HARRY LYNCH - hlynch@newsobserver.com
Rupert Pedler, center, of the 'Toxic Grasshoppers' runs the gauntlet of Alex Mrozack, left, and Alec Rose, right, of the 'Mighty Fighting Sandcrabs' Friday afternoon Oct. 5, 2012 at the Duke athletic fields on Duke's west campus. The Duke students were participating in the inaugural 4v4 "Play for 8" flag football tournament. All proceeds from the tournament are to benefit the Blair Holliday Recovery Fund.
Scores of Duke University students and members of the Durham community showed last week their interest in Blair Holloway has never – ahem – flagged.
They took part in the inaugural 4v4 “Play for 8” Flag Football Tournament at Duke University’s Koskinen Stadium.
Last Friday’s tournament was meant as a tribute to and a fundraiser for Duke football player and intramural ref Blair Holliday, who was injured over the summer. The fee of $5 per player went to the Blair Holliday Recovery Fund, and they brought in $2,600 for the cause.
The tournament was a series of four-player teams matching off against each other in a style of play known to almost every child, or former child, as “razzle-dazzle” -- meaning the ball could move in just about any direction possible at any time by any means.
The event also featured a “Punt-Pass Challenge” where competitors kicked and threw for accuracy and distance (a la the NFL PP&K competition). There were divisions for females and males.
All the players received a commemorative T-shirt, and the champions of each division received a “4V4 Flag Football” mug that organizers hope will become a tradition of this tournament.
Our Hips Don’t Lie won the women’s division, while Fuqua won the Competitive Division and the Green Devils won the Intermediate Division.
Holliday suffered a traumatic brain injury in a July 4 jet ski accident at Lake Tillery. No one knew what to expect as far as his recovery. But he has exceeded even his doctor’s expectations, and in August he walked without assistance for the first time.
W.E. Warnock
