UT Football Coach Tim Beckman Speaks To Holland Chamber
BY KAREN BERGER— MIRROR REPORTER
The Holland-Springfield Chamber of Commerce welcomed University of Toledo head football coach Tim Beckman for its February 25 meeting.
Beckman, who was a secondary coach at Ohio State University and defensive coordinator at Bowling Green State University and Oklahoma State University, joined UT in December 2008.
One of his goals was to use a strategy similar to those at BGSU and OSU to boost players’ grades.
Since then, the average GPA of the 82 players has increased from 2.31 to 2.74. The team also recently earned the NCAA’s academic progress rating of 997 of a possible 1,000.
“We’re building our football players into being men,” he said.
In addition to daily 6:00 a.m. workouts, coaches ask players to show up 15 minutes early for classes and practices, and to perform community service.
In 2009, the team members logged 408 volunteer hours, and have put in 256 hours so far this year, he said, including raising $3,000 for Haiti and making Valentine’s Day cards for children at Toledo Children’s Hospital.
He noted that Springfield High School graduate Eric Page has matured and become an outstanding ambassador for the team.
Of this year’s 28 recruits, one is a valedictorian and eight are already on campus, either because of coming from junior college or graduating from high school early.
While winning games is top of mind, Beckman said one of his goals is to make UT football like Utah and Boise State – other non-BCS teams – which boast huge community support.
“We need you,” he told the group of about 50 chamber members and guests. “We’re going to do what we can to see all the seats filled.”
The Rockets’ first nationally televised game will be on Friday, September 3 on ESPN. Three other weekday games will also be nationally televised.
The chamber welcomed new members Pat Markland of Design Memorial, Tracy Bortolotti of Primerica, and Bennett’s Pizza.

The next Holland-Springfield Chamber of Commerce luncheon will be held on Thursday, March 25 at 11:45 a.m. at Lutheran Village at Wolf Creek’s Creekside facility. For information, visit www.hollandspringfieldcoc.org.

Springfield Township’s Bethel Runs For Leukemia And Lymphoma Society
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
If his wife Diane could make it through chemotherapy, Bob Bethel told himself he didn’t have any excuses for not going the extra mile – literally.
After learning that Diane had breast cancer last fall, the 52-year-old Springfield Township resident and trustee began training for the Glass City Marathon in November.
“If she can make it through chemo, I can make it a few more miles,” he said.
He joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Toledo Team in Training (TNT) program, which consists of 22 runners who raise money for the cause and commit to running a marathon.
“While TNT specifically raises funds to help with leukemia and lymphoma rather than breast cancer, I still felt this would be a way to help with those who are going through experiences similar to Diane’s,” he said.
Diane celebrated her last chemo treatment on February 24, while Bob still has a few more months to train, increasing his morning runs by a few miles each week in order to work up to the 26.2-mile race.
Through the Toledo TNT program, Bethel meets with coach Ernest Lewis, who leads the team through runs at local metroparks each weekend.
“Bob is a disciplined and dedicated runner. It takes a lot of courage to take on 26.2 miles for someone you love as well as committing to raising money to fight the good fight,” Lewis said.
He should know. Diane was one of the 100 honorees Lewis ran for when he completed the 100-mile Oil Creek Ultra Marathon last year. The Bethels donated to Lewis’ Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fund-raising effort for that event like they have in years past.
Last fall’s TNT team of just eight runners raised over $22,000, which was inspiring, and then Bob decided to join the team himself.
While Bob played football and wrestled at Springfield High School, he didn’t start running marathons until taking a class at the University of Toledo with the late Sy Mah.
“At the time he held the record for the most marathons run,” he said of Mah. “In his class, we ran a marathon relay.”
Since then, he’s run the Glass City Marathon and Columbus Marathon three times each. After a decade of irregular running, he trained for and ran the Disney World Marathon three years ago with his nephew Matthew Bethel.
The Glass City Marathon on April 25 will be his first marathon in three years.
Each Team in Training runner has a goal of raising at least $1,650 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. So far, Bob has collected about $460, or 28 percent of his goal.
“Donations, no matter how small, are greatly appreciated. Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. More than 823,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers. These people are the real heroes on our team,” Bob wrote on his blog at: pages.teamintraining.org/noh/glascity10/bbethel