Every fall weekend, Haswell Franklin and Tim Almany prepare to fervently support their favorite football teams. While Sundays are spent with the Ravens for Franklin, a Baltimore native, and the Washington Commanders for Almany, a Montgomery County resident, Saturdays are equally contradictory.
Franklin roots for Johns Hopkins, while Almany cheers on Salisbury. And their moods can depend on those teams’ outcomes.
“When the team wins, I always say it’s like a weekly vitamin,” said Almany, who was a linebacker for the Sea Gulls from 1988 to 1990 and graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s in business administration. “It makes the week so much better when the teams that you’re loyal to find a way to get the W.”
When asked if the result of a Blue Jays game affects him, Franklin, who was a linebacker and guard for the Blue Jays from 1981 to 1983 and graduated in 1984 with a bachelor’s in social and behavioral sciences, replied, “When I went to the [NCAA first round] playoff game against Grove City [on Nov. 30] and we won that one [17-14], the rest of the day was beautiful.”
Franklin and Almany are representative of small yet passionate fan bases that back football programs dwarfed by the NFL (Ravens and Commanders) and NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (Maryland and Navy) and Football Championship Subdivision (Towson). Those audiences will get an opportunity to take centerstage this Saturday at noon.
Johns Hopkins (11-1) will host Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-3) in a Division III quarterfinal at Homewood Field in Baltimore. At the same time, Salisbury (12-0) will welcome Mount Union (12-0) to Sea Gull Stadium.
If the Blue Jays and Sea Gulls advance, they would meet in a semifinal Saturday, Dec. 21 in Salisbury — a rematch of a game on Sept. 21 in Baltimore that the Sea Gulls won convincingly, 41-13. That scenario — and the possibility of a team from the East Coast participating in the title game known as the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl in Houston, Texas — is potentially huge, according to Greg Thomas, managing editor for D3football.com.
“If you were to get a Salisbury-Hopkins semifinal, that would mean that one of those teams is going to go to Houston,” he said. “So you’re talking about further eroding the notion that the very best Division III football is located just in the Midwest or in Texas.”
Here is a closer look at a few passionate fans of Johns Hopkins and Salisbury.
‘Hopkins is a special place’
Henri Hammond isn’t simply a member of “The Tailgate Gang,” a group of Johns Hopkins graduates and parents who fill up a parking lot under the scoreboard at Homewood Field. He is also the head smoker who has made the 2 1/2-hour round-trip drive from Springfield, Virginia, to Baltimore for every home game since 2018 — a streak of 36 games.
Hammond, whose son Lance was a three-time Centennial Conference defensive tackle for the Blue Jays, said family and friends know that Saturdays are spent at Homewood.
“They already know that it’s all about Hopkins football,” he said, adding that Saturday’s menu will include smoked ribs and chicken wings, baked beans and macaroni and cheese. “Obviously, we were fanatics when Lance played, and some of that carried over. Hopkins is a special place. It’s just great to be there to support them and cheer them on.”
Kevin McKeown, a Baldwin resident who was a left guard and linebacker for the program from 1980 to 1983, said he attends two to three home games per year. While the Blue Jays have won outright or a share of 12 of the past 14 Centennial Conference titles and earned 10 postseason berths over that stretch, he said nothing will interrupt his allegiance to his alma mater.
“Whether they win or lose, I’m still going to be a fan,” he said. “But it does increase the excitement when they’re performing well and they get into the NCAA playoffs.”
The Blue Jays remain two victories away from playing in their first NCAA title game. But that hasn’t stopped Franklin from reserving a flight to and hotel reservation in Houston.
“When Jim Margraff was coaching his last season, I thought we were going to win the national championship,” he said. “The national championship game was down in Houston just like it is this year, and I had my plane ticket and hotel and everything all booked, and we lost in the semifinals. If we make it to the finals, I will be there in the stands.”
‘I wouldn’t bet against us’
At the age of 82, Ralph Murray has overcome back operations and enlisted a friend, Roger Navarro, to attend as many Salisbury games as he can. In fact, the Salisbury native and graduate can’t remember the last road game he missed.
“It has to be a death or a wedding in the immediate family for me to miss it,” he said with a laugh.
Sea Gulls football is a major draw in Salisbury. This year’s team averaged a home attendance of 2,097, which ranks No. 19 among Division III programs, according to Thomas. The largest turnout of the season was an announced crowd of 4,127 for a 42-35 victory against Rowan on Oct. 26, and the smallest was 1,235 for a 44-8 pummeling of Montclair State on Oct. 19.
Unlike Johns Hopkins, Salisbury went to the 1986 Stagg Bowl in Phenix City, Alabama, but lost to Augustana (Illinois), which captured its fourth consecutive title. That team’s 44-40 win at Ithaca in the semifinal remains vivid to Murray.
“The Ithaca fans had already bought their tickets [to the Stagg Bowl],” he said. “They figured little old Salisbury was just a pushover. After we won, they were trying to sell their tickets to us on the way out.”
Almany will miss Saturday’s game because he will be at the Army-Navy game at Northwest Stadium in Landover. But he intends to follow the game on his phone and once took three potential recruits with him to Salisbury to watch a game and visit the campus.
“I’m loyal to the university,” he said. “Anytime I have an opportunity to promote the school and promote the football program, I do that to the best of my ability because I think it’s a great option to consider.”
Murray said he will wear the same maroon Salisbury sweatshirt and maroon Salisbury baseball cap that he has worn to every game on Saturday. Although Mount Union has won a Division III-record 13 national championships, Murray has confidence in the Sea Gulls.
“I wouldn’t bet against us,” he said. “We would love to beat Mount Union. The Purple Raiders are going down.”
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