- Football Fever: -

When longtime Waitsburg resident Bert Aylward and his wife Linda were getting ready for his family reunion at Fort Walla Walla last summer, they rummaged through a trunk full of old photographs. The couple had stored the keepsakes after his parents passed away but had not gone through all the old pictures yet.

Every one of the 88 Witt descendants coming from across the country to Walla Walla was supposed to present or recite an item of family history. As Aylward went through the photos, it didn't take long for inspiration to stare him in the face. He was holding a photograph of his grandfather, Bert Witt, as a member of a 1902 Waitsburg Academy football team. The discovery was noteworthy because Aylward had never seen this picture of his young grandfather, who rarely even mentioned his short career as a school football player.

But there was something else. On the back of the picture was the explanation for the team's self-confident glances at the studio photographer, who captured their proud assembly for the ages.

They were champions.

Barely two decades after the rules of football had been codified and one decade after the launch of professional football, Waitsburg had a team that beat Spokane High School 11-0 at home on Dec. 13, 1902 - now more than a century ago - in what would have been the equivalent of a state-championship game.

This was the age of early football, barely severed from its rugby roots, when there were no end zones and players had three downs to make five yards, when "padding" was a thick jersey and leather helmets protected only the tops of the athletes' heads, when the clock was stopped only after scores or during arguments between players and officials, when a touchdown was worth five points and the game centered around running and kicking - the forward pass not to be legalized for another four years.

Aside from Witt, the 1902 team included players with familiar names, many of whose descendants still live in the Waitsburg area: Jack Sweazy, Dick McCown, Fred Smith, Jack Kruchek, George Hardy, Emory Mc- Cown, Chas Weller, A. Wisdom, Claude Klum and John Moore Jr.

Many of their descendants went on to play football themselves, including Aylward, who played as a tackle before he graduated in 1962, though he said he was "no star player."

At a time when football fans are in the grip of Super Bowl fever, and the communities of Waitsburg and Prescott are still riding high on the Cardinals' extraordinary 2010 performance, it's worth noting just how far back the sport's success in the valley goes.

Waitsburg, Prescott and Dayton had many memorable teams in 100 plus years of football. Today's young players, such as Cardinals Zach Bartlow and Kris Cady, and Bulldogs Colton Bickelhaupt and Kroft Sunderland, had predecessors who paved the way for the popularity of the sport here.

The Bulldogs won state at least three times - in 1940, 1951 and 1994, said Dean Bickelhaupt, current head coach and Colton's dad, who was himself a Bulldog and whose father also played the game in his day, receiving honorable All State mention as a running back.

In Waitsburg, Witt's 1902 team and the 9-0 Cardinals of 1967 stand out among the most successful teams.

"We were fortunate," said Jim Leid, a key linebacker and tight end on the '67 team that also included Larry Conover as quarterback, Frank Reser as running back and defensive corner back, and many others who made it a special season.

"We had a big number of players," said Leid, who now coaches the winning Mustangs middle school team that grooms young players for the Cardinals. "We had good team speed and a goodsized line. We were very competitive. Everyone on the team was trying to outdo everybody else (on the team)."

Conover was a last-minute substitute for starter Jack Roberts, who sustained a back injury at the beginning of the season.

"It happened a few days before our first game," recalled Conover, who had never played quarterback before. "I was a halfback. The coach called me into his offi ce and asked me if I wanted to try the position. We always played on Fridays. On Thursday, we ran through some plays."

Asked if it was a challenge adjusting to a brand-new position, Conover gave the thought a shrug.

"It wasn't a problem," he said modestly, giving much of the credit to the rest of his team. "We had one hell of a football team."

Coach Richard Kinart's ranks benefitted from the post-war baby boom and the local construction of dams on the Snake River, which swelled Waitsburg's population. The school district had more than 400 students compared to this year's 325.

From the three dozen players, Kinart was able to assemble a team that never faced a serious challenge from anyone in the league. The team included some of the fastest track athletes in the state: Robert Maib, J.K. Keve and Reser, Conover said.

In those days, the emphasis was on the running game, with Conover passing only 50 times the entire season. Center Randy Pearson always knew exactly what to do in case of a quarterback sneak or another play to trick opponents, as Conover recalled.

"You'd get in the huddle and go 'okay, who wants to make the touchdown now?'" he said. "We also had an exceptional coach. He'd get you through anything that needed to be done."

Of the nine opponents, only four even put points on the board against the Redbirds. The closest games were against Zillah at 9-0, Colfax at 27-14 and Warden at 20-6. Waitsburg beat DeSales 40-12 and, in the last game, they steamrolled Dayton 46-7.

At a time before modern playoffs, when only a mythical championship existed in the form of a sports writers' poll, Waitsburg placed third in the state, just like the 2010 Cardinals.

Reser describes hometown attendance as "wall to wall," saying the 12th man was critical to his team's success.

"Good football teams take advantage of every break they get and Waitsburg did just that Friday night polishing off an improving young DeSales squad 40-12," according to one report in the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

"Waitsburg raced to a 20-0 lead with a quick move to the jugular early in the game," sports writer Al Zack wrote, recalling the maneuvers that made the 1967 team famous locally. "On a third and 10 situation deep in their own territory, Robert Maib took a handoff from quarterback Larry Conover and began a rollout to the right.

"Maib, a threat to go the distance on any play, drew up the secondary and lofted a pass across the field to Conover who streaked the remainder of the 74 yards for the score with 4:43 remaining in the quarter.

"The suddenness of the score, after the Irish had defended the Cards' multiple offenses well in the early going, shook up the hosts who fumbled the ensuing kickoff."

Sound familiar?

It should, since the 2010 Cardinals similarly rolled over tough opponents early on with "shock and awe" combinations involving Bartlow and Cady.

But the end run tactic goes much further back than the 1960s, according to a description on the back of Aylward's 1902 photograph:

"In spite of the slippery field, the (Waitsburg) Academy men made long gains on quick end runs, and this style of play delighted the crowd as it gave a chance to follow the course of ball.

"In offensive work, Hardy was a tower of strength and made repeated gains. Smith, Sweazy and E. McCown seldom failed to make a gain when called upon and their play was fast. In the line, Weller, Witt, Klum, Wisdom and Moore played a masterly game.

"On the defense, sensational tackles were made by Witt, Hardy, Sweazy, Smith and the two McCowns."

The Witt football legacy didn't end with Aylward. His son Mark played here in the 1980s. His grandson, Levi Hatfield, who just turned 13 and goes to Preston Hall, also loves playing the sport.

And so time continues to connect the generations in an all-American sport that has produced some great players and teams here through the ages.

"All of us are proud of our forefathers and what they did," Aylward said.