Owen Schmitt, who broke 10 facemasks and a LOT of tackles while playing for WVU, will be performing at the Palatine Park Independence Day Celebration Friday, July 4. He was tackled for a loss only four times in his WVU career. Those four guys are due out of the hospital any day now.

The Meet and Greet with Owen Schmitt and bands will be from 5 to 6 p.m. 

The Eazyriderz featuring Owen Schmitt will blast it out at 7:15 to 8:30 p.m. 

The Marshall Lowry Band, 8:45 p.m.; Matt Poling, 7 p.m.;  The Clarks, 10 p.m.;  fireworks also at 10 p.m.

Eazyriderz also perform regularly at Schmitts Saloon, 245 Cheat Road,
Morgantown.

Maybe Owen will autograph your facemask, but only if it’s broken. He likes ‘em that way.

Owen was born in Gilman, Wisconsin. He first started terrorizing tacklers at Paul VI Catholic High School and Fairfax High School in Virginia, where even the nuns probably didn’t mess with him.

When no D-1 schools offered scholarships, Owen went to Wisconsin–River Falls Community College, where he gained 1,063 yards and scored five touchdowns in nine starts his freshman year, which earned him Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference all-conference honors.

Then he mother plunked him into a beater car and went from campus to campus to try to convince a D-1 school to take him. Rejection after rejection. Till he got to Morgantown. WVU embraced Owen. He became a folk hero with his devil-may-care performances, including leaping tall buildings (OK, an opposing Syracuse tackler) with a single bound and breaking all those facemasks. Owen ran through the line and over Oklahoma tacklers who would sooner be elsewhere for a 54-yard touchdown that helped WVU to a victory in the Fiesta Bowl. Appropriately, he was named the Ira Everett Rodgers Award winner. “Rat” and Owen probably were the two toughest football players in WVU history. Rodgers even survived an errant javelin that struck him in the neck during a track meet!

Later, Owen played for the Seattle Seahawks, the Oakland Raiders (a perfect fit) and Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL (2008-2012).

I pity Owen’s poor guitar. It will be seeing fireworks on the 4^th of July – before the sparklers are sent into the sky at 10 p.m.