The Blue Devil Report from Fork Union Military Academy's Athletic Department is your source for weekly updates on the Fork Union Blue Devils. Here's the latest from @FUMAathletics.
Want to view past issues of the Blue Devil Report? Find them all on our website.
Contents:
- A New Look, Same Website - Athletics.ForkUnion.com
- Athletic Director Spotlight: John Shuman, FUMA Class of 1976
- FUMA Athletics Recap
- Feature Stories: PG Football & Cross Country
- Up Next in FUMA Athletics
- Alumni Spotlight: Shawn Clark, FUMA PG Class of 1994
- Have You Joined the Athletic Director's Club?
FUMA Athletics Unveils Redesign of Athletics.ForkUnion.com
FORK UNION, VA – Fork Union Athletics unveiled a completely redesigned athletics.forkunion.com in a continued partnership with SIDEARM Sports. The newly redesigned site is the result of a project that began in March of 2022.
The new site offers a clean and modern design that is more user-friendly than ever before. Fork Union fans can now find the information they are looking for faster and easier than ever. Additionally, the new responsive design will help the site render more effectively on platforms ranging from desktop computers, tablets, and to mobile phones.
Fans can also easily access schedules, live streams and social media from the front page, eliminating the need to navigate to a specific team's schedule page. The site also takes on a cleaner look and a more efficient layout of recent stories.
A revamped media wall features Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube posts in a large, easy to view format. From the new media wall, fans can instantly follow @FUMAathletics and visit social media homepages.
About SIDEARM Sports
The team at SIDEARM provides the technology platform that powers the official websites, mobile apps, statistical integration, live audio and video streaming, and e-commerce platforms of collegiate athletic partners across the nation.
In 2014, SIDEARM Sports was acquired by Learfield IMG College. Learfield IMG College is the leading media and technology services company in intercollegiate athletics. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions.
Meet Director of Athletics
John Shuman, FUMA Class of 1976
John Shuman, a longtime postgraduate head football coach and alumnus of Fork Union Military Academy, was promoted to the Academy's Director of Athletics on Wednesday, December 12, 2018.
Hired in 1980 as a teacher and assistant coach to Red Pulliam, Shuman took over the program in 1987 and compiled a overall record of 190-110-1, ending his coaching career with his first-ever undefeated season (9-0) in 2018. Shuman started his Fork Union career enrolling as a postgraduate in 1975 and was a four-year starter at the Virginia Military Institute, graduating in 1980.
Shuman has coached and mentored hundreds of NFL players, including first-round draft picks Gaines Adams, Plaxico Burress, Anthony Castonzo, Jim Drunkenmiller, Rickey Dudley, Kareem Jackson and Robert Jones. Other notable NFL players include: Danny Aiken, Dexter Coakley, Tyronne Drakeford, Carlos Hyde, Morgan Moses and Michael Thomas. Shuman is a member of the VMI Sports Hall of Fame and the Salem High School Hall of Fame.
The Salem, N.J., native is married to Patricia Miller, whose parents William and Geraldine Miller worked at the Academy for over 30 years serving many roles in the Athletic Department. The couple has four children: Elizabeth, Ryan, Kelly and Mark. Ryan '04 and Mark '10 are FUMA alumni who played football at Virginia Tech. Mark is the current head coach of the Academy's prep football team and Kelly is the Director of Communications at the Academy.
Get to know Coach Shuman:
College Attended & Degree: Virginia Military Institute - Economics
Did you play a sport in college, if so what sport? Yes, football and track & field
Describe your current role at the Academy: Oversee all aspects of the Athletics Department, as well as coaching prep, junior prep and middle school football.
What positions have you held throughout your time here? Prior to being hired as the Athletic Director, I have held the following positions:
- PG Head Football Coach
- Math Teacher
- Summer School Dean
- TAC Officer
- PG Assistant Football Coach
- Upper School Advisor
What brought you to Fork Union Military Academy? Coach Red Pulliam, the head postgraduate football coach at the time, inquired if I wanted to come back to FUMA when I was in college. After two brief NFL tryouts, I figured I needed to come back. That was in 1980.
What is your favorite topic/drill to teach your athletes during practice? The Start Drill, that is a great one, and tackling.
Do you have a coaching mentor? Yes, Micky Sullivan, Sam Venuto, Jon Tenuto, Red Pulliam and Bob Muirhead.
