BREAKING BARRIERS…PART 2

“The First Touchdown” …From my book, THE GREAT TEAMS

“On October 26, 1979, with the ball on Mineral Point’s 1-yard line, leading 16-0 in the third quarter, coach John Moreland of Mount Horeb substituted one of his running backs. The back carried on the next play but was thrown for a 1-yard loss. On the next play the team got that yard back. The substitute carried the ball once more and scored a touchdown, giving Mount Horeb a 22-0 lead. That running back was 17-year-old junior, Donna Wilborn. At 5’4”, 124 lbs., Donna became the first female to score a touchdown in a Wisconsin varsity high school game.”

NOTE: After extensive research I believe that not only was Donna Wilborn the first Wisconsin female to score a touchdown but also the first female nationally to score a touchdown in a varsity high school game. One more thing, when I wrote the book my information had Verona as the opponent but after printing the book, I found that the correct foe was Mineral Point.

On Friday, September 3, 1982, two Milwaukee area females made national headlines just as Luverne, Frankie and Donna had. Judy Jackson and Vicki Smith fulfilled their dream and played varsity football. Stories about them were in the Chicago Tribune, the New Your Times and the Saint George Utah Daily Spectrum had highlighted stories about the two. Jackson, a 5’9, 185-pound junior for Milwaukee Juneau started at tackle in a 16-0 loss to University School. She did a respectable job playing both ways and the guys didn’t pay much attention to her presence. Both coaches were complimentary of how she played.

Vicki Smith played for the first time that same night when her Shorewood team lost to Port Washington 27-0. Jackson would be a regular but Smith, a 5-7 ½, 160-pound junior middle guard would only get in for two plays that night and play sporadically the rest of the season. Smith had played on the freshman-sophomore team for two years. She moved up to varsity but after the first scrimmage in 1982 she quit the team and then, over the weekend reconsidered and rejoined the team. She had already put so much into the sport she couldn’t walk away. They were pictured along with their teammates in the school yearbooks for 1983 and 1984.

Following these trailblazers, something they really didn’t consider themselves. The state saw a few females play as time went on but all I can find are kickers.

Also from my book:

“In addition to Donna, a special mention should be made about one of the other most notable Wisconsin female varsity football players. That is Kassy McCarthy of 2009 state champion Waunakee. As the team’s placekicker, Kassy made 72 of 72 extra point attempts and 2 of 4 field goals. In the Division 2 state title game, a Waunakee 34-21 win against Kimberly, she was 4 for 4 in extra points but missed a 34-yard field goal attempt that had plenty of distance but went wide right. After the game, Kassy told reporters that she would like to kick for the UW Badgers and hoped she could try out for the team in 2010. McCarthy turned down D-3 soccer scholarship offers (she was a goalkeeper) and when UW-Platteville stepped up and offered her the opportunity to kick for them she signed with the Pioneers. A week or two into fall practice Kassy was injured and she dropped her dream of kicking for a college football team. McCarthy earned Second Team All-State by the AP in 2009. In 2012, Kevin Askeland of MaxPreps.com named Kassy #10 on the list of the best female high school kickers of all-time.”

There was only one honorable mention on Kevin Askeland’s top 10 list. That name was Luverne Wise.

Moving Forward

Since 2009 there have been a few more female players on varsity teams in Wisconsin. As mentioned, most have been kickers. But as recently as 2016 Badger High School had a female, Maddie Northern, who was a backup quarterback. She didn’t get into a game and she did receive a significant injury and as a result left the team. According to Coach Matt Hensler, Maddie was a pleasure to coach and he heard that she did later play a bit for an adult female Madison team.

2019 brought a new player to the Stevens Point Pacelli team. Lydiah Kildahl played her senior year as an offensive and defensive lineman. She played six games on defense and seven on offense. She had wanted to go out for the 2018 team but couldn’t because of mono. She wore #63, the same number her dad wore when he played for Antigo. In addition, three players from the Chippewa Valley drew attention. Taylor Schulz was a backup fullback/linebacker for Rice Lake earning just brief playing time. Emma Novak-Bougie and Kylie VanDong played for Fall Creek. They both were on the team but also didn’t receive any significant game time.

