Deletion of Mark Dodge

Comment: Meets GNG with multiple sources of significant coverage from independent sources over an extended period starting in 2006.  As late as 2008, ''The New York Times'' was still making reference to Dodge: "Strongside ‘backer Mark Dodge continued to build upon what was already a great story, earning second-team all-Big 12 honors while leading the team with 117 tackles (5.5 for loss)."http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/the-quad-countdown-no-35-texas-am/ While that NYT coverage years later is trivial, the fact it was even still talked about is indicative that notability for Dodge is .  Seems some deleters discount the coverage on the grounds that they don't  that the media deals with human interest stories, or is gaining notability from being both a soldier and a football player, and not from one area solely.  It's a close argument, but I'll err on the side of keep when in doubt
Stance: keep
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Notability (WP:NOTTEMPORARY||WP:DONTLIKE)

Comment: Per Cbl62's analysis above there is significant coverage in multiple, indepedent, reliable sources more than sufficient to satisfy the general notability guidelines per .  This coverage is about as solid as it gets; there are several feature articles in major national and regional media outlets.  The specific notability guidelines of  and  do not come into play.  Given the quality of the sources available, the subject deserves a better encyclopedia article than the hagiographic bio that now exists
Stance: keep
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Notability (WP:GNG||WP:NCOLLATH||WP:NGRIDIRON)

Comment: Till now, we have six '''keep''' !votes and five '''delete''' !votes. I want to see more policy-based !votes, rather than claims of  or .--Special:Contributions/180.172.239.231|180.172.239.231
Stance: comment
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Arguments to avoid in deletion discussions (WP:ASSERTN||WP:ILIKEIT)

Comment: per Cbl62 and Dirtlawyer1's excellent arguments and research. As noted,  trumps all other WikiProject-specific notability guidelines
Stance: keep
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Notability (WP:GNG)

Comment: This individual has received in-depth coverage in multiple major news sources, more than sufficient to satisfy  ("received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject") and  ("been the subject of non-trivial media coverage").  Examples include '''(1)''' http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2580781 this feature story from ESPN.com, a major national media outlet '''(2)''' http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/2006-06-13-mark-dodge_x.htm this feature story from ''USA Today'', another national media outlet, '''(3)''' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PniW0xnKNg this nationally televised feature story on Dodge from ''College GameDay (football)|College Game Day'', '''(4)''' http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2007/08/if-the-nfl-asks-dodge-will-not-serve/ this feature story from the ''Houston Chronicle'', the largest daily newspaper in Texas, '''(5)''' http://www.myplainview.com/article_0d274d74-e253-5a30-92e2-826c9abc6c04.html this syndicated feature story from the Associated Press, '''(6)''' "Dodge receives Tillman Patriot award, other football honors, ''Reno Gazette-Journal'', Dec 6, 2007, '''(7)''' http://uwire.com/2011/09/12/texas-am-linebacker-remembers-pentagon-attack/ this feature on UWire, and '''(8)''' http://lubbockonline.com/stories/101107/col_101107006.shtml this from the ''Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Stance: keep
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Notability (WP:GNG||WP:NCOLLATH)

Comment: as subject easily crosses the verifiability and notability thresholds. Scope of coverage means  does not apply in a meaningful way
Stance: keep
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons (WP:BLP1E)

Comment: Fails both  and . He is, for all purposes, a first-hand eyewitness that ticked up higher in interest due to his military carrier and college career. The feature stores linked are basically are as best described human interest stories - he's local, giving his recollection of 9/11, and only because he started playing college football. If these two activities (witnessing 9/11, and playing college football) were done by different people, neither would be notable (per BLP1E and NCOLLATH, respectively), and the fact that it happened to be one person doesn't change that. It would be different if he had something of a remarkable college football carrier but opted not to continue forward with that, but that doesn't seem to be the case - he seemed to disappear otherwise.  Note that this is specifically that we have had time since he gave up football to judge sources; if this was about a player just starting or still active in college, I would be more lenient to keeping the article to give time to develop. Here, unless something drastically new happens to him, he's just a witness/helper and a failed college player, and fails notability
Stance: delete
Cited policy: Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons (WP:BLP1E||WP:NCOLLATH)