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by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle When you spend a lot of time scouring the web for high school football news, you uncover a gem or two.
I liked this one today about the retirement of Neil & Jill Little from Maumee, Ohio, who announced they were retiring after nearly two decades of broadcasting local football and basketball games on the radio, public-access television and internet in the Toledo area.
Neither was formally trained in the biz, but looks like from the story in the Toledo Blade that the team known as "Mr. & Mrs. Friday Night" had a great following.
As one who loves the game of high school football, I give a big thumbs up to the Littles for taking the time to share their passion with others.
Click here to read the story of the retirement of the nation's only husband/wife broadcast team America.
by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle A report by the National Athletic Trainers' Association shows that impacts during both high school football practices and games occur more frequency and with more intensity, than at the collegiate level.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois at Ubana-Champaign, analyzed the biomechanics of football tackles to better understand the high risk of concussions and serious cervical spine injuries faced by high school players. One of the conclusions...coaches must teach proper tackling techniques in order to reduce the risk of those types of injuries.
by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle The news that the Indiana High School Football Championships are staying in the Lucas Oil Dome for three more years through the 2011-2012 school year comes as no surprise. However, the fact that the Indianapolis Colts will sponsor the entire state football championship tournament does.
The Colts are believed to be the first professional sports franchise in the country to partner with a high school association for this type of sponsorship.
“We are extremely pleased and appreciative of the Indianapolis Colts involvement in making sure high school football continues at Lucas Oil Stadium,” said Blake Ress, IHSAA Commissioner. “This plan has been more than a year in the making and their financial involvement will help reduce the ever-increasing expenses associated with holding the state finals at Lucas Oil Stadium. This one-of-a-kind type of sponsorship is like no other that I know of in the country. The Indianapolis Colts commitment to the local community and the community at large certainly made this type of sponsorship agreement possible.”
“The Colts organization has a long standing commitment to youth football in Indiana and our new relationship with the IHSAA is an extension of that commitment,” said Tom Zupancic, Colts Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing. “The IHSAA and the Indianapolis Colts have a common goal of developing the core values of young athletes. It is an honor to join forces with such an outstanding organization.”
“The IHSAA would also like to thank Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard for his leadership in making sure we continue to play championship high school football in Lucas Oil Stadium in front of thousands of fans,” said Ress.
Mayor Ballard understands the importance of keeping the football state finals here in Indianapolis. “It is critical that the capital city of our state remain the home of our high school championships and I am thrilled the IHSAA and the Indianapolis Colts worked together to make this happen,” said Mayor Ballard. “I continue to believe that Lucas Oil Stadium is a community gathering place for our entire state and I am pleased that we will continue to call it the home of the IHSAA Football State Finals.”
Last fall’s state championships, which were played in Lucas Oil Stadium for the first time, drew a record crowd of 40,680 to Saturday’s three games (Class 3A, 4A and 5A). Coupled with Friday’s attendance (Class A and 2A), the state finals drew an overall record total of 56,050.
by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle As everyone knows, my job (not an official one, but someday soon) is to comb the media for high school football stories, and then post them on The High School Football Huddle, so it's a little easier for my readers to get high school football news.
For the most part, I like to talk about all of the positive things that are associated with high school football. I generally don't post the stories about arrests and the police blotter stuff.
However, today I came across a story that made me scratch my head, and thought I had to post it.
It comes from The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg in Virginia...
According to the published report Caroline High School will not suspend head coach Ben Boyd for this season even though he's been arraigned on two felony charges of forging and uttering a public document. This is the same Ben Boyd, who in 1991 had a federal misdemeanor conviction for misbranding and illegally dispensing anabolic steroids.
Now, I certainly believe that in America, you're innocent until proven guilty...but...the Caroline School Board didn't even discuss possibly suspending the head coach at its Monday meeting!! If you're wondering, the Virginia High School League has no policy on coaches charged with crimes, so it's up to the individual districts.
Click here to read the entire story, while I continue to scratch my head on what this school district is thinking?
Oh wait...I figured it out...it's because the knuckleheads on the school board think it's too close to the start of practice, and Boyd's suspension could jeopardize the team's season.
That's it...wins trump integrity! Everyone on that school board should be suspended until they figure out the right thing to do!
by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle Full contact drills don't begin until August 1st, but coaches in Kentucky are able to get down to the business of coaching today in the Bluegrass State. However, not all teams will be on the practice field today for non-contact workouts.
