Robin Hensley is one proud aunt.
On Saturday night, the Beverly resident's nephew, Kurt Stottlemyer, performed on the gridiron as Team USA routed France, 78-0, in a 2009 (International Federation of American Football) Junior World Championship football game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.
"Kurt was really pumped, and got to play quite a bit," said Hensley, a Fort Fyre High School special education teacher.
"He was on all the punt return and kick return teams, and also played safety."
Fawcett Stadium is of course the home of the National Football League's annual Pro Football Hall of Fame game.
Team USA is America's first in the sport composed of top high school football student-athletes from the country's 2009 graduating class.
Also in the tournament field are Canada, Germany, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand and Mexico.
Next up for Chuck Kyle-led Team USA is Mexico - a 41-0 winner over Sweden Saturday - at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
"We're planning to drive to Canton for that game, too," Hensley said.
The tourney then continues Saturday (July 4). At 1 p.m. Sunday (July 5), the Gold Medal game is slated to kick off.
Kyle, by the way, is the head football coach at Cleveland St. Ignatius High School
Stottlemyer - who lives in Bothell, Wa. - is one of 45 players on the Team USA junior football roster. An all-around prep athlete, he was also a team captain in basketball and baseball.
The 5-foot-10, 165-pound defensive back also excelled in the classroom with a 4.0 GPA. He will be continuing his education and playing football at Yale University this upcoming fall.
Storm Klein and Jack Mewhort, two of Stottlemyer's Team USA teammates, will be donning the scarlet and gray uniform of Jim Tressel-coached OSU this fall.
One of Hensley's brothers is Jeff Stottlemyer, father of Kurt.
The elder Stottlemyer is no stranger to this area as he was a quarterback at Fort Frye under Bob Hill from 1973-76.
Jeff Stottlemyer is married to Kelly (Henniger), formerly of Lowell.
They also have an older son Derek, who plays football for Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash.
Another Hensley brother, Vic Stottlemyer, played football for Woody Hayes and The Ohio State University Buckeyes back in the late 1960s.
The Stottlemyer family did not move to Washington County until 1970, Hensley said.
Not too surprisingly, most of the Stottlemyer clan was in Canton this past weekend.
"It was kind of a reunion," Hensley said. "And, it was so exciting to see Kurt play."
Cantley competes
in Eugene, Ore.
Tyler Cantley ran in a 1500-meter preliminary race at the 2009 USA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships at the University of Oregon's Hayward Field on Saturday.
The former Warren running standout and current student/athlete at Ohio University crossed the finish line in a time of 4:00.37, good for 19th place in the event.
Blake Shaw won heat 1 of the race with a clocking of 3:50.75.
Ron Johnston is The Marietta Times sports editor, and can be reached at 376-5441, or at rjohnston@mariettatimes.com.
