USC and SCSU, Saturday’s first-ever meeting between the two in-state schools would seem like the time to put aside their longtime friendship. Instead of exchanging trash talk and ugly stares, however, it was all smiles between the two men at Thursday’s Orangeburg Touchdown Club meeting.
"I think it’s great," Runager said. "I think it’s long overdue and you can tell just from the Touchdown Club meeting today the excitement it’s been generating not only in this room, but the community and the entire state. So it’s long overdue as far as a football game is concerned and Coach Pough is not looking up so high to South Carolina, he’s looking at an equal level playing field and he’s anxious to find out how his players are going to go. So I think it’s long overdue."
"It’s long overdue and we’re going to be representative," Staley said. "We at South Carolina State with the Bulldogs, we go into a game and go in to win and hopefully, we can win this one."
Runager acknowledged most Gamecock fans see the game with the Bulldogs as a ‘breather’ before next week’s matchup against second-ranked LSU. At the same time, Runager’s personal ties to SCSU, dating back to Willie Jeffries, in working with the Bulldog kickers makes it difficult to develop a healthy ‘hatred’ entering Saturday’s game.
"(Punter and Saturday’s place-kicker) Aaron Haire is doing quite well as a punter and holder," Runager said. "He and I have been working together since he was in middle school. How am I going to pull against him. I cannot do anything but wish him the best."
The two men are also linked by their years of community service. From Runager’s work with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes to Staley’s 30-plus years as a teacher at SCSU, their strong commitment to helping young people serves as a common bond between them.
"I think both of our backgrounds have involved working with kids," Staley said. "We’ve done that all of our lives and I guess we’re going to do that until we pass on to the Good Father.
"And that will transition itself into the game on Saturday due to the total respect we have for what the coaches do and how well they’re working with those kids and what it means to them to work with those kids because we’ve worked with kids all our professional lives and the kids are the same," Runager said. "That’s who it’s all about. It’s not about us. It’s about the kids.
"And these football players when they graduate from college, the majority of them aren’t going to be pros because there’s nothing but good players up there. What we’re doing is preparing them for life and what it is," Staley said.
Runager sees Saturday’s game as a chance to bring together two groups of fans who have more in common than they realize and will give fans statewide an unprecedented opportunity to see what SCSU is all about.
"The word is respect," Runager said. "That’s what it’s all about. That’s what this club is all about and I think our community has grown exponentially in that regard and in terms of respect for each other, no matter what your background or anything else and I think that’s what the game is going to do. It’s going to offer an opportunity to build respect because they’re going to look at a class program in South Carolina State University, which is coming in well-closed, well-played, the players are just really truly student-athletes and gentlemen and that level of respect just can’t help but increase remarkably in my view."
Staley holds Runager in equally high regard, stating he’s been someone who’s been a ‘father image’ for him for a long time. Regardless of the outcome, the two insists their friendship will endure.
"We’re going to be friends even after the game is over," Staley said. "We know he’s going to be rooting for Carolina because that’s where he’s had all his backing and I’m going to be rooting for the Bulldogs. I’ve been going around with Carolina because as a Boy Scout leader, I ushered up there for years. But Saturday, I’m a Bulldog!"
"No hate over here," Runager said. "We can’t work up a hate."
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