2022

It was senior and homecoming nights for Pewaukee and senior Ava Metz was under center at the start of the game on October 7, 2022. She took the first snap then turned the quarterback duties to sophomore Owen Dobberstein. Owen directed the team to a 45-6 lead when he was replaced by Metz. With 7:24 left in the second quarter 11-player history was made. The called play was a run. There was bad blocking by the line and as Ava went to hand the ball off, she was hit, and the ball popped in the air and went to senior fullback Matthew Ciesielczyk who took the ball 10-yards for a touchdown. Coach Justin Friske and his assistants ruled it a pass since the ball seemed to go forward in the air. OK, not a real bullet pass but a pass none the less. Not only is this event the first pass by a female in a varsity 11-player game but the first completion and the first touchdown pass. In my research I haven’t found another female in America to have ever recorded this feat. TV channel 12 recorded the play… Girl quarterback starts Pewaukee High School's homecoming game (wisn.com)

Two weeks earlier on September 24, backup quarterback Arianna Patenaude, playing for Winter/Birchwood passed 1-1-0-17-1 in a 16-39 loss to Northwood/Solon Springs. Several weeks before that game she started against Frederic and Clayton tossing 11 and 18 passes in those games. The one touchdown she threw in the Northwood/Solon Springs game is the first ever in an 8-player game in Wisconsin and maybe ever in the United States. She is probably the first ever nationally to start and play two complete games as a quarterback.

The week before the Pewaukee-Pius game, a sophomore for Washburn carried the ball five times for 32 yards and a touchdown. Sieanna Sandor also played linebacker and did the kicking. She is a very good soccer player and is one of the state’s best downhill skiers. Her coach, Adam Coykendall, is quoted in the Daily Press article as saying “She makes our team better in both our quality of play and in the quality of our team.”

I did additional research on females playing football. There isn’t much female participation information online and I found a few players missing from a Wikipedia page on female football players. Another site, STATISTA.com posts information about participation of football. In 2009 there were 1,249 females playing 11-player football vs. 1,109,278 males. By this season the numbers were 3,094 females and 973,792 males. There are several factors here. First, those totals don’t mean all of these students are playing varsity ball. No official records are split between varsity and non-varsity participation. The number of males may have dropped because of COVID where some lost interest. That is a factor MPS attributes to a reason for low turnout in many of their schools. The MPS schools didn’t play football for two seasons. However, COVID didn’t seem to hold back female participation nationally. Parents worrying about concussions is another factor for the downturn in male participation.

I contacted Todd Clark, the Communications Director at the WIAA, asking if they had any stats on females playing football in the state. A message was sent out to all the schools, and he only received six replies. Two females are on various freshman or JV teams, and the other four are on varsity squads. Two are on 8-player teams and two are on 11-player teams. All appear to be backups except for Adrianna Patenaude who is an occasional starter. Clark didn’t receive a reply from Washburn so that makes seven known Wisconsin females playing this year. There probably are a few more out there this season. Know of any? Let me know.

Almost all of the coaches I’ve talked to or read about say the same thing that Washburn coach Adam Coykendall had to say about his player, Sieanna Sandor. The females are a pleasure to coach. They work hard. However, the coaches all express concern for the females’ safety. As with males who are slight in size, injury is a possible factor in the coaches being leery of having such a player. In 1939 and 1947, the largest player on either the Atmore or the Stinnett football teams was someone weighing about 170-175 pounds. Today’s male players are, for the most part, much larger, stronger and faster.

In the 1930’s and 1940’s the press was sexist in reporting the playing of Luverne Wise and Frankie Groves. If you look at the video of Luverne, you will see that the coach and the press played her up as a pretty girl who didn’t muss her lipstick. The press in 1947 made some of the same comments about Frankie. The Dallas Morning News reported “With her brown hair curling out from her headgear. the blue-eyed diminutive 16-year-old girl athlete got knocked down only once and astonished spectators on her last play by somehow bowling over two opposing linemen…All this, fans, without smearing her lipstick or without losing her enthusiasm for the game.” She was also reported as saying “I flat ran right into them. I guess I got a little rough.” She didn’t wear makeup then.

Yes, the game is rough but to play up the female’s “softness” is a disservice to all. Today, the only paint that females wear in a game might be the glare paint under their eyes. They are here to compete not be in a beauty contest. They want to be taken seriously. It certainly isn’t for everyone, male or female, but it should be a rewarding experience for all who play, and it should be kept positive.

