By Staff
Our three local major college football teams all celebrated the signing of strong recruiting classes on Wednesday.
All three teams – Notre Dame, Michigan State and Michigan – were ranked in the Top 25 depending on which service you like to look at.
The big winner may have been the Michigan Wolverines, who under second-year head coach Rich Rodriguez have the No. 7 overall ranked class, according to Rivals.com.
Michigan State rated No. 16, Notre Dame No. 20.
All three teams appear to have landed key players they were targeting.
Michigan got a pair of quarterbacks, which is exactly what the Wolverines need in the new spread formation Rodriguez runs.
Michigan also got the No. 1 rated player from its own state, which is always nice.
The Spartans, under the direction of recruiting coordinator Mark Staten, formerly of Dowagiac, had its first Top 25 recruiting class in many a year.
Michigan State has made progress each of Mark Dantonio's first two seasons at the helm and it appears that this recruiting class will keep the Spartans headed in the right direction.
Notre Dame pinned its entire recruiting class on the hopes of landing the nation's top ranked defensive player – Manti Te'o.
And on Wednesday morning, after some anxious moments, the Fighting Irish got their man.
While all the fanfare about the rankings, which were topped by Alabama, is nice, it is important to point out that the true measure of a recruiting class cannot be fully understood until a couple of years down the road.
In the meantime, college football fans celebrated what amounts to a national holiday on Wednesday.
It may be freezing cold outside and snow is still piled up several feet deep, but for a while on National Signing Day, all of our thoughts turned to all when college football brings to life our hopes and dreams of national championships.
You might not know the name – Millard Fuller.
People all over the world, though, know what this man started – Habitat for Humanity.
More than 300,000 houses later, including 14 in Cass County since May 1991, the organization still continues to give people a chance to use sweat equity to eventually own their own home.
Fuller, who died on Monday at age 74, could have just been the successful businessman he was and with his wife Linda build up his earnings, instead of being concerned about people having affordable housing.
A self-made millionaire by age 29, he and his wife sold their possessions and went to a farm in Americus, Ga., studying Christ's teachings.
They started the Fund for Humanity in 1968.
Habitat for Humanity International began in 1976.
His vision expanded in 2005 to the founding of a new non-profit housing organization, The Fuller Center for Housing.
Through the years many people have joined Fuller's dream, either by donations which make the interest-free homes available or by actually donating their own time and skills.
Former President Jimmy Carter was just one strong supporter of Habitat and admirer of Fuller.
In 1996, President Bill Clinton awarded Fuller the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, calling Habitat "…the most successful continuous community service project in the history of the United States."
He was just one man, yet he accomplished so much in his lifetime and has left a continuing legacy.
He is an inspiration.