As the Final 4 teams prepare to kickoff Saturday in the Division III Semi-Final matchups, the North Central vs John Carroll contest will feature schools whose football teams have played Globally 14 times in recent years! Johns Hopkins has also traveled with legendary coach Jim Margraff. John Carroll holds the distinction of having been the 1st college team to travel overseas on an educational sports tour with Global Football, which is celebrating it’s 30th year of operation. Led by future All-Pro linebacker London Fletcher, the Blue Streak played vs the Spanish National Team in Barcelona in May 1997. Coach Tony DeCarlo was intrigued by the opportunity to further develop his student-athletes by traveling overseas on a 9-day cross-cultural experience. With Spain being the nation where the Jesuit order of priests was founded, in the town of Montserrat, just north of Barcelona, the journey was fitting for the entire travel party.
In years following, JCU Football has returned 7 more times, including to Italy 2x, Spain once again, Greece once, Switzerland and France once each, and Ireland 2 times, headlined by their 2012 regular season opener vs St Norbert as part of the Notre Dame-Navy Aer Lingus Classic and G.I.F.T. Dublin Friday Night Lights. Head coaches who saw the importance of such team-building journeys for JCU were DeCarlo, Regis Scafe, Thom Arth, and Rick Finotti.
North Central College is seeking its 4th National Championship over the last 6 years when they take the field Saturday, and Coach Brad Spencer is a strong believer in the value of the Global Football tours he emphasizes to his coaches, players and families. Since he took over as head coach the Cardinals have traveled every 3 years, as allowed by the NCAA. Their international experiences have been to: Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and Italy x2. NC coaches that have lead their teams to Europe have been John Thorne, Jeff Thorne and Brad Spencer.
Finally, in the other bracket, as mentioned, Johns Hopkins legendary Coach Jim Margraff talked about going Globally for many years, and then finally did so when they traveled with Global Football to Italy in 2016. In his closing Awards Banquet in Rome, he noted how he had cheated thousands of student-athletes by not taking them abroad to learn and compete. Only “Mars” would have the clarity of purpose to humble himself like that to his team. He was planning the Hopkins 2013 European tour when sadly he passed away before he and his team could venture to the summit.
We at Global Football are extremely proud to have organized, planned and produced educational football tours in 29 different countries on 6 continents, from China to Tanzania, Panama to Canada, Russia to Scotland, Spain to Greece and many places in between. Over 400+ college, high school and youth teams around the world have taken on the challenge of visiting the Global Classroom and Playing in the Global Stadium with us. With the sport of American football now being played and enjoyed in every corner of the world, we are eager to continue working with educators and coaches to help bring cultures together as can best be done through athletic competition and personal interaction over numerous days.
