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Former White Plains standout Gerard Bryant was recently selected to play for the U.S. Mens national football team. The team will compete at the Eight-Nation World Championship in Austria. The tournament begins tomorrow and runs through July 16.

Bryant, a defensive lineman, is among 39 former college football standouts that will be competing in event. He graduated from St. Lawrences College in 2010.

As a senior at St. Lawrence, he led the defense with 91 total tackles from the defensive tackle position. His 23.0 tackles for a loss led the conference and finished in the top-5 in the nation.

Bryant was a two-time all-American and was the leagues Defensive Player of the Year as a senior.

For more on his story, check out the St. Lawrence website.

 PHILADELPHIA — Katherina Rosqueta, the founding executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, housed at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice, will be one of 25 to receive a 2011 Philadelphia SmartCEO magazine Brava! Women Business Achievement Award on Thursday, July 21, at 6 p.m. at The Merion, 1301 Rt. 130 S., Cinnaminson, N.J.

The Brava! Awards honor the contributions of female CEOs, presidents, business owners and executive directors in the Philadelphia area who have exhibited dedication to overseeing successful businesses and also giving back to the community through philanthropic endeavors. 

Selected from more than 250 nominations throughout the mid-Atlantic region, each 2011 Brava! Award honoree will be profiled in the July issue of Philadelphia SmartCEO magazine.

Rosqueta, a Penn alumna, leads the team at the Center for High Impact Philanthropy, created in 2006 by Richard J. Gelles, the dean of the School of Social Policy & Practice along with alumni of the Wharton School who were frustrated by the difficulty of measuring and maximizing the impact of their charitable gifts.

The Center for High Impact Philanthropy is a non-profit resource that provides independent analysis and decision-making tools to ensure philanthropic funds have the greatest possible social impact.  The Center’s actionable and evidence-based guidance allows donors to understand where their funds can make the biggest difference in the lives of others.

Former Fairmont High School football coach Pete Ankney fondly recalled that there was one player who didn’t fit the undeserved stigma that was attached to the program: James Calvin “Cal” Withrow.

“At Fairmont at the time, people thought that we weren’t a tough team because we had a lot of nice kids and some of them were wealthy,” said Ankney, who coached some of Fairmont’s all-time best teams in 1959 (9-0) and 1960 (8-2).

“(Withrow) was as tough of kid that we had at Fairmont.”

An undersized lineman who made up for that with an extra-mean disposition, Withrow also excelled in football at the University of Kentucky and played five more years in the NFL. He died on Sunday at his residence in Lexington, Ky. He was 63.

At Fairmont and UK, Withrow was 6 feet and barely 200 pounds, according to his brother Bob.

“He was a great athlete and a wild man,” said Bob, in his 42nd year of coaching high school football and a running backs coach at Camden County (Ga.).

“He was a big brother that you could always look up to and count on.”

Both Withrow brothers were All-Ohio, Cal as a center and Bob a receiver.

Cal Withrow’s position coach at UK was future Bengals head coach Homer Rice.

An original draft pick of the New York Giants, Withrow was one of the final cuts as a rookie.

He played semipro football in Dayton, then gained 50 pounds and landed on Green Bay’s roster and played for the Packers from 1970-72. He spent the next two seasons with the San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Cardinals.

Withrow played in 58 NFL games from 1970-74.

Ankney, 79, was Fairmont’s head coach when Withrow was a sophomore. Ankney was the head coach at Canton McKinley the next two seasons and ended his coaching career following two years as the University of Dayton’s head coach in 1963-64.

“We had to watch (Withrow) a little bit in some of our drills because he would get a little mean,” Ankney said from his home in Englewood, Fla.

“Of course, that’s why he was such a tough defensive player. It served him well later, I can imagine.”

Jim Hoover, also deceased, was Fairmont’s head coach for Withrow’s junior and senior years. Fairmont had seasons of 8-2, 8-0 and 7-2 while Withrow played. He also excelled in wrestling and track and field (shot put).

He is survived by wife Kathy, daughter Heather Withrow of San Diego, son Jason Withrow of Lexington, his brother Bob and a sister, Beverly Stoll of Seattle.

A memorial service will be at 5:30 p.m. today at the Clark Legacy Center in Lexington, followed by a gathering of family and friends. Donations may be made in his memory to the National MS Society or Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Contact this reporter at 
(937) 225-2381 or mpendleton@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Now I taught middle school during the longest year of my life. And I do guest talks at middle schools all the time. But honestly I do not have the knack for doing it full time. My wife does and I know many wonderful middle school teachers who do. The thing is with middle school students is that you never really know what they are going to be up to next. Bill Gates started with computers in middle school. One of the most read blog posts I ever wrote was about a 12 year old who created his own web browser. Today I was reading about Johnny Simmons on the Windows Phone Developer Heroes Landing Page. Not long ago I got slapped for suggesting that college Phone development was a big deal – Student Develops Games For Windows Phone 7 – well hopefully this is young enough to be impressive. Johnny is 13!

You could say Johnny has apps. In fact he has at least 15 apps on the marketplace. DrawPad, pictured above with two other apps, is the most popular though Johnny likes Ink Notez best. His Dad helps him a little with the user interfaces and graphics but the code is Johnny’s work. Most recently Johnny took part in a Windows Phone 7 Hackathon in Bellevue WA and took first place for the app he created there. Now that is impressive! People come to Hackathons to learn but also to show off.

Like a lot of students, Johnny got his start through the DreamSpark program. DreamSpark is the best way for students to get free development software and to start following their dreams. So take a look at Johnny Simmons’ story on the Windows Phone Developer Heroes Landing Page. And then start working on your own dreams.

If you want more of a start, check out these previous posts for more information:

• Whack Something Game for Windows Phone 7
• DreamSpark, AppHub and Windows Phone Development
• Windows Phone 7 Development for Absolute Beginners
• Student Access to the AppHub for Windows Phone 7