Eastern Michigan Athletics
EMU Football To Honor Two Special Guests Saturday
9/26/2015 11:00:00 AM | Football
EMU to honor Steve Sheahan and Randy Kunkel
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – When the Eastern Michigan University football team lines up against Army West Point today, Sept. 26, the eventual outcome of the game will be of the upmost importance to almost everyone that surrounds both programs.
For two special guests of the EMU program who will be in attendance for the game, the meaning behind it goes a little beyond a simple win or loss.
Steve Sheahan, an EMU football alumnus, and Randy Kunkel, a close personal friend of Head Coach Chris Creighton, will both have unique roles with the football program prior to, and during the game.
Sheahan will speak with the team prior to the game, and also lead the team out of the tunnel with the wrench that is used to "close the gap." Kunkel will serve as honorary head coach for the Eagles during the game. Both are also former members of the military.
Sheahan was a member of the EMU football team from 1988-90 as a walk-on first as a nose tackle, and then as a fullback.
"The reason I went to Eastern was it was a successful program," Sheahan said. "The year before they won the California Bowl and I wanted to be apart of a winning tradition."
Following his time at Eastern, Sheahan joined the military where he would spend the next 29 years before retiring last May. While serving he functioned as a primary instructor pilot for Apache helicopters. He said that while serving, he trained many Army West Point graduates.
While Sheahan bleeds Green and White for his alma mater, he realizes that this game is much bigger than what the final score might be.
"I'm happy to come back and give thanks for the support that I've been given while I was here, Sheahan said. "Even though I'm Green and White I do have a big affinity for the West Point kids. I've served a lot with them, seen a lot of them and we've also buried a lot of them."
Kunkel will also be watching his alma mater play on the gray turf of "The Factory" on Saturday, but it just so happens that is West Point. He was a 1964 graduate of the Academy, and he went on to serve six more years before enrolling in graduate school.
While having no direct connection originally to the EMU football program, Kunkel has a long history with Coach Creighton.
"Coach Creighton and I met 16 years ago, at the time he was the new head coach at Ottawa University and he was looking to do something with his team to see what's possible in life," Kunkel explained. "So I suggested he bring his team out to Colorado Springs and we will do a little session on human achievement and climb Pikes Peak."
Every year since, Creighton has made that pilgrimage to Colorado with his programs' senior class to challenge what seems like the impossible and test their limits. Kunkel says he has already seen the dedication Creighton has paying off.
"I'm particularly excited for Eastern Michigan, Kunkel said. "I know Coach Creighton quite well and his commitment to developing the character in his players is unequaled, I'm just so impressed at his dedication to his work. "He uses football as the basis for developing leaders and seeing what's possible and what a bigger life they could have."
Going beyond that, Kunkel not only hopes for a good game, but also for all of the student-athletes to strive to achieve past the game.
"My pleasure and honor of being there is to hope that every player experiences first of all no injuries, but also that every player achieves something that they did not think they could achieve. I'm not concerned about which team wins, I would like to see each person win something in life that is more important to them than what they expected."
In collegiate football, for some it may be only the results that matter. Yet when Eastern Michigan and Army meet on the field Saturday, for these two men, the game will symbolize something much more than that.
For two special guests of the EMU program who will be in attendance for the game, the meaning behind it goes a little beyond a simple win or loss.
Steve Sheahan, an EMU football alumnus, and Randy Kunkel, a close personal friend of Head Coach Chris Creighton, will both have unique roles with the football program prior to, and during the game.
Sheahan will speak with the team prior to the game, and also lead the team out of the tunnel with the wrench that is used to "close the gap." Kunkel will serve as honorary head coach for the Eagles during the game. Both are also former members of the military.
Sheahan was a member of the EMU football team from 1988-90 as a walk-on first as a nose tackle, and then as a fullback.
"The reason I went to Eastern was it was a successful program," Sheahan said. "The year before they won the California Bowl and I wanted to be apart of a winning tradition."
Following his time at Eastern, Sheahan joined the military where he would spend the next 29 years before retiring last May. While serving he functioned as a primary instructor pilot for Apache helicopters. He said that while serving, he trained many Army West Point graduates.
While Sheahan bleeds Green and White for his alma mater, he realizes that this game is much bigger than what the final score might be.
"I'm happy to come back and give thanks for the support that I've been given while I was here, Sheahan said. "Even though I'm Green and White I do have a big affinity for the West Point kids. I've served a lot with them, seen a lot of them and we've also buried a lot of them."
Kunkel will also be watching his alma mater play on the gray turf of "The Factory" on Saturday, but it just so happens that is West Point. He was a 1964 graduate of the Academy, and he went on to serve six more years before enrolling in graduate school.
While having no direct connection originally to the EMU football program, Kunkel has a long history with Coach Creighton.
"Coach Creighton and I met 16 years ago, at the time he was the new head coach at Ottawa University and he was looking to do something with his team to see what's possible in life," Kunkel explained. "So I suggested he bring his team out to Colorado Springs and we will do a little session on human achievement and climb Pikes Peak."
Every year since, Creighton has made that pilgrimage to Colorado with his programs' senior class to challenge what seems like the impossible and test their limits. Kunkel says he has already seen the dedication Creighton has paying off.
"I'm particularly excited for Eastern Michigan, Kunkel said. "I know Coach Creighton quite well and his commitment to developing the character in his players is unequaled, I'm just so impressed at his dedication to his work. "He uses football as the basis for developing leaders and seeing what's possible and what a bigger life they could have."
Going beyond that, Kunkel not only hopes for a good game, but also for all of the student-athletes to strive to achieve past the game.
"My pleasure and honor of being there is to hope that every player experiences first of all no injuries, but also that every player achieves something that they did not think they could achieve. I'm not concerned about which team wins, I would like to see each person win something in life that is more important to them than what they expected."
In collegiate football, for some it may be only the results that matter. Yet when Eastern Michigan and Army meet on the field Saturday, for these two men, the game will symbolize something much more than that.
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