SARASOTA (SNN-TV) – The Riverview Rams football team held their annual “Night of Champions” fund-raiser tonight. This year the team had the pleasure of hearing from a newly-minted Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame head coach Dick Vermeil was at the Hyatt Regency in Sarasota this evening, kicking off the season speaking to the Rams family.
Riverview assistant coach, Mike Gruttadauria, was the center on Vermeil’s St. Louis Rams Super Bowl team, aka “The Greatest Show on Turf”, thus the catalyst for getting the Hall of Famer to speak tonight.
Coach Vermeil was elated to speak this evening, citing how important his relationship with his former center is to him.
“He’s made a big contribution to me being selected to go in the Hall of Fame. Without a good center, you don’t develop the Greatest Show on Turf, you don’t beat Tennessee in the Super Bowl. So I appreciate him, I love the guy. He’s very close to me and I’m very close to him.”
Riverview’s kickoff classic is one week from today, when they host Tampa Bay Tech at the Ram Bowl at 7pm.