Middletown police chief has Moeller ties, Middie passion

Middletown police Chief Greg Schwarber (left) has his face painted by a Middletown High School student Thursday, Nov. 5, during a pep rally at Paul Walker Gym in Middletown. Schwarber is a 1972 graduate of Moeller High School. His son Kyle plays on the Middletown High School football team.

Staff photo by Pat Auckerman Middletown police Chief Greg Schwarber (left) has his face painted by a Middletown High School student Thursday, Nov. 5, during a pep rally at Paul Walker Gym in Middletown. Schwarber is a 1972 graduate of Moeller High School. His son Kyle plays on the Middletown High School football team.

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By Kevin Aldridge, City Editor Updated 1:55 AM Saturday, November 7, 2009

MIDDLETOWN — Middletown police Chief Greg Schwarber says there’s no question who he’ll be rooting for when the hometown Middies face his alma mater, the Moeller Crusaders, in the Division I state football playoffs today, Nov. 7.

Schwarber, a 1972 graduate of Moeller High School in Cincinnati, has a son, Kyle, who is a junior linebacker for the Middies.

“Your heart is always with your kids,” Schwarber said Thursday, Nov. 5. “There is no, ‘Who will I be rooting for?’ ”

Schwarber said he’ll be “nervous as hell” for his son when the Middies take the field tonight.

“You want to be down there with him,” he said.

In 1972, the police chief would have been. Back then, Schwarber was a placekicker on Moeller’s football team — a position he said he wound up playing by accident during his senior year.

For three years, Schwarber developed his kicking prowess while playing soccer at Moeller. At that time, soccer was about as popular as a root canal in American sports, Schwarber acknowledged.

One day while practicing with his older brother, who was a Moeller football alum, his sibling observed his kicking ability and recommended Schwarber try out for the football team. Schwarber said his brother later told then-Moeller head coach Gerry Faust about him and arranged a tryout.

Schwarber impressed the coach and wound up kicking for the team. Schwarber was able to parlay that opportunity into a four-year scholarship at the University of Dayton, where he led that team in scoring four years in a row.

Schwarber’s college exploits resulted in him signing as a free agent with the New York Giants of the National Football League. Though he didn’t make the Giants’ team, Schwarber said, “It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

He hopes the same will be true for his son and this football season.

“I know the emotions going through him and everyone else on that team,” Schwarber said. “What these kids have accomplished is outstanding.”

Schwarber said the Middies first playoff berth in 19 years has energized this town.

“It’s huge for this community,” he said. “We need positive things in this town to rally around.”

Like another playoff victory over Moeller, perhaps?

“To prove you are the best, you have to beat the best,” Schwarber said. “And they (Moeller) are one of the best.

“Win, lose or tie, they (the Middies) have represented this community well.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2584 or kaldridge@coxohio.com.

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