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Sunday Morning Newspaper Article

September 9, 1962

“High School Football Began Friday Night”

“SPORTS ROUNDUP”: This week marks the official opening of high school football. The first game will be played by the “Engineers” of Stanton Vocational High school against the “Yellow Jackets” of Northwestern Junior/Senior High School in a bitter rivalry. The Douglas Anderson “Firey Dragons” would be seeking their first win over the Matthew W. Gilbert High School “Panthers.” Both games are scheduled for Saturday, but they will be deciding which of the games will be playing on Friday night my Wednesday. All games are played at Durkee Field Park.

The Florida Interscholastic Athletic Association rulings for the next year, will prohibit any team from beginning their season prior to September 15th of each year, thus preventing two games being played on the same day, however, the local authorities appealed to the powers to be in hope of playing one of these games would be played on Friday. (All “Black” schools played in the same park).

It seems this article stirred-up a hornet’s nest after the following weeks when it was made public of the ruling concerning the eligibility of athletes. This was not done to try to bring out the fact that some schools are not meeting eligibility requirements, but rather bring to the attention of interested persons and bipartisan fans that our local youth meet certain minimum requirements to be eligible to represent a school. Some out-of-town schools would play athletes over the age limit requirements, so this eligibility rule was added so that all schools would apply to this ruling.

There are some other requirements that should be of importance to our parents. For instance, parents should be aware that their children are required to have a health physical examination before being allowed to participate in any strenuous athletic competition. I doubt very seriously many parents concern themselves, simply because the high school coach has taken upon himself to arrange for these examinations. I must say, however, that the local physicians who give these examinations, free of charge to the athletes, must be commended for their charitable service. Also, there is a rule requiring “parental permission slips” that are given before a male or female can participate in athletic contests.

During the summer of 1961, there were many discussions regarding the protective gear worn by football players. In the past decade, collegiate and high school rules committees have worked endlessly in trying to improve on the safety factors in football. Stronger wording of rules and stiffer penalties, expansion of rules regarding the fibers used in protective equipment, improvement in headgear, the addition of face masks, and the more recent requirement that all players must wear an oral mouthpiece for teeth protection, they felt that it will be a part of all and any safety factors taken to protect youth athletes.

In football, safety measures take on several factors. It is designed to keep injuries to a minimum. The alliance for football codes will make that happen, and a type of game administration rule will encourage safety to take place.

A liberal substitution rule permits full relief for players who are tried to the point they are vulnerable to injury. A passer in an unbalanced position is protected against careless charging by an opponent. The clipping rule includes any charging from behind that might cause a spine injury. A center, guard, or tackle may easily become a ball carrier by exchanging places with a back, thus permitting a distribution of strenuous activity when the squad is small. A kick that goes into R’s end zone becomes dead so that a receiver does not absorb unnecessary punishment.

Rules that encourage more ball handling behind the line reduce the pileups, neck and knee twisting, which would otherwise be common. Safety equipment is being continually improved.