Cherry kicking
BUTLER TWP — Jason Cherry remembers the climb.
The 1998 Butler graduate recalls being nicknamed “Rashib” by then Golden Tornado coach Sam Albert “because he had a nickname for everyone and thought a kicker had to be some foreign guy.”
He also reflected on his freshman year at the University of Massachusetts, which won the Div. I-AA national title that season. Cherry became the team's regular kicker midway through that regular season and set a championship game record by scoring 13 points in his team's 55-43 win over Georgia Southern.
Cherry went on to kick in a professional arena league as well — and made his climb up the ladder totally alone.
“I didn't have a kicking coach to help me figure things out,” Cherry said. “I practiced on my own. I had to learn the craft on my own.”
He didn't want other Butler kickers to have to do the same. The year after his college career ended, Cherry returned to his alma mater as a volunteer coach and has been working with Butler's kickers ever since.
“I was giving private lessons to Chris Haley, who was kicking for South Butler,” Cherry recalled. “Garry Cathell was Butler's varsity coach and was looking for a kicker at the time. He asked me if I knew of anyone.
“Chris was good and was going to be a freshman that next season. I emphasized to Coach Cathell that going from kicking in the Midget league to kicking in a high school stadium on Friday nights was quite a jump for a kid.
“Garry wanted me to come with him to help him through it and I've been helping the kickers ever since,” Cherry added.
Haley was Butler's kicker for four years. Ryan Soulle, Marc Hunka, Collin Williamson and now Devin Fitz, a fourth-year kicker, have followed.
“He's had a tremendous affect on my technique,” Fitz said of Cherry. “I've hit from 45 yards in a game and from 60 yards in practice.
“My leg swing, contact with the ball, hang time on kickoffs and punts, he charts all of that.”
Hunka is back with Butler football as well, working with the junior high team.
“We all went through Paul Woodside's camp at West Virginia, so we're all on the same page in how to do things,” Hunka said of Butler's kickers. “Jason offers an extra set of eyes. He notices if a kicker is doing something wrong.
“It's a benefit people don't realize. Most Division I college teams, let alone high schools, don't have a kicking coach. It's no coincidence that Butler's had good kickers through the years.”
Butler has a second good kicker, Dane Milich, who hasn't been able to get on the field much throughout his career because he's been No. 2 on the depth chart behind fellow senior Fitz.
“Devin and I are best friends. If I have to be behind somebody, I'm glad it's him,” Milich said. “Coach Cherry happened to see me kicking one day in seventh grade and has been giving me lessons since.”
Cherry works at a child care facility and has trouble making Butler practices as a result. He still finds time to work with the kickers a few hours a week.
“Sometimes we'll go off on our own, find an empty practice field somewhere and go to work,” he said. “Whatever it takes, we put the time in.”
