In June of 1976 I was interviewed by the Vawn School Board and the Turtleford School District (Vawn-Edam) trustee for the principalship of Vawn High School. I was young and had no school administrative experience. But that didn’t concern the Board. Nor were they interested in my academic qualifications (as long as I could teach most subjects, which I could). They wanted a strong principal and felt that I would meet their expectations. I got the job. My predecessor was unable to complete his term and had left the previous March. A wonderful teacher, Sister Suzanne Papen, had assumed his duties for the rest of the year, but she had no desire to be principal. She was very glad to have me on staff.
The first day of school was, well, eventful. I’ve understated it. Fifteen minutes before the 9 a.m. bell, two grade eleven students fish tailed a half-ton truck around the corner of the school and did a 360 on the ball diamond severely scaring a teacher who was out checking for smokers. It got worse. I won’t go there.
The first two months were difficult (there, I’ve understated it again). I made a lot of mistakes, but none were fundamental — with persistence and hard work, things turned around.
My workload was phenomenal. In a small high school, there are always fewer staff to carry both the curricular and extracurricular load. I taught almost full time (Physical Education grades 10, 11, 12; History all grades; Biology grades 10, 11; Mathematics 10; and Physics 11).
In addition, I coached and managed every sport (boys and girls, seniors and juniors) – cross country running, football, volleyball, basketball, floor hockey, badminton, track and field, softball, fastball and baseball.
In some cases, I got senior students to help coach while I managed the team. The Turtleford School District was long and drawn out – 75 miles to Paradise Hill, for example. I commuted from North Battleford; after a game in the Hill or St. Walburg, I often did not get home until after midnight. Then it was up at 5 a.m. and back at school by 8 a.m. Those were the days.
I should mention that all of our staff had more than a full load of subjects to teach, and some had extracurricular responsibilities as well. Sister Suzanne, for example, was the teacher supervisor of a very fine yearbook.
Now, to the point of this essay, in June of 1977, I and a member of my teaching staff, Ed Roston, who, in consultation with our senior boys, decided to start a nine-man football team.
The whole idea was daunting. We had no experience — I had played football but never coached it, nor had Ed. None of our boys had ever played football. We had no equipment. We had no money. We had no bus. We had no permission from the board to proceed. Luckily our local trustee enthusiastically pushed that through with the district board. Permission was granted as long as it it did not cost the central board any money. So, the first order on the agenda was to raise money for equipment and transportation.
First we pumped up our canteen. We ran hot dog and pizza sales three times weekly. That brought in a lot of money. We also increased our product line to include ice cream and revels and various kinds of junk food. More money. But not nearly enough money to buy equipment and pay for a bus and driver. As an aside, selling junk food to kids is unconscionable; I should not have organized this, but I digress.
And, of course, a time honoured way for schools to raise money is to run a school dance. We had trouble getting other schools to come to our dances, so I called in our SRC to my office and instructed our president to telephone every school SRC president in the district, and schools outside our district, to assure them that our dance would be great – great music and welcoming to everyone. And it came with the assurance that our principal would personally supervise. We had two well attended dances and the kids had a great time. We made a lot of money. But not enough money. So, I organized a community supper and dance and brought my band out to play free of charge in the Vawn Hall. It was a wonderful evening. Our parents donated all of the food, the CWL catered free of charge, the village donated the use of the hall. The communities of Vawn and Edam got behind Vawn High School’s football project 100 per cent. And we finally had enough money.
The first thing we did with our newfound wealth was to buy Lashburn’s football equipment as they were getting out of football. We were able to fit most of our boys with helmets, shoulder pads, kidney protectors, pants, knee pads and cleats, other essential items for protection, and some sweaters. A few things we had to buy new. Some alterations were required, of course, and the boys’ mothers saw to it. As you can see, Vawn High School’s football project was a team effort with everyone helping.
Practices were held at noon hours, and sometimes during physical education classes. I brought a set of cast iron weights to the school for the boys to build strength and endurance. Practices were hard – rigorous. Wind sprints, tackling drills, passing drills, blocking drills and serious scrimmages were part of every practice. No one complained. Because every boy really wanted to play. And every boy who wanted to play got to play. There were no tryouts. Assistant Coach Ed Roston and I were extremely happy with our incredible, talented team and their winning attitude. I attached one condition: attend school regularly and complete all homework. We were ready.
Our first game was against Makwa (south-west of Meadow Lake). We beat Makwa 100 to seven. I felt bad about running up the score. But not that bad. Ed and I let our juniors play more in the return game. The score was still pretty ridiculous. From this point forward, Mr. Roston and I played our juniors and weaker players as much as we could. Our philosophy was if you practice, you get to play. That was a bit of an impractical rule given our goal in every game, which was to win.
Vehicles of all kinds lined the field for our home games. We had an incredible cheering section from Vawn, Edam, and surrounding areas. It seemed like hundreds of people came out to cheer our team on. We were fortunate to have the principal and vice-principal, Larry McDaid and Doug Fawcett, from Hardcastle School in Edam, come out to officiate at our home games.
We really had to whip our team into shape in record time in order to compete. But we did. We quickly developed a winning tradition. During the course of the season, we played away and home games - teams from Makwa, Carpenter High School (my alma mater) in Meadow Lake, McLurg High School in Wilkie, Chavin in Alberta, and Hillmond, to name some. We lost a game in Meadow Lake by three points. Our star half-back, Pat Delainey, broke his shoulder.
In all my years as a high school physical education teacher and coach, I have never worked with such incredible athletes as I did with the kids from Vawn and Edam. We had so many stars on the football field it would be difficult to showcase all of them. But every player contributed and was a valuable member of the team.
Thirty years later, as I fondly reminisce, of what importance was this team to anyone? Of what importance are high school sports? Why do we have high school sports? Football, and all team sports, impart lessons for life to those young athletes who engage. They build character. Young people learn to set high goals and strive to meet them. In so doing, they learn to be resourceful, and to never give up. Further, they learn how to win and they learn how to lose. Most importantly, they bring these skills and attitudes into the real world beyond high school. That’s why.
