Gar-Field High School HUGE Football Game

[amoeba15]

9/30/11 (7:30 PM)
HYLTON HS (4-0) @ GAR-FIELD HS (4-1)

Hylton HS is ranked #2 in VA & #98 in the US.
Gar-Field HS is ranked #36 in VA & #1,176 in the US.

My old HS, Gar-Field HS, plays Hylton HS this Friday.

Tony Lilly, who played for the Denver Broncos, is the HC at Hylton HS and was my son's position (LB/DL) coach at Woodbridge HS.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Lilly

When my son played for Woodbridge and Woodbridge played Gar-Field, their arch rival, I was on the Gar-Field side line. This DID NOT please my son too much and was annoying to coach Lilly.

You have to understand that I am the Godfather of the first Grandchild of the AD (for 25 years) at Gar-Field..the same person who made Gar-Field HS 'the school of champions.' When my son was between the ages of 2-10, he was often led to the Hospitality Room, by beautiful Gar-Field Cheerleaders. However, my son chose Woodbridge for academics, rather then Gar-Field for athletics.

[TW]

Wow! I went to check out Gar-Field and their athletic program, I found that they have had a serious problem with teachers/coaches, having sex with students.

It's alleged that substitute teacher/track coach Eric Lewis, and Tina Marie Amato, an english teacher are both in the same situation.

Then there's another ex-Gar-Field teacher, Taryn Fairbanks, being charged as well.

At that point, I decided I didn't care about their athletic program. They need to do something about the type of people they hire to teach at the school. Maybe their emphasis is poorly placed.

[amoeba15]

It was much DIFFERENT when I went to school at Gar-Field, 70%+ white. Now, it probably has 35% white. Many of the students refuse to play sports because they want to impress members of the opposite sex by earning money at Potomac Mills Mall which is located accross the street from Gar-Field HS.

In fact, it was soooooooo bad at Gar-Field in the mid 90's that the school put barb wire around their fence and many people called Gar-Field, LORTON HIGH. Lorton is a local prison that was shut down. School officials put up the barb wire to keep students within their school compound, since many students skipped classes and hung out at Potomac Mills Mall.

When I attended Gar-Field HS in the late 70's, sports programs were so good that Congress passed a resolution congratuating Gar-Field HS for its OUTSTANDING athletic accomplishments. Hence, we were known as the 'school for champions.

Also, please remember that the Athletic Director for 25 years was my best friend, the Wahoo's father, and he ran things with an Iron fist. The things that exist today, DID NOT happen back then, at least not at Gar-Field HS.

Sure, within the past decade, we have had AD's at other schools in PWC who have placed hidden cameras in the girls locker rooms during HUGE athletic events. We have had coaches caught messing around with underaged boys/girls on school property, we have had teachers do the same. In short, our community of coaches/teachers have excessive and abnormal hormone problems.

One of our coaches would urinate in ice making machines at hotels/motels on road trips re athletic events, wipe his arse on blankets/sheets and many, many other deplorable acts.

We discourage such immoral and indecent such behavior because we took pride in our school and community.

Today, I have NO excuse for such deplorable actions.

BTW, the worst thing that I ever did was to help a retired 65 year old Marine Colonel & history teacher at the gate to our football stadium. We would receive a salary for collecting tickets to our game and he would always ask me to add some JD to his coke. Yup, I was in my late teens/early 20's and I would be drinking JD with somebody a half-century older then moi and on school property.

We had a layed back attitude back then, but nobody whom I was associated with was bad.

In fact, the Wahoo's GPA was 6th out of 640 graduating students. Wahoo was MVP of the football team, all-state WR and lettered in football, basketball and baseball. Wahoo was also Prom King. :-[The Wahoo taught Lutheran children throughout the year, played football at UVA and we were in the same 5th grade class.

A town in NC is named after the Wahoo's Great, Great, Great Grandfather and a statue of his Grandfather is still in the town. His Grandfather was honored because of his heroic fights against Indians. His family was among the first Americans to the US.

Another one of my friends, the Hokie, also from our 5th grade class, is related to Robert E. Lee. His family was among the first in the US.

[TW]

Things change. What's sad is the downturn in our school systems. When we need full-time police officers in middle schools, and high schools, and no it's beginning to look like we need them in a large percentage of grade schools, we need to take a look at what's really happening.

Does this mean that the teachers are failing? Some... maybe, but I think it's more along the lines of what's taught at home, and the word that's taught in our homes is violence and disrespect.

We could start by busting the video games that are violent, and teach our kids respect for others.

When you go into a restaurant, and you have to hear a bunch of 15 year old kids throwing out expletives as if they didn't matter, I wonder just how stupid the parents really are.

Anyhow, at this point, Gar-Field's athletic program means less to me than what they should do, to regain control of their system.

[amoeba15]

In 1974, #1 ranked in VA, Woodbridge HS, played #2 ranked in VA, Gar-Field HS. There were 15,000 people at the game, including moi.

In 1975, Gar-Field hosted Woodbridge HS (both teams made the playoffs) and there were more then 10,000 people at this game.

Between grades 9-11, ALL of my football teams at Gar-Field HS were UNDEFEATED. However, due to FOOTBALL fever and a INTENSE football camp (3, 3 hour practices/day for 1 FULL week & NO water breaks), only 70 out of 150 kids were injured for at least 2 weeks or longer and during my senior year, we were forced to start our 4th string QB and of course, we lost our share of games.

HOWEVER, we did win all of our playoff games, but lost the VA AAA State Championship game to Hampton HS in 1977.

Here is a few of the people whom I know and went to school with.

*Graduated three Olympians, Paula Girven '76, Benita Fitzgerald '79 and Sheena Johnson '99. Benita won Gold, while Paula's dreams were dashed due to the United States boycott of the '80 Olympic Games. Sheena won Silver.
*Paula Girven '76 still holds the school record for women's high jump at 6'1.25".
*Benita Fitzgerald '79 still holds the records for 100 meter (11.5), 200 meters (24.3), and 100 meter hurdles (19.7).
*Steve Mehr '78 still holds the record for the discus, 190'6".
*Peter Haymond '78 still holds the record for the 3200-meter run 9:20.6.

We had GREAT teams and athletes back then and there was sooooooo much community spirit.

During my senior year, Dart Drug posted a photo of me, every week, wearing my Gar-Field football jersey..stating come and support Michael and the Gar-Field Indians as they host _____________. Exxon posted, weekly, a photo of the Wahoo with the same message. It was cool that local merchants would honor Gar-Field football players during their senior year.

Since graduating from Gar-Field HS, I call the Wahoo, every Saturday or Sunday morning, and give him updates re Friday Night Football in VA. Sure, the Wahoo could google the info., but it is not the same.

[TW]

It's difficult separating the success from the failures of the system in today's schools.