WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GARY FOOTBALL?
POST-TRIBUNE
BY: JUSTIN BREEN
Jeffrey King looks like he's been through boot camp after every Friday night football game.
The Lew Wallace senior exudes sweat from every pore, the result of playing every snap at a plethora of positions.
King does it all: offensive lineman, linebacker, long snapper, special teams contributor. He tries to stay positive, too, even though he knows the Hornets have almost no chance at winning, especially against teams from outside the Northwestern Conference.
Since 1995, Wallace is 0-47 against non-Gary squads. In their first four games this season the Hornets were outscored 173-28 by teams from three states: Muncie Central, Arrowhead (Wis.), Woodstock Marian (Ill.) and St. Francis de Sales (Ill.).
Friday's 6-0 hard-earned victory over West Side was certainly welcomed, but the Hornets' struggles mirror those of the rest of Gary's high school football teams. West Side, Wirt and Roosevelt have combined to lose more than 85 percent of their non-conference games in the last decade.
Their players are tired of it.
“It's just a bad organization,” King said. “Now, I try to play for the college scouts and hopefully find somewhere to play at the next level.
“I want to win, but the odds are always going to be against us.”
The reasons for Gary's football futility are numerous and broad, the city's coaches said. Unlike many other area cities and towns that filter their youth players into one high school, Gary, which has had recent success in Pop Warner — winning four state championships in the last three years — splits its numbers over the four high schools.
The teams themselves have far smaller participation than other schools, and even fewer players who are ready to play at the varsity level. Quality coaches can be found in smaller numbers, too. And, behind closed doors, many point to repeated administrative problems under city athletic director Earl Smith as being part of the problem.
Then there's the lack of teams to play, and a lack of money. Coaches said they search for opponents that will pay them guaranteed contracts, so they can help offset the lack of a football budget. And where basketball is clearly king in Gary, football is hardly a pauper prince.
With only four teams in the NWC, and most of the other area schools in conferences, finding an opponent close to home is difficult. Like Wallace, Wirt, West Side and Roosevelt frequently go out of state to play, even if it's against a program with far more funds, players and talent.
“These are the cards that have been dealt to us, and that's the hand we're going to play,” said Wirt coach Darrell Bodie, whose program is 2-40 since 1997 in non-conference affairs, although the Troopers did beat River Forest 26-21 on Sept. 2. “If you were in my place what would you do?
“Simply put, we've been outmanned and outgunned.”
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It hasn't always been this way.
Gary used to produce phenoms such as Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon, Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram and NFLer/Hollywood film star Fred “The Hammer” Williamson. Wallace even won The Associated Press state championship in 1941.
Valparaiso University football head coach and 1984 Wallace graduate Stacy Adams helped the Hornets to a 6-3 record as a senior. That year, his team defeated Michigan City Rogers, Morton and LaPorte and held its own with Crown Point and Portage.
“Beating teams like that was a common thing back then,” Adams said. “We knew we weren't always the biggest team, but we thought with our speed, we could play with anybody.”
For the most part, the stars are now gone and so are the winning teams. The city hasn't had a sectional champion since Wallace went to the regional in 1989. And that streak could carry on for a long time because no one from Gary has eliminated someone not from Gary since 1997.
As King said, it's more about impressing the scouts than winning games. And he does have some models to follow.
Of late, 1998 West Side graduate and Jets starting offensive lineman Brandon Moore has managed to overcome Gary's clear obstacles and reach the NFL.
Moore has conducted a camp at West Side for two straight years with what he said was a near-total lack of help from the city and its coaches, besides Cougars coach Gene Johnson. Annoyed with the shenanigans, Moore said next year's camp will be run by the Boys and Girls Club.
“There's a lack of infrastructure within the athletic system,” Moore said. “I dealt with it first-hand trying to put the camp together.
“I saw the lack of cooperation and involvement from other coaches and people who were in charge. How can you fix (Gary's record against non-conference teams) if you can't even put on a camp in your hometown city with a guy who's in the NFL?”
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If Gary could have a model for its football programs, it might look to Griffith.
Panthers coach Russ Radtke said Griffith has six Pop Warner teams, plus seventh-grade, eighth-grade, freshman and junior varsity teams that all run the same wishbone offense and wear the same uniforms.
“It produces continuity and by the time the kids get (to the varsity level), they know the system,” Radtke said.
Johnson, whose Cougars are 13-39 against non-Gary teams since 1993, said a big reason for that poor record is a lack of continuity. Gary has three middle schools — Tolleston, Bailey and Pulaski — which don't teach the same football styles or don the same colors.
“If all the boys were playing under one system, that might help a little bit,” Johnson said. “In Hobart, every kid wants to be a Brickie. In Gary, some kids want to be Cougars, some want to be Panthers, some want to be Hornets or whatever.”
Johnson has brought up the idea of consolidating the programs, but IHSAA assistant commissioner Bobby Cox said that isn't possible. Cox said “a student may only represent the school in which he is enrolled and attending.”
As far as the actual uniforms, that's another problem. Roosevelt coach Kennedy Hannah, at the helm of a program that's 4-59 in non-conference games since 1993 (the Panthers were outscored 109-20 in losses to Michigan City, Valparaiso and East Chicago Central in their first three games this season), said other schools change their uniforms every two years. Hannah said the Panthers can afford to get new ones every seven seasons.
