I have always had a special place in my heart for football. As odd as it may seem, without football I would not be who I am today. Every Saturday, my parents took me to see “Granny and Pa” in Southern Indiana. They lived humbly, without many amenities, including cable, and I grew up bonding with my family with the sounds of green and gold clad fans “waking up the echoes screaming her name” playing softly in the background.
In third grade, when I was told I needed a hobby, I convinced the Principal of my school to let me play football when only fourth and fifth graders were allowed. Yet, not to interfere with Allisonville Viking, my elementary school, tradition, I was mysteriously “transferred” to Crooked Creek School every Saturday.
But still, I was playing football.
In fourth grade, I was put in at tailback at my own school, but always knew I wanted to be a quarterback. The fourth grade coach had made up his mind on who our quarterback was, but I knew from my third grade football coup that minds could be changed.
At the end of practice one day, I picked up a football in front of the coach, told one of my teammates to run until he could barely see me, and two others to go cover him. He reached the end of the shortened half-field and I chucked a perfect spiral between two defenders to hit the receiver in the chest.
And the school welcomed a new quarterback to the fold.
I say all of this not to brag, but to illuminate how sports can be bigger than just a game. In just two short years I had gone from a kid told he needed a hobby so he would stop doing stupid stuff with the neighbors, to an empowered leader who took pride in being someone people looked up and listened to.
Football changed me, and I know that every year, as Friday Night Life begins in Northwest Indiana, there are kids out there who are doing incredible things because they were given a chance to do something positive in their life. Kids, who may well be doing something different, like I was, messing around and being a dumb kid not knowing the potential they have to make a difference in their and others’ lives.
Who knows what Radiant Sykes or Sammie Campaniello might be doing if Lake Central and Chesterton hadn’t given them a chance to play? Probably fulfilling some stereotype they didn’t want to do.
Look at difference Joey Sparks made for others when he got a chance to play football. He’s created a bond that will make a difference in this community for years to come.
The point is, there is a lot more to the game of football than just a game. And when the photos roll in the LIFE sites tonight from the games, take a deeper look at them - you just might see it, too.