By Joe Hyde
Publisher
September 10, 2007

Criticism of football usually begins with the claim that it teaches violence to children or that the game is born out of thuggery that stands in the way of harvesting world peace and understanding around the world. High school football in West Texas has roots in more violent versions of the game of years past, but today’s coaches say that there is much more to the game than that.

We know all about the hitting, the injuries, and the metaphoric calls for “smashing” (or at least physically harming) the “enemy” coming from the metal bleachers on football fields across Texas every Friday night in the fall. “Hooliganism” has long been associated with American football, particularly in the days of its founding, when U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, a fan of the sport, threatened to have it outlawed in its infancy due to the number of serious injuries and deaths.

But Roosevelt also believed that football had beneficial attributes, including building body strength and forging strong character by the adage to never give up a fight. Of his recruits for the Rough Riders who stormed Cuba during the Spanish-American War, ten listed their professions as “football player.”

Roosevelt convened a series of meetings between collegiate sportsmen, or coaches, to devise a set of rules to tame American football and prevent deaths and injuries. Out of those meetings, in 1906, the roots of what was to become the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or the NCAA, were set. From there, rules were made and enforced, and eventually the game gained a larger audience and wider acceptance.

Fast forward to today, where this area is in the heart of Texas high school football territory. Here we find a very different purpose for football than the wholesale violence of years past. Coaches, players, and former players view organized football programs as leadership laboratories for youth— male youth in particular.

Jay Jordan, a coordinator for the San Angelo area YMCA football program, that enjoys the enthusiastic participation of over 700 area elementary to middle school-aged children each year, is blunt about one purpose. He experienced it firsthand, growing up in a single-parent household.

“Many families in San Angelo lack a father figure. Our coaches become in some ways that replacement. I know because my mom made sure I had plenty of father figures in my life. My coach was one of them,” he said.

“In the lives of [male] teenagers, a male influence needs to be there. It is one of life’s circles. If you lack that male father figure, you miss an opportunity,” Jordan continued.

Both Jordan and the head of the YMCA football program, Justin Morales, are adamant that their program provides a venue where positive male role models receive an audience. According to Morales, all of the coaching volunteers have big hearts and are willing to give.

“There are so many ways playing football benefits youth,” Morales said. “You have character development. We instill into our coaching curriculum to teach caring, responsibility, honesty and respect. These are just a foundation of core values that will point towards success in life later on,” Morales said.

Coach Steve Heryford is starting his second season as the head coach of the San Angelo Central Bobcats. To him, football is a journey that teaches life’s lessons. And of course winning is one of them, but not at the expense of long-term success in life. Like any teacher involved with extracurricular activities in Texas, he understands that “No Pass, No Play” (NPNP) regulates at lot of that. “Just passing to be eligible to play is one battle our players fight. And if the teachers need you, you aren’t playing,” the coach assured.

In fact, Heryford turns NPNP around. “We use a lot of short term motivation—the opportunity to play, to be a starter, to be on the team—to build the habits of successful people [in my players],” he said.

At Wall High School, head coach Houston Guy is surrounded by the fever of Wall Hawk football, where they are building a winning tradition. This is Guy’s first year at the top. He doesn’t shy away from the real reason he loves his job. “I am a coach because of my coach,” he said. “When they leave here, it is my expectation that they will be better parents and husbands,” he said of his charges.

“Football doesn’t build character necessarily. It reveals it,” Guy said. Once revealed, young men can measure their successes and failures, and improve upon them. “You learn from both winning and losing, but you learn more from a loss,” he continued. But Guy isn’t referring to the overall game score or the winning record of the season. It’s more granular than that. “Each play out there on the field is a ‘win or lose’ situation. I tell my guys that if you can win 90% of these little battles, you’ll come out on top. It’s just like life,” he said.

At San Angelo Lake View High School, home of the Chiefs, head coach Tim Reid is the older sage and Baylor Bear who has a big picture on the whole character issue. He played football for legendary Brownwood High School coach Gordon Wood and then for the dynasty of head coach Grant Teaff at Baylor University. Prior to joining the staff at Lake View, Reid coached football for 23 years at Angelo State University.

“It is incumbent upon me to instill character traits in these young men,” Reid said. Among these traits are how to treat one another, respect for others, and working hard. “Character counts. You can be the best football player in the world, but if you don’t have character, it doesn’t mean a thing,” he said.

“Football teaches you how to deal with adversity. Anyone can do well when things are going well. But how are you going to respond to adversity? Those are things like injuries, losing, failing to reach your goals, when we have to discipline a player, not getting to play as much as you want to, and etc.,” Reid said. More than that, however, football teaches boys how to work around those challenges as a group, or a team.

“As a general rule, we talk about how to improve at each practice, and each week. You have to ask yourself ‘Am I better?’” Reid said. In football, reliving last week’s game on game film is one way to measure improvement. “You either accomplish the job [as an individual player] or you didn’t. And if you didn’t, how do you get there?” he said of the step-by-step improvement process the game encompasses.

Heryford’s views on teamwork are encapsulated in Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” “You are influenced by whoever you choose to hang around,” Heryford said. “I am lucky enough to be surrounded by young men that challenge me constantly to be a better man than I am. Their eyes are on me,” Heryford said. He revels in the natural relationship of setting goals and then meeting them as a team. And then there are what he calls “teachable moments.”

“On September 11 [2001], I was criticized for forging ahead and holding football practice,” Heryford said, “but I knew a lot of those kids wouldn’t have anyone at home if they left campus.” he said. And so, football became the backdrop for his players to deal with the national tragedy.

“If all we do is win football games, then we have failed as educators,” Heryford said. “I have five trophies in my office from Central winning at football. If you look at them, at even some of the more recent trophies, they are tarnishing,” he explained. The struggles, the wins, the losses, the grueling practices, and the camaraderie that developed among the teammates are more important than any tarnished trophy in a glass case.

“The most rewarding times are when former players call and talk to me about their successes in their careers and with their families,” he said.

Reid agrees. “Most of these kids aren’t going to college athletics,” he said, “but in high school athletics, if someone wants to be a part of the team, there is room.” And while they are there, there is ample opportunity to teach and mentor these young boys to be better men when they grow up.

Back at the YMCA, Jordan explained what football did for him. “I’m not 100% certain I would have graduated from high school if it weren’t for the sports,” he said. Today, the recent graduate of ASU is pursuing a teaching and coaching career.