Guardian Caps donated to all Wayne County football teams
According to NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Miller, Guardian Caps like those worn here by the Waynedale football team have contributed to a nearly 50% reduction in concussions for the position groups that wore them during training camps in 2022-23.
Aselfless act by first-year Waynedale football coach Jesse Kanter and forward thinking by Golden Bears junior Kamden Lemon and his mom Kendra Peterson created a ripple effect this summer, which is now benefiting hundreds of football players.
Local philanthropist Barry Romich made a huge secondary splash after joining their cause.
Thanks to those individuals, every high school football player in Wayne County now has a Guardian Cap after the Romich Foundation footed the nearly $30,000 bill. It’s a cap that’s placed over a helmet and helps reduce the impact from hard hits.
According to the company website, a Guardian Cap brings a soft padded layer to the outside of hard-shell helmets. They also are designed to move independently of the helmet below, allowing for forces to be redirected around the head.
Lemon suffered a head and neck injury in the season finale at Northwestern last fall. He laid flat on the field in the pouring rain and was transported by ambulance to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with a concussion.
Kanter purchased a $70 Guardian Cap with his own money this summer and gave it to Lemon, hoping to better protect him this season.
According to NFL Executive Vice President Jeff Miller, Guardian Caps have contributed to a nearly 50% reduction in concussions for the position groups that wore them during training camps in 2022-23.
“It’s amazing that coach Kanter bought a Guardian Cap for me, but I thought, ‘I really would like to have them for everybody on the team since I’m one person and we need everybody to be successful,’” said Lemon, a two-way lineman.
Peterson approached Kanter about the school possibly purchasing Guardian Caps for the rest of the Waynedale team, but he informed her there was only $211 left in the football account he inherited as head coach.
After doing some brainstorming, Peterson emailed a heartfelt letter to Romich, the co-founder and former president of Prentke Romich Company. Now PRC-Santillo, the company is a leading international manufacturer of assistive technology to address the communication needs of people with severe speech disability.
“I am beyond grateful for (Kanter) thinking of my child and wanting to keep him safe, but I believe it is important to keep all athletes safe and be preventative with injuries rather than reactive,” Peterson wrote in her letter. “All athletes should have access to the safest and most up to date safety equipment possible.
“If I could help keep another parent or family member from feeling what I did that night as my child was laying on the field, I will do whatever I can.”
Romich, a Norwayne alum who oversees Romich Foundation Makerspace, said he was immediately moved by Kanter’s generosity and Peterson’s request.
“I thought, ‘If it’s good for her son, maybe it ought to be good for all the team members?’” Romich said. “Then my next question was: ‘If it’s good for Waynedale, why isn’t it good for every other school in the county?’”
Romich reached out to every athletic director and head football coach in Wayne County, assisted by Norwayne coach Adam Indorf.
Simultaneously, Romich was talking with a sales rep from Guardian Cap to negotiate a bulk order price. The Romich Foundation wound up getting a dealer cost rate, ordering 540 Guardian Caps for a little under $30,000.
“It was a good thing to do,” Romich said. “I hope that this kind of thing can happen in other counties where the price gets reduced by some kind of a conglomeration effect. It was a common theme where the coaches recognized the value of (Guardian Caps), but they didn’t have the budget to buy them.”
Initially, Romich considered offering to split the cost with the other county schools, but after further thought, he decided to leave nothing to chance.
“The more reading I did on head injuries, I decided we don’t want to have anything in the way here, so we’re just going to offer to do it 100% for all the schools,” Romich said. “There’s lots of appreciation for that.”
As a result all eight schools in the Wayne County Athletic League now have Guardian Caps: Chippewa, Dalton, Hillsdale, Northwestern, Norwayne, Rittman, Smithville and Waynedale. Triway also received caps while Orrville had a few but is now completely equipped. Wooster was the only school that already had caps.
Kanter would have never dreamed his simple act of purchasing a Guardian Cap for Lemon would have led to the entire county receiving them.
“Jesse is the one responsible for every high school player in the whole county having these things,” Romich said. “This shows what one person can do. The fact that he would recognize that that’s an action that he could take and he took it tells me a lot about him.”
Even at the high school level, Guardian Caps are extremely important, Kanter said. He’s made wearing them in practices mandatory, and it’s highly recommended in games.
“A concussion is something to be taken very seriously,” Kanter said. “It’s not a stubbed toe or a sprained ankle; it’s a brain injury. Anything we can do to help prevent that in any way is extremely important.”
Starting with concern for one player at Waynedale, hundreds of athletes in Wayne County are now receiving extra protection this fall and will for years to come.
“If we can prevent a single brain injury, that’s a huge thing for a family,” Romich said. “If we can keep one brain injury that requires medical intervention from happening, that will have paid for the whole county (Guardian Cap bill).
“I hope to see this in other counties and even other states, where people work together to get these caps for a lot more players.”