Seaford alum, father of Heisman hopeful visits former Seaford coach

Seaford alum Dan Sayin knows about playing for winning Seaford football teams. A recent visit to Seaford by the 1980 grad, following the Blue Jays’ first state championship win since 1983, was especially poignant.

Sayin, who came east from his California home for Saturday’s Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York, stopped in Seaford last week to visit his former coach, John Hollis.

Hollis called Sayin, who was an offensive lineman, the heartbeat of Seaford’s team, adding that he lived for the team.

Former Seaford assistant football coach John Hollis, left, visits with former player Dan Sayin. Sayin was in town last week before going to the Heisman Trophy ceremony in New York. His son, Julian, was one of four candidates for the award. Hollis is shown wearing his Ohio State Jersey.

“There’s nothing like Friday night football. The whole town would come out and watch the game,” said Sayin, who remembered playing in the snow against Laurel in 1979. “There’s probably more pressure playing in front of 4,000 fans on Friday night than there is in front of 100,000 fans in college.”

Sayin has some experience with college football, his son, Julian, was one of four candidates for the Heisman Trophy this year while older son, Aidan, was a quarterback for the University of Pennsylvania.

“I was at every (regular season) game and it was a great ride,” Dan said. Julian, a freshman at Ohio State University, was originally recruited by Alabama, but he transferred to Ohio State after former Alabama coach Nick Saban retired.

“It’s a great time for Seaford football. There’s nothing like high school football,” Sayin said of the Blue Jays’ championship.  “I know the program will be able to get more and more players out.”

Sayin and Hollis shared some memories during their recent visit. Hollis coached for 30 years and was a part of the annual Blue-Gold football game. He was a part of 65 championships in his 30 years of coaching football, track, and youth swimming. Hollis said one Blue-Gold player from another team asked him what happens in Seaford’s pit because the team would warm up, go to the pit, and then come out to the field fired up.

“Nobody was better with a whistle in the County Fair (bellybusters),” Sayin said of Hollis. “No sport compares to football for family and teamwork.”

Sayin moved to Southern California where his daughters, who were older than the two boys, played soccer. Sayin coached the girls, though he never played it, and would take his sons to the games and throw football with them. Both girls played defense, and their team didn’t score a lot of goals, so he had some advice for his sons: “When you guys play football you should figure out how to play quarterback.”

Both boys took their father’s advice and even showed off their skills playing video games as young kids, using motion to expose man defense.

The area where the kids grew up (Solana Beach) had a year round flag football league in six locations, making it the largest league in the country. Games were played on Friday nights and Sayin said finding parking was the biggest challenge. Games were played in the afternoon in the fall so the kids could attend high school football games.

Local coaches took interest in both boys and worked with them to help develop their skills as quarterbacks.

“If you’re going to practice a sport, you better love it. They practiced a lot more than I did,” Sayin said.

The family had many college coaches in their living room to recruit Julian. “They’re (coaches) all just regular people,” said Sayin.