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| Rod Dillon has been Springboro's basketball scorekeeper since 1978. Here he is at work during the Panthers' District final contest March 4 at the University of Dayton Arena. |
Campioni’s Pizza was packed last Wednesday night in support of Rod Dillon, a Springboro
father, husband, basketball scorekeeper, football announcer and former athlete
and coach who is literally in a fight for his life.
Rod needs a double lung transplant to counter a
mysterious and rare attack on his lungs. While he has health insurance and an income,
the procedure will require additional expenses that are outside his budget. In
typical fashion, Brad Sheltrown at Capioni’s was willing to help.
The event was an enormous success by any
standards. Rod was encouraged by friends and colleagues alike, some of whom he hadn’t
seen in years. Don Ross, his high school football coach, came down from
Columbus. Joe Schaffner, a former player, came down from Mechanicsburg. And
Springboro’s only other double lung transplant recipient, Rick Bohn, was
practically a guest of honor.
It was a special night for Rod, his wife Pam,
and their children Chris and Katie.
“One of the most comforting feelings is knowing
when people have your back,” wrote Chris Dillon, Rod’s son, on Facebook after
the event. “I am so thankful to have grown up in a town like ours."
He added, "I cannot
express how grateful and humbled I am by everyone's outpouring of love and
generosity today. I cannot thank you enough."
I was not able to attend the event because my
family and I were out of town. But when I see Rod and talk with him, which is
fairly regularly, one thing always comes to mind.
I’ve seen him pull off a miracle before.
Admittedly, pulling off a miracle in life is a
whole lot different than pulling off one in a football game, but I’ve seen him
do it. And I think he can do it
again.
Just like he did on Friday, November 3, 1972.
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| Panther QB, in 1972 |
That was the night the Panthers played Kings in
a huge conference football game, in the ninth week of the season. Rod was the
senior quarterback on a team that was talented in all facets of the game, but
one that had nonetheless gotten off to a slow start. By the time the Knights
came to what is now known as Wade Field, Boro had won four conference games in
a row and still had hopes for a conference championship. This was long before
the days of Harbin computer rankings. A conference championship was all that
mattered.
The Panthers really had score to settle with
Kings, too. The Panthers had tied for the conference crown the year before,
with Kings. They had a chance for the outright championship, but Kings beat
them pretty handily in the last conference game of the season. Just as players
nowadays put it in extra gear for a game against Lebanon, Kings was a huge
rival 40 years ago.
Wade Field was packed. Just about everyone in
town was at the game.
The game went back and forth all night. First
the Panthers got on the board when Rod found Dale Midkiff in the end zone for a
2-yard touchdown pass. After Kings tied the score, Rod’s brother Dave ran 28
yards for a touchdown to give Springboro the lead. But once again the Knights
came roaring back.
The score was tied as the game went deep into
the fourth quarter. A light rain began to fall. The Panthers were third and
five near midfield, with the game clock stopped with only seconds to go. I was
at that game, a 12-year-old seventh grader who also played quarterback, so I
can tell you how tense the situation was. As the varsity quarterback, Rod
Dillon was my idol.
What happened next should surely go down as one
of the great touchdown passes in Springboro football history.
Rod had been effective all night long with
slant patterns and curl-ins, beating Kings with gains of 10 or 15 yards at a
time. The speculation among my friends and I was whether the Panthers would go
for a modest gain and then try to set up a field goal try, or maybe fool the
Knights with a draw play. But the Panthers had other plans.
Rod
went for it all.
He
dropped back into the pocket, looked briefly to his left, then looked right for
senior wideout Dave Vicroy who had broken open down the right side of the
field.
I’m
telling you, Rod’s pass hung in the air for what seemed like an
hour-and-a-half. It seemed as if all of Springboro suddenly went silent,
holding its collective breath to see what happened next.
The
tight spiral flew through the air like a missile, finally landing in the
outstretched arms of Victory, who went crashing into the end zone. It was a
game-ending touchdown, like something out of a movie.
Rod
was mobbed at midfield. All of us in the stands and along the sidelines went
berserk. The victory in the revenge match against Kings had been secured.
So
I can assure you that I’ve seen Rod Dillon pull off a miracle.
Let’s
hope for one more.
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| Rod and his wife Pam have been together since high school. |
Now,
40 years later, he’s on a donor list with the Cleveland Clinic, never sure when
he will get the call. Once the transplant is done, he’ll have to stay within an
hour-a-and-half of the facility so he can return there should any medical
complications exist. In addition to being off work, he'll have these additional living
expenses plus his medical bills to pay. That’s where the
fund-raising money will come in handy.
I
know Rod’s up for this challenge, even though he'd rather to have to face it. I know he’s working to make himself the best
candidate for this transplant as he can. He has two choices – to either let his
negative circumstances get the best of him, or do what he can to fight back.
Rod’s
a fighter. He loves to come through in the clutch.
It’s
the Kings game all over again.
...
This post was published in the Springboro Sun, August 2, 2012.
Much of the historical content of this piece was taken from "The Heart of the Panthers," written by Jeff Kirby, Sycamore Publishing Co. (2007)