September 1, 2006

 

By RACHEL LANE

Parkersburg News, Parkersburg, WV

WILLIAMSTOWN — On Saturday, a locally made trophy will be presented to the winner of the Friends of Coal Bowl.

Fenton Art Glass employees were instrumental in creating the Governor’s Trophy to be awarded to West Virginia University or Marshall University after their football game.

Most of the trophy is made of West Virginia materials. The work was done entirely by West Virginians, said Rick Mogielski, the trophy’s designer. He works in marketing for the Friends of Coal. The organization decided it wanted to help sponsor the football game between WVU and Marshall.

“I made the football,” said David Fetty, a retired Fenton worker who still makes special items. “It’s pretty close to the size of a regulation football.”

The football was made by free-hand work, he said.

“This is the first time I made a football,” Fetty said. He also helped make the glass vase on which the football sits.

The laces and stripes of the football were sand-carved into the ball by Fenton worker Dennis Lumbatis. Stacy Williams, who also works at Fenton, hand painted the logo on the vase, said Ken Moore, the new product introduction manager at Fenton in Williamstown.

“We assembled everything here. We didn’t trust anyone else to do it” with all the glass involved, Moore said.

The base of the trophy weighs 45 pounds, while everything else, including the coal-filled football, is about 15 pounds. The trophy is almost two-feet tall.

“The toughest part was putting the coal into the glass football,” Mogielski said. They decided the best way to add the coal was to melt it.

“We made a flat place on the football. We made a hole and shot liquid coal in,” Moore said.

The coal mixture was melted and poured by Bob Dickenson, owner of Mountaineer Creations, Mogielski said.

“It looks like a coal football inside a crystal football,” he said.

The glass base holding up the football is a Fenton vase upside down, Moore said. The two pieces are glued together.

“It won’t come apart,” Fetty said. The glue is made especially for glasses.

“I think it turned out great,” he said.

The carbon base, the coal and the etching on the base are the only parts of the trophy Fenton did not help complete, Moore said.

Fenton employees completed the trophy the evening of Aug. 22. Early on Aug. 23, Mogielski took the trophy to areas of the state to reveal.

From start to finish, about a month was used to complete the project, Moore said.

GrafTech created the carbon base, Mogielski said.

Saturday’s game in Morgantown will be the first time the two schools have played each other in football since 1997. It will be the sixth time the schools have played.

Contact Rachel Lane at rlane@newsandsentinel.com