Farais, Joe
| Joe Farais – (2010) |
 Joe Farais was an outstanding athlete at Admiral King High School, playing both football and baseball. He was an All-Buckeye Conference First Team football selection at linebacker in his senior year. He led the team in tackles, forced eight fumbles (recovered five), and blocked a punt. The most memorable game of his senior year involved Joe’s leadership in the upset of Fremont Ross, which cost Fremont the state championship.
Joe was named “Player of the Week” six times by the Morning Journal and the Elyria Chronicle Telegram. In one game as a senior he was in on 18 tackles, 14 of them solo. As a senior he was honored as “Best Defensive Lineman” of the year for his record-breaking 126 tackles, 4 interceptions, caused 8 fumbles, recovered 5 and 1 blocked punt. Capping off his outstanding year was his playing in the 1975 North-South All-Star Football Classic at Ohio Stadium in Columbus. Teammates on the North squad included Tom Cousineau, Bob Golic, Jim Browner, and Byron Cato. He was also selected to play in the “Big 33” Ohio-Pennsylvania All-Star game. While football was the sport in which he excelled, Joe was also a quality baseball player at Admiral King. He was a three year letterman and started his junior and senior seasons. A power hitting outfielder, he batted over .300 in both seasons and he was among the team leaders in hits, runs, RBIs, and stolen bases. Joe was awarded a scholarship to Miami of Ohio to pursue his football career at the collegiate level. A three year letterman, he started three games as a freshman then continued as a starter for 37 consecutive games, all as a linebacker. His 37 consecutive starts was a record for a non-red shirt player. Tim Rose, Miami’s defensive coordinator during Joe’s senior year, called Farais “a very intense, enthusiastic individual who’s a great player. He’ll be calling our defensive signals, and I think he should be an all-league selection.” He was All Mid-American Conference his senior year and was conference defensive player of the week as he led Miami with 11 primary hits and 4 assists, for a total of 15, against Ball State. In the Western Michigan game he collected 16 unassisted tackles and assisted on 15 more – a total of 31, which earned him player of the week for the Mid-American Conference. His senior year he totaled 189 tackles (109 solo and 80 assisted), tops on his Miami team and third all time at Miami. Miami won the Mid-American Conference championship Joe’s freshman and junior seasons. He was the first Miami freshman to start in a Tangerine Bowl (Citrus Bowl today). Joe was presented an award by the Hamilton-Fairfield Tribe as the Miami Redskin’s “Most Improved Player” at his senior football banquet. An avid bowler, Farais says his bowling just one pin away from a perfect 300 game (stringing together 11 successive strikes) rated tops in his athletic achievements. Farais was a professor at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and is a sculptor with his own custom metal fabrication studio in Oakland, 3D Studios. Joe resides in Oakland, CA. |