What makes Fork Union special to you? The motto: Body, Mind & Spirit, that is in place for the cadets to change their behavior and talent on and off the field. It is gratifying to watch the change and see cadets rewarded for their hard work.
What other responsibilities do you have at FUMA besides your current role? Coaching football at all three high school levels and weekend weight room supervisor.
What is one thing the cadets would be surprised to learn about you? I am the "old man Shuman" to most cadets.
Scores from the past two weeks:
Friday, August 26
- Prep Football at Currituck County • L, 22-30
Saturday, August 27
- PG Football at Averett University • W, 22-0
Friday, September 2
- Prep Football vs. Saint Michael the Archangel • L, 0-43
Sunday, September 4
- PG Football at Ferrum College • W, 54-0
Tuesday, September 6
- Cross Country at Ragged Mountain Cup • No Team Score
Thursday, September 8
- Junior Prep Football at Benedictine College Prep • W, 14-13
- Cross Country vs. Middle School Tri-Meet • No Team Score
Friday, September 9
- PG Football at Wagner College • W, 18-8
Saturday, September 10
- Cross Country at Knights Crossing • No Team Score
PG Football Starts Season Off Strong, Sitting 3-0 Overall
Friday, September 9, 2022
STATEN ISLAND, NY – The Postgraduate football program has started its season off strong, currently sitting 3-0 overall, on the young 2022 season. The squad has defeated all three games on the road.
The Blue Devils started year off traveling to Averett University for its annual season opener, blanking the Cougars, 22-0, two weeks after reporting to campus.
A week later, the squad traveled south again, heading to Ferrum College where they picked up a convincing 54-0 shutout over the Panthers.
Five days later, Fork Union hit I-81 North for the annual trip to Staten Island, NY to face Wagner College. The squad rallied for an 18-8 victory to remain undefeated.
"This year, we are progressing but every game presents new challenges," said head coach Frank Arritt, who enters his fifth year as head of the program. "We are going to continue to go back to the basics, to keep working on fundamentals and take it one game at a time. This year brings new challenges as we have all but one game on the road."
The Blue Devils are back in action Sunday, September 18 when they travel to prep school-rival Myrtle Beach Prep for a 2:30 PM kickoff.
Junior Prep Football Opens Season with Win at Benedictine
Thursday, September 8, 2022
RICHMOND, VA -- The Fork Union Military Academy Junior Prep football team opened the season with a 14-13 win at Benedictine College Prep Thursday evening.
The victory improved the Blue Devils to 1-0 on the early season.
With a nail-biting score of 14-13, the Blue Devils sparked a contest that was full of amazing defense. Sophomore Brandon Warner had a good game finding the end zone, while Sophomore Leland Edwards had a great day in the run game.
The defense flew around with multiple big plays coming from junior Nolan Scott. The most amazing stop came with seconds on the clock when the Cadets drove down the field and junior Rauley Anderson made a huge forced fumble as Benedictine was on the 5-yard line with the game-winning touchdown in sight.
The Blue Devils return to action Thursday, September 29 when they host Norfolk Academy at 4:30 PM.
Cross Country Opens Season Strong with Three Races
Saturday, September 10, 2022
SALEM, VA -- The Fork Union Military Academy cross country team has opened the season strong with three races. The Blues traveled to the Ragged Mountain Cup on the first day of school, hosted a middle school tri-meet and most recently traveled to the Knights Crossing in Salem, Va.
"We have a whole lot of new faces this year on the cross country team," said head coach Winston Brown. "We have a lot of athletes adjusting to the rigors of cross country running. One athlete has needed very adjustment, 8th-grader David Eaton. His two wins last week were amazing."
Eighth-grader David Eaton has led the Blue Devils in both varsity meets, winning the open race at the Ragged Mountain Cup with a time of 10:56.3 - over 30 seconds faster than the competition.
A week later, Eaton won the Middle School 4k at the Knights Crossing Invitational with a time of 14:00.5.
"Tomorrow, we welcome over 50 schools to the 25th edition of the Fork Union Invitational at the Hardy Cross Country Course," added Brown. "The course got a little banged up from the winter storms in January, but with much help from the community we are ready to go. And it all started with a couple of push mowers back in 1998."
Fork Union will be back in action Saturday, September 17 with the 25th annual Fork Union Invitational. Races begin at 8:30 AM at the Fred Hardy Cross Country Course.
Below are photos from the middle school tri-meet that was held last week. Photos were taken by Cadet Ellis Roberts.
