Tony Welch
He doesn’t really remember for himself, but Tony Welch’s parents tell him that he first started begging them to allow him to play football when he was 4 years old. Naturally, they told him no. Two years later, even though they were somewhat nervous about it, they relented and allowed him to play at age 6, and his dad became his first coach.
Welch has not missed a year of football since that time, and on Sept. 3, he and his East Tennessee State University teammates will make history when the Buccaneers return to the gridiron for the first time in 12 years, taking on another brand new team, the Kennesaw State Owls.
Welch is a redshirt freshman who came to ETSU from Pickerington, Ohio. He played not only football, but also baseball and basketball during his first two years of high school at Fairfield Christian Academy in nearby Lancaster, Ohio, but decided to focus solely on football after transferring to Pickerington North High School. As a senior, he led his team with four interceptions and also made 37 tackles. He was an all-conference selection and, with a 3.8 GPA, was a named a 2013 Quarterback Club Scholar Athlete.
Now, the 6-foot-3, 182-pound defensive back is one of two players from Pickerington North who will be in the starting lineup for the Buccaneers this Thursday, the other being Welch’s good friend, linebacker Dylan Weigel.
Welch chose to attend ETSU and play for the Buccaneers, not only because ETSU was his first offer, but also because he liked what he saw when he visited.
“I had two more (college) visits scheduled, but once I visited and got to know all the people, I just cancelled those visits before I even left, and I committed here because I loved it so much,” he said. “All the people here are really friendly, and all the coaches are really good to me. They were the first ones to believe in me and offer me a scholarship. It’s also a unique opportunity to come here to play, as a freshman, for this new program.”
Welch has enjoyed his first year at ETSU, where his teammates have become his closest friends while practicing, scrimmaging and doing everything it takes to prepare for the Bucs’ first season.
On game day, Welch likes to prepare himself by listening to tunes. “I usually listen to a lot of music, and until about right before game time, it’s usually not the typical ‘game’ music,” he said. “I listen to country or music that calms me down and lets me think about what I have to do for the game, go through all the coverages and all that.”
How does Welch think he’ll feel when the Buccaneers run out onto the field for the first time in front of a sell-out crowd at Kermit Tipton Stadium?
“It’ll be surreal,” he says. “We’ve been waiting for this for about 500 days, ever since I committed here. It’s been a long way, and it’s pretty tough, but when we run out there on Thursday night, it’ll be worth it.
“We definitely want to win games, but more importantly, we just need to become a better team for the years to come, since we’ll be playing together four or five more years. Hopefully, we’ll just build stronger relationships with each other for the future.”
Off the field, Welch is an economics major, and before he graduates from ETSU, he hopes to land some internships in New York in preparation for a career in finance.
He enjoys playing video games with his friends in his spare time, and says he’s somewhat addicted to FOX’s “Family Guy,” which has to be on for him to go to sleep.
Welch also makes time to keep up with his family back home. He is the fourth of Ted and Lisa Welch’s nine children, with all five of his younger siblings being adopted, and he takes his role as a big brother to them seriously.
“It was pretty neat, especially when all my older siblings moved out, and it was basically all of them and me. I was kind of a leader to them, and I had to show them how to be a good person … teach them everything I know.”
Two of Welch’s brothers are following in his footsteps, playing high school football, and his 6-year-old sister, especially, misses him and gets in on every conversation when he calls home. “She loves talking to me … she loves talking, period!”