Which is why Hannah desperately seeks money from the bigger schools. He said Michigan City pays his school $1,000 for the Panthers to play at Ames Field. He uses that cash to recondition the team's helmets and shoulder pads.
That search for green can take a Gary school far and wide. Last season, Wallace played seven road games, including trips to Wisconsin, Illinois, Indianapolis and Mishawaka. In 2004, Wirt had eight road games, two in Illinois and one in Michigan. West Side visited two Illinois schools and went to Huntington.
“We accept games under that knowledge that the reason they're scheduling us is they think they can beat us,” Johnson said.
And, usually, they do.
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At the top of Gary's athletic food chain sits city AD Earl Smith.
The football coaches questioned for this story did not specifically blame Smith for their team's problems, but they did ask for more support from the AD's office.
“Somebody has to take charge, and that starts at the top,” Hannah said. “But you're going to get a lot of finger pointing when programs aren't going.”
Smith did not return several messages left on his home voice mail or messages left at his office. When a person at Smith's home did answer, she said he was “out of town” and then hung up before allowing the reporter to leave his phone number.
While Smith did not comment, Rich Woods, president of Gary Pop Warner, did happily.
Woods is in charge of eight teams ranging from ages 5 to 15. Unlike their varsity brethren, the Pop Warner teams in Gary do quite well, including those four state titles since 2003.
But a key issue with Pop Warner is the restriction on weight, which Woods said is 150 pounds for players ages 11 to 15. Those players can play at Gary middle schools, which are nowhere near the competitive level of other area middle schools. Plus, of the three middle school head coaches — Matt Hatcher at Tolleston, Mark Carr at Bailey and Leon Groce at Pulaski — only Groce works at the school.
“That's the missing link right there,” Woods said. “A lot of our bigger kids have to drop out of Pop Warner, and won't play competitively until they get to high school.”
The middle schools were supposed to start their season last Wednesday at an O'Rama hosted by Roosevelt. But Pulaksi cancelled since it only had 15 hip/butt pads for its 40-or-so players. Assistant Briean Brown said he had tried getting ahold of Smith about the problem, but “it's been impossible.” Brown said he was able to get money from Pulaski's athletic funds, and he added Pulaski will play its first regular season game Wednesday vs. Tolleston.
Brown added that Bailey's program last week had only six players signed up for physicals, which are required to participate. Coach Carr at Bailey did not return messages left by the Post-Tribune at school.
“I don't want to say it's not organized, but we have a lot of improvement to do,” said Brown, an assistant for six seasons. “We haven't started the season, and we might not be able to unless this situation is addressed.”
When Pulaski does play, it won't be against solid competition. Of the five games on its schedule, four are against the two other Gary middle schools, and the other is against a school from East Chicago. Brown said he's never played a school outside of Gary or East Chicago in his six seasons.
“We would definitely love to play teams as far as the Griffiths, Hobarts and Hammonds,” Brown said. “Our kids need that type of exposure.”
As soon as the players are shuffled through the middle school system, they're sent to high school, and most of them are forced to play varsity, unlike most programs, which have the standard freshman-to-junior varsity-to-varsity promotion.
The current varsity teams in Gary field a high number of freshman players, most of whom don't have the tools to play varsity ball. An example is the case at Roosevelt, where Hannah said he considers only 22 of his 40 players ready to perform at that level.
And Hannah said some of the city's best younger players transfer to other schools — such as Bishop Noll, Andrean, Merrillville or Portage — before getting to high school.
“We keep these kids until eighth grade, and I don't know if they're being recruited, but I do know they don't live in those areas and they're going there,” Hannah said. “We're in a little disarray here.”
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For all the issues, the coaches and players haven't quit.
And help could be on the way, from Hammond.
With the Lake Athletic Conference disbanding, and leaving Gavit, Morton, Clark and Hammond High out of the loop, those four schools are looking for opponents.
Hannah said he's already in the process of trying to get the Hammond schools on his schedule as soon as possible, and dropping the 5A schools such as Valpo and Michigan City. Wallace coach Fred Nolan said Smith has contacted the Hammond schools in an effort to place them on some of Gary's 2006 schedules.
“It makes sense because the programs are about equal, as far as numbers, and it's easier for people to get to the games,” Nolan said.
Moore believes that although his two-day camp isn't enough to make a huge difference, it could lead to more players joining Pop Warner or high school teams.
“I know the potential is there,” Moore said. “I've seen it at the camp, when you show them that little bit of interest, they'll grow and feed off of that and become better athletes.
“I'm just trying to find out how it can be done.”
Adams said he will continue to recruit the Gary schools, hoping to find players like VU senior defensive lineman, Xavier Freeman, a Horace Mann graduate.
“The guys in Gary can run, catch and block,” Adams said. “You just have to put them in a situation where they're able to succeed a little more, and then you'll see the true player come out.
“When they come out to college and they're surrounded by other good players, their true talent shows.”
Roosevelt has never won a sectional game, and West Side and Wirt are just 3-20 all-time in the postseason. Wallace is the top cat, at just 10-20 in sectional play.
Sounding as if he has blind faith, Johnson doesn't let the tough statistics get in the way of a positive attitude. He sees the efforts of players like King, busting their tails until the final whistle, as evidence that Gary prep football will enjoy a new prosperity.
“If I can open my eyes in the morning, I've got a chance,” Johnson said. “And the same thing for the kids. All you've got to do is teach them to play the game.
“It's going to be OK.”