I also just saw this story after I wrote the above blog. Take a look: Female High School Football Player Is An Inspiration Playing An Unlikely Position (msn.com)

BREAKING BARRIERS…PART 1

The weekend of October 7-8 was a busy one for me. I was fielding a number of messages including one from Paul Barnes from the Ashland Daily Press asking about females playing football. He was working on a story concerning a young lady playing for Washburn. When her coach sent me a list of all the stats from the game vs. Mellen (114-92 win by Washburn on September 30) I didn’t closely look at the first names of one player in particular, Sieanna Sandor. At the same time, I was made aware that Ava Metz of Pewaukee started the game against Milwaukee Pius. History was being made. No, they aren't the first females to play the sport in Wisconsin, but they are part of a growing segment of the population expressing interest in the game.

The Beginning

On the beginning god created the heavens and the earth. He allowed man to invent sports like football. In some states it became a religion…football, family and church (The last two were allowed to be switched around) but in Texas football was #! It was a rite of passage for a boy to play football and become a man.

Years ago, the Dallas Morning News ran weekly stories on the history of Texas football. One of the stories was about junior Frankie Groves of Stinnett who, on November 14, 1947, suited up for the team’s final game. She had no idea of the repercussions this would lead to.

In post-World War II Stinnett was a small town, located in the Texas Panhandle, with a population of about 650 people in 1947. It hasn’t grown much in the last 75-years.

NOTE: You may remember the name Donnie Anderson. He was a high school All-American from that tiny town, Stinnett, in 1961 then he went on to star at Texas Tech where he again earned All-American honors. A running back who could do it all he was drafted in the first round by the Green Bay Packers to replace Paul Hornung. Anderson played 10 seasons in the NFL and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.

First, Frankie told her parents that she tried out for the team, and they weren’t happy but didn’t ask her to quit. She was sort of a rebel. She would go to the local pool hall and hit a few racks. She wore jeans, not a dress!!! As she said she was a girl who liked to live on the edge and why should the boys have all the fun. The coach, Truman “Chief” Johnson, a full-blooded Cherokee who had played in the NFL before the war, saw Frankie play with the boys and remarked that he could use people like her on his team. He was doing his best, but the team was going nowhere but he wasn’t serious about Frankie playing. However, after seeing the 16-year-old junior tackle the boys, he asked her to ease up. She was 5’3, 120 and she was a bruiser. Frankie asked if she could play. He said no. She persisted. He finally gave in. His squad hadn’t won a game all year and with the finale coming up he took a chance. A big chance. He understood there would be problems so, instead of telling administrators his plans to play Frankie he called the press in the area and told them what was going on. The news got out of the panhandle and was reported nationally. Most of his players resented her playing but Johnson threatened those opposed that they wouldn’t be awarded their varsity letter if they continued to resist. So, on a frigid Friday night over 3,000 people and national press showed up for the game. More than 3-times the town’s population attended.

In the third quarter she entered as a tackle for five plays. She played three more in the fourth quarter. The opposing players tried to step on her face. This was a period in football before facemasks. They resented a girl playing their sport. Then it was over. Or was it?

Frankie Groves suiting up to play.

Stinnett beat Groom 14-6. Then, the repercussions began. Her mother was so embarrassed by the small-town gossip she refused to attend the game and didn’t leave her house for months, not even to shop for groceries. Her aunt also failed to attend the game to watch Frankie’s cousin in his final football game for she too was embarrassed. Her father was forced to resign from the school board, a position he had held for years. He took verbal abuse at his job, working at the town hardware store. And, as he predicted, Coach Johnson was fired. Then, things got even worse for females in Texas and for some around the country. The Texas University Interscholastic League (UIL), comparable to the WIAA, ruled on December 3 a “prohibition against girls playing any of the rougher sports” and this would be incorporated into the body’s rules before the next season began. They also ruled that Frankie was ineligible and should not have played as the appropriate paperwork had not been filed. Roy Bedichek, the UIL director, said that “no one thought a girl would have the gumption to try to play”. The board felt Frankie had been a victim of a publicity stunt. Coach Johnson denied the claim saying that it was serious business. Frankie dispatched a telegram to the league office saying “Gentleman, I make a plea for the girl footballers of Texas. We want to play.”

Many states followed suit and passed similar rules but into the 1970’s lawsuits in some states lightened the rules. Title IX passed banning sex discrimination in 1972 but Texas still held back. They allowed “girls” to play girls sports but not cross the line into “boys” or “men’s” sports. In 1987 the UIL relaxed the rules and allowed junior high “girls” to play football. Finally, in late 1992, the UIL, was the last state governing board in the country that voted to allow high school females to play. Some purists in Texas, thought that it was (AS per the Dallas Morning News) “the worst thing to happen since the devil came to being”.

