Sometimes traditions die hard, and sometimes they leave with hardly a whimper. In Wildwood, the football tradition just sort of faded away, like old soldiers. The only difference is that old soldiers supposedly never die. That may not be the case with Warriors football.
When I escaped WHS in 1965, the football and basketball programs both flourished, and despite the school’s small student body, both programs offered serious competition to foes both large and small. In 1961, aided and abetted by Randy Beverly (and a very talented team and innovative coach), the football team went undefeated, and won the Cape-Atlantic League and South Jersey Group I titles. The basketball team won the Cape-Atlantic League and New Jersey Group I state titles.
During the next three years, the football program won the CAL and Group I titles one more time. The basketball team wore the CAL and South Jersey crowns all three years, and the state crown one more time, in 1964.
After that period, both programs performed respectably, although the football team failed to win three games in a row after 1965 until sometime in the 1990′s, if memory serves me correctly. After moving to the south, in 1981, I stopped following my hometown sports until I gained access to the internet, in the late 90′s.
I didn’t like what I saw, when I scanned the electronic news for the latest buzz on football. The marching band (or band of any type) had already marched into oblivion, and the adults involved with the football program spent their time whimpering about how the team struggled to compete in the Cape-Atlantic League, because the other teams were bigger and better. They put in a request to the New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association to be relieved of the difficult task of competing in the league. The NJIAA granted the request, and Wildwood put together a schedule against schools that most local sports fans never knew even existed. So much for traditional rivalry.
But it got better (or worse, depending on one’s point of view). WHS forfeited several games because the powers that be decided that the team had such a small number of players on the roster, some of the players could get hurt! Imagine that – some players could get hurt playing football!
At any rate, the team disbanded, primarily because the so-called coach complained that they had no weight room for the players. Now the school at least fields a junior varsity team. Baby steps, as they say.
What happened to sports in Wildwood? Apparently, the adults in charge of high school sports fumbled the ball. Or maybe they got hit in the head with a soccer ball. Yes, some of the interest shifted to other sports, such as soccer. How soon before we replace baseball with cricket? Other small schools, many of which WHS beat on a regular basis during prior years, not only kept their programs, but strengthened them.
During my years at WHS, Maxwell Field sat off-center inside a 440-yard cinder surface track, with no scoreboard, no interior fence around the field, and wooden goalposts. Today, it sports an electronic scoreboard, regulation steel goalposts, a state of the art track, and an interior chain-link fence around the field. For all practical purposes, it contains all the elements for a better practicing and playing environment. The only thing it lacks is a team.
Something more important than a team is missing, however. Some people call it competitive spirit, and others may call it character, or even chutzpah. It only grows in fertile ground, and left unnurtured, it dies a quick death.
In 1961, Coach Dom Mancia fielded a team perhaps a bit undermanned, but overflowing with desire. His playbook came out of the old school, with single wing formations run from an unbalanced line. Many on the team played both offense and defense, sometimes for the entire game. The only complaint I remember hearing was when a team co-captain returned from the coin toss and begged the team doctor to cut a cast from his hand, because the officials told him he couldn’t participate with it. The good doctor told him he didn’t think it was a good idea. The player replied that he had transferred from Wildwood Catholic just to play football, and that he wanted the cast cut off. Reluctantly, the doctor took out his shears, cut off the cast, and taped the player’s hand. He played till the final whistle.
No one that year complained that the opponents were too big, or had too many team members. No one whined about the school’s inferior facilities and equipment. Instead, they dug in their spikes and rudely introduced themselves to the other teams’ players, and won every game. The worst games of the season were a 6-0 win over Group III Pleasantville, and a 14-7 win over arch-rival Middle Township. The rest were blowouts, including a 54-0 rout over Lower Cape May in the final game.
The students, as well as the members of the community, felt proud of Wildwood High, its traditions, and its Warrior teams. At no time was that feeling more prevalent than on a football Friday night or Saturday afternoon. The drum cadence of the tiny marching band, made up of both junior high and high school students, rolled across the island like distant thunder, announcing that the school was prepared to defend its honor. If the team fell to its opponent, it was never from lack of effort or preparation.
Resurgence of the football program now seems to be a possibility. The JV football team has shown itself to be more than a worthy opponent. The basketball team never went away, and continues to compete on a respectable varsity level. Maybe all it’s going to take is for a few students to turn off their Madden 2006′s (or 2007′s or 2008′s) and get out on the real field.
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