By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — Just one player’s jersey has ever been retired in the long history of Warsaw football history, and on Saturday, Aug. 17, that “All-American” hero, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for his country, was remembered during the 20-year celebration of the youth football field named for him.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26, of Atwood, died March 23, 2003, serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The son of Gary and Linda Fribley, he was a Warsaw Community High School graduate, where he played football and ran track. His jersey number was 77.

Saturday morning’s celebration of the field began with the presentation of colors by U.S. Marines, the national anthem, Taps and a 21-gun volley.

“Twenty-three years ago, Mark Stamper, Allan Ross and I had a dream. A dream of helping Warsaw football and the kids in our community. Our first few years of existence, we didn’t have a field, didn’t have a home. We played all of our games on the road,” Young Tiger Football Vice President Dave McCool recalled in his welcoming remarks.

One day while driving down East Market Street, Stamper looked over and saw a great place for a football field, which Ross and McCool agreed on.

“We would have been happy just to have grass and goal posts. We never dreamed of what it may become,” McCool said.

They approached the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Board and asked for permission to build a football field, which they did.

“Upon hearing the news of Lance Cpl. David Fribley, we knew exactly who we wanted to name the field after,” McCool said. “At this point, our community rallied and truly got behind this project. What you see before you now is the end product of our community.”

Fribley Field is located at 700 E. Market St., Warsaw.

McCool thanked Gary and Linda Fribley and the Fribley family for “playing such a huge part in our program.”
The Young Tigers cheerleaders performed a dance, and then representatives of the football players and cheerleaders presented Gary Fribley with a gift.

Second District U.S. Congressman Rudy Yakym then spoke, saying, “It’s more than an honor to be here this morning, and it’s certainly a little bittersweet. Twenty years ago, this October, this community came together to dedicate this plot of land, the Young Tigers Football, in honor of Marine Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley. Like so many young Americans after 9/11, David put his life plans on hold and enlisted in the United States Marine Corp. David embraced wholeheartedly the ethic and spirit of service that has defined America since our very beginning.”

While many come home from war, Yakym continued, Fribley was one of those who did not.

“David was only 26 years old when he died. He had his full life in front of him. Unfortunately, David’s story is not at all unique for this community. All across America, there are many small towns just like Warsaw who today hold the memory of a solider or a Marine like David close to their heart. They honor those who sacrifice with their last full measure of devotion in defense of freedom and liberty. They rightfully honor those who gave their very lives so that our nation might life,” Yakym stated.

“Today, we acknowledge that there is nothing we can ever do to repay the immense debt of gratitude that we owe to David and others who paid the ultimate price and made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedom.”

But, we can remember them, he said, and “more than that, we can honor David’s memory in the manner within which we live our own lives.”

WCHS Head Football Coach Bart Curtis began speaking by saying how he impressed he was with Saturday’s event.

“What an event! What an event! Who does this? Warsaw does this. Young Tigers does this. Look at the facility around you, and the vision that these men and women had at the time that this was put into place. The vision they had to start a youth football program here in the Warsaw community,” Curtis said. “And what a facility! I think you would have to drive awful far — and let me know if you do and if you find one — to find a self-contained youth football facility that matches what we have here at Fribley Field. What a community that would rally around this vision and make this happen.”

Curtis said the reason everyone was there Saturday was not just to honor the facility, but more importantly, the facility’s namesake, David Fribley.

“What a man,” Curtis said. While he didn’t have the opportunity to coach David Fribley, he said coach Dave Baumgartner provided him with many stories of what an athlete, scholar and great citizen David Fribley was.

To the Fribleys, Curtis said, “I use the word ‘legacy’ often with the teams that I coach. What is going to be your legacy? Well, Gary, look around yourself. I know you’ve been to many home football games. What an honor to know that for forever and ever your son’s legacy is going to live on in this community and this facility, and out at Fisher Field every Friday night.

