FORK UNION — Vinny Testaverde has traveled far and wide throughout his long NFL career, and has earned many honors and accolades, but this week he returned to Fork Union, where his dream of earning a scholarship to play college football became reality. Testaverde was inducted into Fork Union Military Academy’s Sports Hall of Fame June 18 along with several other top athletes.
In addition to Testaverde, a Heisman Trophy winner and record-setting NFL quarterback, others inducted were Roman Oben, Pro Bowl offensive tackle and Super Bowl champion; Shammond Williams, NBA veteran and the best three-point shooter in the University of North Carolina’s history; and R. L. “Red” Pulliam, a legendary FUMA football coach.
These inductees join the ranks of the 30 previous honorees in Fork Union’s Sports Hall of Fame, including Eddie George, FUMA’s second Heisman Trophy winner; Green Bay Packer quarterback Don Majkowski; Eagle’s Pro-Bowl receiver Mike Quick; Jim Bunch, the All-American lineman who helped Coach Bear Bryant win two national championships at Alabama; and many more familiar names from the world of college, Olympic and professional sports.
Fork Union Military Academy has a national reputation for its athletic programs. In football alone, more than 70 Fork Union Military Academy alumni have played in the NFL. In track and field, the school has produced five Olympians and won the private school State Championship 21 out of the past 22 years.
“Believe it or not, it had nothing to do with the football field,” Testaverde said recently when when asked to relate his favorite FUMA memory. “They asked me to come be part of the track team and throw the javelin. They didn’t have a javelin thrower. I had never thrown it before. We went out there and I think I set the school record in throwing the javelin. That was one of my favorite memories.”
His javelin throw of 212’ 1” in competition still stands as the FUMA record.
Testaverde attended FUMA as a postgraduate in 1981-82 and played quarterback on the PG football team under Coach Pulliam.
Having a rocket arm wasn’t enough for the young athlete to gain a scholarship, however. He also needed to demonstrate the kind of academic achievement that would attract the recruiters from the top Division I programs.
So Testaverde headed to Fork Union. That choice not only led to a scholarship to the University of Miami, it helped reinforce and develop the qualities of determination, patience, leadership, responsibility and dedication to hard work that would characterize Testaverde’s long football career.
“It saved my football dreams,” Testaverde told New York Times writer Bill Pennington in an interview for Pennington’s book The Heisman.