State officials want to make sure that before heading out into the summer heat, all coaches have completed training to comply with the state's new rules on heat-related training that were implemented last year after the heat-related death of Max Gilpin of Pleasure Ridge Park.
Two week's ago, the National Athletic Trainers' Association recommended that high school football teams should eliminate two-a-day practices in the first week of August. Kentucky High School Athletic Association rules prohibit teams from holding two-a-day workouts on consecutive days.
Click here to read about the National Athletic Trainers' Association recommendations.
The regular season begins August 21st in Kentucky.
by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle Just got back from a meeting in St. Louis where I met Billy Bob Thornton, the star of Friday Night Lights, who is currently working on producing a movie on Cardinals manager Tony La Russa's book 3 Nights in August. FNL's author Buzz Bissinger is also the author of La Russa's book.
Billy Bob was very cool...just like you'd expect him to be!!
I enjoyed a five minute conversation with him on baseball. For those of you that don't know, the Academy Award winning actor had aspirations of being a major league baseball player for the Redbirds, but the closest he got, was his current close friendship with La Russa.
Before the end of the chat, I asked Billy Bob for his thoughts on Gary Gaines returning to the sidelines at Odessa Permian this fall.
"It should be interesting," replied Thorton, who played the tough nose Gaines in 2004 movie.
Click here to read an earlier Huddle story on Gaines returning to the Permian sidelines.
by Jeff Fisher The High School Football Huddle With the first day of high school football practice only 16 days away, I'm going to take some time to help Huddle fans check out the schedules from around the nation.
We start today with Illinois and Ohio. The first day of practice in the Buckeye State is August 3, Illinois starts on August 12.
Click here for every schedule in Illinois from the IHSA.
With all of the business travel lately, I didn't have a chance to tell you about the football camp that my company co-sponsored and helped produce with the Chicago Bears Jason Davis.
Blitz Group teamed-up with Davis, who played his college ball at the University of Illinois, and 17th Ward Chicago Alderman Latasha Thomas for a free camp for kids 5-14 in Englewood on the south side of Chicago on June 20th. Over 150 kids showed-up for the camp at Ogden Park.
It was very heartwarming to watch the kids interact with Jason and his teammates Kevin Jones, Chris Williams, Adrian Peterson and Garrett Wolfe. All of Davis' teammates pitched-in to help the kids that live in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the Windy City.
The camp also served as the launch of Davis' foundation called Barred But Not Broken. The foundation's mission is to restore broken homes due to incarceration. Jason's heart is especially fond of children of incarcerated parents and his desire is to make a difference in their lives. The foundation encourages scholastic achievement by setting and reaching high goals. In addition Barred But Not Broken believes spiritual growth can help break the cycle of broken families that are affected by incarceration.
Blitz Group donated its media relations and event production services to the camp, and also served as the creative consultant that named Davis' foundation. Other sponsors included B.J.'s Market, Chicago Bears, Eric Daniels Sound, Jason Davis Barred But Not Broken Foundation, NFL Youth Fund, Subway, The Will Group, The William & Mary Foundation and Windy City Dolphins Youth Football League.
"Jason and his wife Jessica are very special people that believe in reaching down to help children in these impoverished areas of Chicago," said Trish Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer and founder of Blitz Group. "Jeff and I founded Blitz Group by donating our media services to non-profit organizations. We believe that companies should always look for ways to help children, and that's why we were happy to join forces with the Davis family."
“My office worked to develop Jason's camp because I recognize that each young person in my community needs access to activities that challenge them, entertain them, and give them the experience, motivation and encouragement to pursue their interests and dreams," said 17th Ward Alderman Latasha Thomas, 17th Ward Alderman and Chair of City Council Education Committee.
"I was very pleased with my first camp in Chicago, which came on the heels of my first camp in St. Louis," said Jason Davis. "My wife and I want to be a part of this Chicago community, because these children need roles models. As far as our foundation, just about everyone's family has been affected by incarceration, including mine, and I want to make sure that kids have tools to work with to make sure those family bonds are not broken during those very difficult times."
To hear more from Jason and Alderman Thomas, please check-out the great video from Mouthpiece Sports below.
