March 29, 2024

Fuller named to Shrine Bowl roster

Benedictine College football signee will represent Creston football in Cedar Falls

Creston senior Avery Fuller was visited by officials from the Shrine Bowl to be briefed on the process regarding playing in Iowa’s 50th edition of the all-star contest Wednesday.

Jerry Hoffman of the Za-Gig-Zig Shrine Temple, as well as General Manager of the Iowa Shrine All-Star football classic, introduced himself to the Fuller family and went over the events and happenings during the week of the game.

The game will kick at 4 p.m. on July 23 at the UNI-Dome.

“The main purpose is to highlight athletes in the state of Iowa and also to inform them in what Shriners do and why we do what we do,” Hoffman said. “We’ve got 18 orthopedic hospitals nationwide and we children from zero all the way to 18 years old. Last year’s game we were able to give $100,000 to hospitals from our game.”

Hoffman said all players and cheerleaders selected for the game are asked to raise at least $1000 through advertising sponsors in the game program.

“Communities like Creston have great supporters, not only for the Shrine but for Avery,” Hoffman said. “We’re calling on them to help us out.”

Fuller will play on the South squad with some area players, Dawson Marshall of Lenox and Caelen DeVault of Nodaway Valley.

“It’s a great honor, it’s definitely something that not a lot of people get to have the opportunity to do,” Fuller said. “Being able to do it means a lot to me.”

He will also see some other familiar faces such as Logan Green of Clarinda, the heavyweight wrestler for the Cardinals, as well as the quarterback from Audubon.

“It’ll be a good experience to know some more people from the area,” Fuller said. “I know the quarterback for our team, Gavin Smith is an old friend of mine from Audubon so getting back to know him and getting to meet him will be nice as well.”

Avery’s parents, Paul and Margo Fuller, are excited for their son.

“It’s a pretty exciting experience for him, we’re excited to send him to play and represent Creston in a very prestigious way,” Margo Fuller said.

“To know he’s one of 60 athletes that was chosen, it’s a huge, huge honor,” Paul Fuller added.

Fuller is the seventh Shrine Bowl player during Morrison’s tenure as head coach of Panther football.

“We’re very fortunate to have numerous kids in the past 12 years to have the opportunity to play in this game and what it represents and supporting the Shriners Hospital,” Morrison said. “I think the kids will experience a really good week, it’s not so much about the football game it’s about the experience working with the Shriners and raising money for that program.”

Coach Morrison was the offensive coordinator for the South squad in 2014.

“It’s a week where it’s well planned out, football obviously takes a big portion of that week, but there’s activities, events where there;s team building events every day,” Morrison said. “The year I was there, they brought kids from the hospital in Minneapolis down to Cedar Falls. We had a half-day planned out where the high school kids working with those kids. To see the excitement on the kids’ face, it was awesome.”

Creston Shrine Bowl history

Creston head coach Dick Berdstrom (1977-2009) was an assistant coach for the South squad in 1986 and head coach in 1993.

In the 50 year history of the Shrine Bowl, 21 Creston (as well as Creston/O-M) Panthers have played in the Shrine Bowl, starting with Rod Sears in 1974.

All-time list:

Rod Sears, 1974; Kevin Downey, 1977; Doug Lang, 1978; Kean Richard, 1979; Todd Baralou, 1981; Craig Allard, 1986; Scott Driskell, 1990; B.J. Hellyer, 1993; Matt Chapman, 1994; Ethan Owens, 1995; Ken Fogelsong, 1996; Kyle McCann, 1997; Michael Buck, 2004; Dane Wardenburg, 2006; Nick Neitzel, 2010; Collin Bevins, 2012; Luke Neitzel, 2013; Trevor Frain, 2014; Alex Nielsen, 2015; Chase Shiltz, 2017; Avery Fuller, 2022.