North Carolina State University Athletics
A Sense of Pride
10/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 4, 2005
Raleigh, N.C. -
Every NC State player who steps onto the field for a home game at Carter-Finley Stadium feels a sense of pride playing for the Wolfpack. When senior tight end John Ritcher runs out of the tunnel and through the smoke and fireworks, his sense of pride is a bit different than any other Wolfpack player who puts on a uniform.
When Ritcher runs out all he has to do is look up to his left, high above the NC State sideline. There, the eight jerseys that NC State has retired hang along the upper deck. Ritcher looks up every game and sees the `Jim Ritcher #51' and feels a sense of pride that none of his other teammates can understand.
Jim Ritcher was arguably the best player to ever player center for the Wolfpack. He was a two-time consensus All-American and won the Outland Trophy as a senior, awarded annually to the nation's premier offensive lineman.
Not only was his father one of the best NC State players ever, but his mother was was a cheerleader at NC State. So with both his parents being NC State graduates, and both living in Raleigh, you wonder if Ritcher already had his college chosen before he was even in high school.
"NC State was where I would have chosen to come regardless of if my parents went here or not," said Ritcher. "I looked at a couple other schools, but when I was looking this just seemed like the best situation for me. I believe it was the most stable, and I really liked what Coach Amato brought to the program. When I was around the players before I came here everybody was always having fun, and they all seemed to like the NC State environment.
"My dad would only tell me what he thought when I asked him. He just wanted to make sure I made a good decision and that it was my decision. In fact, both my parents were behind me no matter where I decided to go to college, even though I think they both wanted me to end up here."
Football is still a game that the Ritchers are involved in. Jim went on to the NFL and was with the Buffalo Bills during their four straight Super Bowl appearances in the 90s, and retired when John was in seventh grade. Last year right before the East Carolina game, the Bills put Jim Ritcher on their Wall of Fame and John was able to attend.
Also involved in football are John's two younger brothers. Harrison is a senior playing varsity football at Ravenscroft High School as a linebacker and tight end. Nicholas is playing JV football at St. David's, which is an eight-man team, and this is his first year playing.
"Both of my brothers are enjoying playing football," said Ritcher. "They are ball boys for our home games too, so they, along with my parents, are always able to come to the games. But it is funny because sometimes my dad isn't able to get here until right before the game because he is a pilot, so sometimes he says it's a little adventurous getting to the stadium at the last minute because of the thousands of NC State fans."
Having his dad be a former college and professional player, Ritcher is more than willing to take advantage of the knowledge that his dad has gained over the years.
"If I never asked my dad a question we would probably never talk about me playing football," said Ritcher. "Sometimes I feel bad because I call him so much because I'm always asking him stuff. It could be something as simple as getting a good first step or improving my blocking.
"But most of what we talk about is that no matter what you do, do everything to the best of your ability and do it the best you can. When you look back, no matter what level of success you had, you can always look back and be proud that you did it to the best of your abilities. That is probably the most important advice he gives me now."
Ritcher has already graduated with a degree in zoology from NC State and is thinking about his future. Since he is one of the many members of the football team that takes pride in their work in the weight room, it was only natural for Ritcher to start looking into that aspect of the team a bit closer.
"I came into NC State thinking possibly majoring in pre-med, but now I'm really starting to enjoy the work in strength and conditioning," said Ritcher. "I'd like to get a master's degree in that field or something related, and then possibly get into coaching from there if that is something that interests me."
Ritcher is getting first-hand experience about what goes on in a college weight room. Head strength and conditioning coach Pat Meyer and his staff monitor the progress of all the football players, and Ritcher thinks that is something he might like to do one day.
"Eventually I'd like to get into a position like Coach Meyer is in here at NC State," said Ritcher. "I can tell he has a lot of fun and really enjoys what he does with the team."
Ritcher even took time this summer to see more of what Meyer and his staff do on a day-to-day basis in the NC State weight room.
"I interned for Coach Meyer over the summer, and it was really something I enjoyed," said Ritcher. "It was mostly helping him out with the team during their workouts, and just following him and seeing what goes on in the operations of running a strength program for a Division I football team.
"Maybe it was more of the behind-the-scenes stuff than what I was used to when we lift as a team. It was really good because I saw it was more than just having guys lift weights. There is so much to do with nutrition as well. It really is a science because it is a lot more than just telling guys how to lift weights.
"The weight part of it, you are helping guys get strong and you see them grow stronger and more often than not become better players. On the nutrition side, you are seeing how guys should take care of their bodies and how they need to do that to be able to get stronger."
Besides his experience of working out in the weight room here at NC State, Ritcher was lucky enough to gain other experience in the field a few years ago.
"When I was in high school I helped out Rusty Jones who was the strength-and-condition coach with the Buffalo Bills at the time," said Ritcher. "I was able to go up there and work with him for a couple of weeks, and he is really into the nutrition side of the training and that is when I really started to get interested in the whole aspect of weight training. I got to see how they break down each player's nutrition intake, and it was just neat to see how they could tell if a guy ate real bad just the night before."
For now, Ritcher is helping the Wolfpack offense both blocking and catching the ball from his tight end position. He will run through the tunnel only a few more times because this is his senior season, but you can be sure he will not pass up the chance to look up and see his dad honored and feel that sense of pride he always enjoys.