“Number 77, which David Fribley wore, is the only jersey in 128 years of Warsaw Tiger football to ever be retired. It will never be worn again by a Warsaw High School football player,” Curtis said. “Every Friday night, there is a number 77 flag that is raised at every home game in honor of our fallen hero.”

Baumgartner said it was an evening in late March when his phone rang at his house. It was one of the football players, Chris Neeley, who told Baumgartner that he heard something terrible had happened to David Fribley. Baumgartner told him he hadn’t heard anything, but he’d check it out.

Fifteen minutes later another teammate, David Bailey, called Baumgartner and told him he heard that Fribley had been seriously injured in Iraq. Baumgartner told him he’d check it out, and Baumgartner called Troy Akers, now WCHS’s principal. Akers told him they lost “one of our kids in a war.”

“It was something that I just couldn’t hardly fathom,” Baumgartner stated.

The next day at the school, under the Fribley family’s direction, they dealt with the press that was there.

“The unifying message across and from everybody was, ‘This was an All-American kid. This was a kid that understood what hard work and dedication was all about. This was a kid that understood what teamwork was all about. And he displayed these characteristics, which he learned from home, at an early age — from the time he was in junior high, which was when I first met him — all the way through high school,’” Baumgartner said.

David Fribley’s military funeral was held in the WCHS Tiger Den, and was something Baumgartner said he had never witnessed before.

“There was this incredible community feeling of loss, and it was palpable. You could feel it in the air,” Baumgartner said.

When David Fribley was taken out of the back door, Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA” was played “and there was not a dry eye in the house,” Baumgartner said.

As Fribley was transported to the cemetery, all along the streets and county highway, he recalled there being throngs of people with American flags and signs to pay tribute to American hero David Fribley.

“It was, without a doubt, in my 71 years of existence, one of the saddest days of my life, and I know that’s true for many of you who were probably there, also,” Baumgartner said.

The Fribley Field facility is incredible, he stated, and he’s proud of the community for the way it responds to community needs.

“This is a beautiful field. The guys and gals that are behind all of this, they built this and made this all happen. Enough words can not be said about what they did and what has been done here. It’s an incredible, incredible tribute to the community; an incredible tribute to David Fribley.”

Concluding his remarks, Baumgartner encouraged everyone to continue telling David Fribley’s story.

“It’s a story that’s worth repeating, time and time again,” he said.

Lt. Col. Tom McKee said in 2003 when he was a major in the U.S. Marine Corp Reserves and called to active duty, he was privileged to be assigned to be the casualty assistance officer for the Fribley family. He got to meet Gary and Linda and was “very honored a year later to be able to speak at the dedication for this field. And I’m honored again to be here today to speak to you on the 20th anniversary.”

He previously coached football, baseball and lacrosse.

“One of the things that you’re building here with this legacy, the way that I’ve always looked at youth sports and high school sports, is that it’s a safe place to learn life lessons where the only consequences are wins and losses,” he said.

Sports are an instrument that can be used to build outstanding human beings, he said, and to teach life lessons.

“The character, the integrity, the hard work — these life lessons that are going to be taught here and that have been taught here for the last 20 years on this field, and through this community, these are the qualities that were exemplified by Lance Cpl. David Fribley. The lessons learned here are the lessons that give us people and give us leaders like Lance Cpl. David Fribley, so it is very appropriate that this field is named in his honor,” McKee said.

GySgt. Luis Nino talked about how excited Stamper was about how Fribley Field has developed over the years, and how he was saddened to learn of Stamper’s passing just days after contacting him about speaking at the 20th-year celebration.

He talked about Fribley’s impact on the lives of others, and how Fribley and four other Marines impacted his life.

McCool and Young Tigers Football Commissioner Andy Owens were recognized by Courtney Brown, head of cheerleading, and Hilary Marsh, Young Tigers Parent Club, for all their work.

Owens closed out the ceremony with a thanks to the event’s delegates, veterans, community sponsors and the past and present Young Tigers board members.