Please make sure you continue to check the athletic website on a weekly basis, for all game updates.
If you haven't already, please download the Fork Union Athletics Mobile App for all game day information right at your fingertips!
Up Next in FUMA Athletics:
Friday, September 16
- Prep Football at Saint Anne's Belfield • 7:00 PM | Live Stream
Saturday, September 17
- Cross Country vs. The Fork Union Invitational • 8:30 AM
Sunday, September 18
- PG Football at Myrtle Beach Prep • 2:30 PM
Monday, September 19
- Middle School Football (The Reds) at Charlottesville High School • 4:30 PM
Tuesday, September 20
- Middle School Soccer (The Reds) at Grymes Middle School • 4:00 PM
- Prep Soccer vs. Benedictine College Prep • 4:00 PM
Friday, September 23
- Prep Soccer at Fishburne Military School • 4:30 PM
- Prep Football at John Paul II Catholic High School • 7:00 PM
Saturday, September 24
- Cross Country at VTCA Fall Classic • 10:00 AM (Earlysville, VA)
- PG Football at Central International College • 1:30 PM
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Shawn Clark, FUMA PG Class of 1994
Shawn Clark was raised in Charleston, West Virginia, where he excelled in both football and basketball. In fact, as a 6-foot-five-inch senior, Clark led his George Washington High School basketball team to their 1993 State Championship win over DuPont High School.
Although he used his size to his advantage on the basketball court, Shawn Clark at heart was a football player. A knee injury in his senior year reduced some of the recruiting interest in Clark, so he arrived at Fork Union Military Academy to play on the postgraduate football team as a member of FUMA's Class of 1994.
Longtime head coach of that team, and now Fork Union's Athletic Director, John Shuman remembers Shawn Clark very well. "He came from the great state of West Virginia and was an overachiever on our team as an offensive lineman,” says Shuman. “He signed with Appalachian State to play football where he put down some tremendous roots. As a coach, you always want a player like Shawn who has talent but overachieves in all areas at Fork Union. He had the best room, best appearance, and was a willing working on the field. We have a PG saying, ‘a hardworking man is a lucky man at FUMA,’ and Shawn’s work and spirit of cooperation has led to great achievements.”
Coach Shuman always knew how to put his players in the best light when top coaches came on recruiting calls, finding great ways to help players stand out and demonstrate skills he knew a college coach might be looking for in a player. When head coach Jerry Moore and his assistant coach John Wiley arrived on Fork Union Military Academy's campus from Appalachian State, they had their eyes open to fill a need at long snapper. Shawn Clark dropped down, made a few good snaps back to the punter, and earned a scholarhip offer to Appalachian State University that very day.
Clark played offensive guard and tackle at App State, making an immediate impact and ultimately earning All-American honors twice and being named an All-Conference selection three times during his college playing career. He graduated from Appalachian State University in 1998 with a bachelor's degreee in criminal justice in 1998 and earned a master's degree in education from Louisville in 2003.
Clark started his college coaching career in 2001 at Louisville, and had coaching stints at Eastern Kentucky, Purdue, and Kent State. In December 2019, with two decades of college coaching on his resume including coaching at his alma mater since 2016, Shawn Clark was named the head coach of the Appalachian State University football program.
Although his first full season as a head coach was plagued, quite literally, by the COVID-19 global pandemic, Clark coached the Mountaineers to 9 and 3 season, finishing first in their conference, and defeating North Texas in the Myrtle Beach Bowl. In the first game of the 2022 football season, his team battled the North Carolina Tar Heels to a narrow 63-61 loss.
That game's memory was thoroughly erased by this past weekend, as Shawn Clark and the Appalachian State University Mountaineers cruised into College Station, Texas, and with close to 93,000 fans in attendance, defeated the number six team in the nation, Texas A & M, on their home field.
A joyful and emotional Coach Clark spoke with ESPN after the game and exclaimed, “We just came into College Station and beat the No. 6 team in the country. How cool is that?”
As Twitter account @BeatinTheBookie described this exchange in a tweet, "Shawn Clark is what college football is all about. All passion, all heart!!!"
We couldn't agree more. Coach Shawn Clark is indeed what college football is all about, and we are proud to highlight him as one of Fork Union's alumni spotlight features.
Being a member of the Athletic Directors Club helps the department with buying new equipment and uniforms, post-game meals, partial scholarships and much more!
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Credits:
Dan Thompson, Ellis Roberts