100 Years of Bear Football Celebration (Behind the Scene Memories)

Friday, September 12, 2025, a night for recharging memories, when 125 former Willow Springs High School football players returned to Palenske Field to celebrate 100 years of Bear Football.

 

From leather helmets and a rounder football, which could be drop kicked, to drones flying overhead to stream the game online, some changes are dramatic. But the gridiron is still 100 yards from goal line to goal line, and the excitement at kickoff is the same as I remember as a player sixty years ago.

 

Before the Bears tangled with the Cabool Bulldogs in their third game of this season, veteran players gathered in the west endzone for a buffet dinner sponsored by the Bear Football Boosters. Classmate Joe Corn (WSHS 1965) reminded me the Football Boosters sponsored pre-game meals when we played in the 1960s. 

 

Before kickoff, the former players would be recognized on the field by the decade in which they played. The bulk of the football alums came from the last six decades (1970–2020), but players from my school days, the 1950s and 1960, participated in the reunion.

 

Perhaps the decade that evoked the most emotion was the 1950s. Bill Flood (WSHS 1951), Willow’s oldest football player, arrived wearing his vintage WSHS letter jacket. Bill was a running back on Coach Speedo Harmon’s 1950 SCA championship team that won the prestigious Ozark Bowl, beating Lockwood 12-6. 

 

Forest “Ike” Lovan (WSHS 1953), who looks at least ten years younger than his age, came with his son and wife, June. Ike played on the 1951 and 1952 SCA championship teams and scored the first touchdown in the Bear’s second appearance in the Ozark Bowl in 1951, beating Eldorado Springs 19-9. 

 

From the later 1950s, Wendell Bailey (WSHS 1958) and George Myers and Charlie Cooper (WSHS 1956) attended, and are some of the last players from the single-wing era at WSHS.

 

A sizeable group from the 1960-1969 era, most of whom were teammates, came to celebrate: Jerry Christopher, Van Turner, Dennis Coulter, Joe “Jody” Corn, Tom Siegrist, Lonnie Whitaker, John Foster, Terry LeBarron, Steve Foster, Don Pigg, Buster Graves, and B.J. Cash. 

 

Many of the conversations I had with players from the sixties recalled teammates who have passed away. SCA honorable mention quarterback Don Pigg (WSHS 1967) recalled the defensive ferocity of Randy James. I can attest to that. Even as an underclassman, Randy started as a defensive back. Randy and I used to brag that none of the opposing teams ran around our end.

 

Maybe it is something in the genetics of the James family. In the early 1970s, Randy’s younger brother Tim James (WSHS 1973) and his cousin Mark James (WSHS 1974), as a defensive tandem, wreaked such havoc on opposing offenses that the Palenske Field play-by-play announcer nicknamed them the “James Gang.” 

 

Reminiscing about quarterback Eddie Mack Hill (WSHS 1965), who has passed away, rekindled memories about his passing accuracy. I told Steve Foster, “Eddie Mack had a soft touch and threw a catchable ball.” In November 1992, The Willow Springs News published a historical sports review, citing Bear football statistics from 1955 to 1991, that indirectly underscore Hill’s passing proficiency.

 

The Willow Springs News stats show Hill’s primary passing targets, ends Lonnie Whitaker and Joe Corn, ranked seventh and twelfth, respectively, in career receiving yards. Whitaker’s 1963 season tied for fifth place for receptions in a single season. Virtually all those passes came from Eddie Mack. 

 

I would be remiss if I did not mention other receivers on the career reception list. In descending order: Dan Head (’67 and ’68), David Gooch 1968-1970), Jim Cox (1982-84), David Pollard (1982-84), Rick Stephenson (1967-69), Mike Barr (1965-67), Lonnie Whitaker (1962-64), Robert Brown (1985-86), Danny Brown (1988-1990), Dennis Welsch (1968-69), Roger Maggard (1972-73), Jody Corn (1962-64), Joell Wyatt (1985-87), Gary Sorrells (1959-60), John Heard ((1977), Ted Hiers (1987-90).

 

After the pre-game buffet, Football Booster Treasurer Michele Myers, John Bailey, and other boosters shepherded the old-school players to the southside of the field and stationed them at the 50-yard line. From there, the alums marched in a column across the field, arranged by decade, with players from the 1950s, leading the parade.

 

As 1965 classmates Tom Siegrist, Joe Corn, and I crossed the field, we agreed the turfgrass was a lot thicker—maybe zoysia—than when we played. [I know, this sounds like the old saw—in my day we walked uphill to school in two feet of snow.] As the column approached closer to the stands and began spreading in a line facing the fans, I was at the 30-yard line, near the place where an unforgettable incident occurred sixty-one-years ago.

 

Some events are etched as memories that last a lifetime, particularly, those “what might have been” and “if only” types. In 1964, we were playing Cabool at Palenske Field for a share of the SCA conference championship. In the waning minutes of the fourth quarter, we were down 13- 7, but had the ball on the Bulldogs 30-yard line. 

 

Hill called a pass play for me. I streaked past the defensive halfback, Hill threw a perfect pass, and just before the ball reached my outstretched hands, the Cabool player fell on my legs from behind preventing what I have always believed would have been a touchdown tying the score. The referee flagged the Bulldogs for pass interference, but we did not score afterwards. Incidentally, I still remember the Cabool rascal’s name—he whose name shall not be mentioned. (Apologies to J.K. Rowling) 

 

Would we have made the extra point? I submit we would have. Our kicker, Jody Corn, holds third-place on the Willow Springs News career kicking list. I don’t recall him ever missing an extra point. My teammates and I sometimes replay the game, but it always ends 13-6.

 

After Friday’s game started, I sat with George Myers and his son George (WSHS 1986). George (senior) impressed me with his remarkable attention to the details of the game and accurately anticipating the referee’s call before it was announced. With a recollection from the past, he said, “Seventy years ago, we beat Cabool 26-0.” He was correct—I looked it up. 

 

As an aside, when I was in high school in the 1960s, George cruised around town in a ’39 Ford, with bright orange flames painted on the sides. In retrospect, George, back then, reminds me of the character in the movie American Graffiti, played by Paul Le Mat, who owed the hotrod coupe. Cool, but kind of quiet.

 

Participation in high school activities, whether in sports, music, dramatics, or cheerleading provide a foundation of memories that last a lifetime. I saw confirmation of that on September 12, 2025, under the Friday night lights at Palenske Field.

 

My thanks to Michele Myers for her assistance in assembling statistics and facts for this article. And thanks to the Willow Springs High School administration and the Bear Football Boosters for organizing the 100-Year Celebration of Bear Football. Go Bears!