Alright, so last Tuesday I was cleaning out my garage and found my old Byron Center High football jersey from ’09. Totally sparked this idea: why not put together a legit list of our school’s top football legends? Like those guys we still talk about at reunions.
Starting Point Was Messy
First thing – hit up the school archives office Thursday morning. The lady there kept saying “just check the trophy cases” like it’s 1995. Spoiler: half those plaques have faded names. Dug through moldy yearbooks in their storage room for two freakin’ hours – found some gold though, like Coach Miller’s handwritten stats from 2001 season.
The Real Breakthrough
Texted my buddy Mark whose dad played in the 80s. Dude connected me to old Booster Club members via Facebook (RIP my inbox). Got bombarded with polaroids and newspaper clips. Mrs. Kowalski even dug out VHS tapes of the ’98 championship – watched them at her kitchen table while she fed me pierogi. Legend.
- Tip: Never ask “who was good?” Always ask “what play still gives you chills?”
- Shocker: Three guys I remembered as gods actually transferred junior year!
Compiling Nightmare
Tried using Google Docs. Disaster. Phone kept ringing with “you forgot so-and-so!” accusations. Switched to sticky notes on my basement wall like a detective movie. Color-coded by decade – blue for QB legends, red for defense monsters, yellow for special teams psychos. My dog ate two sticky notes. Not kidding.
Final Tiers
Split ’em into categories after arguing with my barber (played ’92-’95):
- Untouchables: Guys like Grady who broke state records
- Clutch Kings: Last-minute TD makers like Sanchez
- Shoulda-Been-Pros: The knee-injury tragedies
Finished yesterday morning with 27 names spanning 1987-2018. Left the sticky note wall up – wife thinks I’m insane but whatever. Might frame this mess.