Frankie would graduate in 1949. She would never again play football. She left Stinnett soon after her senior year to get a job. College wasn’t in her future as money was tight. She married three times, had two children and later returned to Stinnett to retire after having worked as a mortgage loan officer in Austin. Now known as Frankie Wood she, as of 2016, still lived in Stinnett.

The First Player

I don’t think the Frankie Groves case was a publicity stunt. However, the story of Luverne “Toad” Wise probably was; and yet she did play and kick for her team. Luverne appears to be in 1939 the first female to have ever played high school football. Like Frankie Groves, she drew national attention. As a junior, Luverne and three friends asked the team coach at her high school, Atmore (AL) (Now Escambia County High School) if she could play for the football team. He said yes and thought that after the girls scrimmaged with the boys that would scare them off. But when Luverne stepped up to try kicking, he got an idea. Coach Andrew Edington told her he already had a good kicker, but after seeing her kick extra points, he said he would give her a try. There was nothing in the rules against girls playing. The only rule to be a player was that they had to wear a helmet. She practiced with the team and was told that when the team was up by 20-points or more she would go in and kick the extra points. She kicked six extra points in all in 1939. The coach also saw money in having her on the team. Luverne would be a big draw at the gate as people came from miles around for the chance to see her go into the game and kick. Some came from as far as New Orleans, nearly 200-miles away. Her uniform was a blue skirt and a white top or a white bottomed dress with a blue top and it was short for the time period. Larger holes in the helmet were drilled to accommodate her hair so it could hang out more. And, she had to wear makeup.

Two of Luverne’s daughters, Susan Moorhead and Toni McMurphy in 2011.

See the video attached. It is a promo-type newsreel. FIRST GIRL TO PLAY H.S. FOOTBALL - Film & Video Stock (efootage.com)

Luverne and her holder, J.F. “Red” Vickery.

NOTE: “Red” would earn all-state honors in 1940, go on to play college ball on a University of Georgia football team that defeated ULCA in the 1943 Rose Bowl. He was transferred to Duke University by the Marines in early 1944 and served in the invasion of the island of Saipan in the Pacific. He lost his left leg in the invasion but returned home otherwise healthy and served for many years as the Register of the Circuit Court for Escambia County. He had a wife and three children.

In one 1939 game the snap to her holder went awry and she picked up the ball, spotted a teammate in the end zone and tossed the ball to him for the extra point. LIFE magazine, newsreels and press from around the country came to see her kick. Luverne earned honorable mention all-state in 1940 as a quarterback and kicker. The 1939 pass was her only one she ever threw.

She married Tony Albert and had three daughters while working in a sporting goods store that she and Tony ran for 39-years. She died of a heart attack in July 1982.

Next time a better look at Wisconsin players.

A BUSY TWO WEEKS FOR MANY

I last wrote a bit about the hectic week trying to confirm all the information/stats/records on the Washburn vs. Mellen 8-player game. However, there was other activity.

11-Player Records:

The same day of the record setting events in the Northwoods down in the southeast-central part of the state Kohler/Sheboygan Lutheran/Christian was playing Kiel in Kohler. In a frenzied battle, Kiel prevailed 56-42 but the KSLC quarterback, Matt Breitenbach passed for a state season (So far) high 468 yards (35th most yards in a single game) and he’s only a sophomore. He went 35-56-3-468-6 on the game and his main target was senior Noah Heinen who caught a state record 24 passes for 336 yards (Second all-time) and two scores. That took me only a few moments to add their stats to the record book unlike the Northwoods shoot-out.

500th career win

All the while I was digging for the 8-player stats I was looking forward to the St. Mary’s Springs vs. Lomira game results on Saturday night. Why? How could you NOT know that Bob Hyland of Springs was going for his 500th career win. Springs is the #1 ranked Division 6 team by WisSports and the #1 ranked Small School in the AP poll. So, with this past Saturday, October 7, approaching I began to troll for new stories on Coach Hyland. There was a picture of him on WisSports in a story about the top upcoming games that week from around the state but no story on him. When I talked to him this past summer…FROM THE SPRINGS A GIANT AROSE…THE LEDGERS AND BOB HYLAND (wihifootball.com) he really wanted to focus on his players and not really on himself.

