Another honor for Cherry
This is the last in a series of articles profiling this year's inductees into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame
BUTLER TWP — Jason Cherry put foot to football — and got plenty of mileage out of the results.
The 1998 Butler graduate was a three-time all-conference place-kicker for the Golden Tornado, won a national championship with the University of Massachusetts and put together a seven-year pro career in Arena and Indoor Football.
He was inducted into the UMass Hall of Fame last year, was named Butler Football Hometown Hero this year and will be inducted into the Butler Area School District Athletic Hall of Fame Jan. 3.
“The Hometown Hero thing was definitely unexpected and you never expect something like this,” Cherry said of his alma mater's Hall of Fame. “This is the 10th induction class. I thought it (HOF) was around longer than that.
“I'm grateful to my long snappers, my holders, my teammates, the coaches ... No way would this be happening without those guys.”
Cherry will be joined by fellow inductees Bill Fay, Jared Farabee and representatives of the late Calvin Littlejohn during an induction ceremony at 6 p.m. Jan. 3 in the high school cafeteria.
He remembered going into his senior season at Butler needing 47 points to reach 100 for his career.
“That was my goal, that 100 points,” Cherry said. “It was going to take field goal opportunities and us scoring a lot of touchdowns, but it worked out.”
Cherry scored 55 points his senior year — leading all WPIAL kickers in scoring — and ended his prep career with 108 points. He fell two field goals shy of the WPIAL single-season record during that 1997 season.
“Wayne Baker was my long snapper and Mike Madigan my holder in my junior and senior years,” Cherry said. “We were all dedicated enough to get out on the practice field before every practice and get some work in.
“Having the same two guys in those positions — guys who handled those jobs so consistently well — played a big part in my success.
“I have to credit (head coach) Mark Farabee, too. He had enough confidence to keep sending me out there for field goal tries. I kicked three field goals in the Ambridge game alone,” Cherry added.
Cherry went on to become a three-year starter as place-kicker at UMass. As a freshman, he replaced a senior kicker who had been struggling and wound up setting a Division I-AA championshop game record by scoring 13 points as a kicker in the game.
He scored 124 points at UMass and graduated as the most accurate place-kicker in school history.
“You don't see many kickers having long careers because kickers generally have a short shelf life,” Cherry said. “Once you start struggling, somebody else goes in there.
“I was consistent. That's what kept my career going.”
Cherry connected on 80 percent of his field goal attempts in high school (16 of 20) at Butler. He scored 411 points in professional indoor football and connected on 89 percent of his PATs at that level despite the goal posts being only seven feet wide.
Cherry was a three-time All-AIFL kicker.
“I had a lot of fun and it feels great to be recognized like this,” he said. “You don't see many pure kickers get into a Hall of Fame. George Blanda was a quarterback and a kicker. Loyu Groza also played the offensive line.
“This feels pretty special.”