As usual, Springs dominated on Friday beating Lomira 35-7 but there was a plot twist. In the third quarter, according to the Fond du Lac Reporter newspaper Coach Hyland walked onto the field to find out from the ref’s what was taking them so long to figure out a holding penalty against Lomira. They hadn’t fully indicated the call after discussion for several minutes and he spoke his mind to them. That led to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and then another was tossed and so was Coach. With 1:40 left in the period he had to leave the field and watch the game along the outer fence with some other fans. The Springs fans became livid, and a third unsportsmanlike penalty was thrown. He said afterward that the officials asked him to come out but then things happened. He was his usual self upon reflection as to him it was “just another game”. He knew the #500 win was coming sometime as others keep track, but he now was focused on next week. But for now, Coach can reflect in his own way he is now the third winningest active coach in national history and the fourth overall. John McKissick of Summerville SC retired in 2014 with 620 career wins. John T. Curtis of John Curtis Academy in River Ridge LA is still at it and currently has 608 career wins. Mike Smith of Hampton VA retired last season with 505. Springs has one more regular season game and if they make it to Madison and win it all Coach Hyland will be all alone in the number three spot, one win ahead of Smith. He plans on coaching until 2024.

The Biggest Comeback in State History??

Next up was an email from Tanner Peterson of the Amery Free Press who asked the question, what is the greatest scoring comeback of all time? I have no official record on that stat, but I have to believe that last week’s 62-58 Amery victory over Somerset has to be at the top or very near it. With 5:40 left in the third period Somerset scored to make the score 52-20. Then a furious comeback occurred as Amery reeled off six of the next seven touchdowns that would be scored. With 2:40 left in the game the Warriors crossed the goal line and kicked the final extra point Amery had comeback from a 32-point deficit. Is this the greatest? Let me know of other big comebacks.

New Players in the Game

On Friday, October 7, I was keeping stats for some friends who are assistants for Milwaukee Vincent. Chanell 12 the ABC affiliate in Milwaukee was at the game as Vincent faced Milwaukee North. I called my wife and asked her to record the 10pm news. When I got home, I watched to see the highlights and discovered a side story about a female, Ava Metz, who started at quarterback that night for Pewaukee. Yes, a female. Then I received another email from Paul Barnes of the Ashland Daily Press who I had communicated about the Washburn/Mellen game the previous week. He asked if I had any information about females playing high school football. I told him about Ava Metz, although details of her performance for her team vs. Milwaukee Pius was limited at that time. He responded that Washburn had a female playing several positions. I then wrote Todd Clark, the WIAA Director of Communications, asking if the organization had totals of females playing football this year. I’m still awaiting a reply.

Having females play is not new but unusual. In my book I had a chapter about “The First Touchdown and More”. Donna Wilborn of Mount Horeb scored a touchdown, the first for a female in Wisconsin, in 1979. In the future there would be a few females playing but as kickers. The most notable was Kassy McCarthy from Waunakee who kicked 72 extra points for the state champions. More in a future blog about female players.

Team Shutdowns

When I got home before, watching the news, my wife told me that Waukesha South had cancelled their season. They were to have played Arrowhead that Friday and this week they were to play Waukesha North. For a once proud program they were lacking healthy bodies. Their roster on WisSports shows 50+ players but the school said there were overwhelming injuries. This brings other issues. At the beginning of the season Delafield St. John’s Northwestern cancelled their varsity season due to have a small number of players, few that were juniors and seniors. They played a JV schedule this season.

MPS has a lot of issues as well. Here’s an example: Vincent has, in combination with other schools, around 1,150 students but has a roster of about 32. At the start of the season, they had 23 that were academically eligible. When they played North on October 7, North only had 13 players out of the school with 440 students. They also had the same problems as Vincent. This is a tough situation for MPS. Injuries and a lack of student support. There are other schools that found the numbers issue a problem and switched to 8-player football. That’s ok if your school is small but not for schools exceeding 200 students. As we get out of the drastic part of the Covid situation and things settle down maybe the participation numbers and support will get better. I hope so and I’m sure you too feel the same. The Vincent/North game was homecoming for Vincent. You would have expected a MUCH bigger crowd than the ones that showed up. It seemed like just about 100 people were there. It was homecoming and almost no one came.

Sad.