Prior to 1934 most of the football in this area was played by ex-students, young men working in the field, and anyone else who had a desire.This was referred to as "Outlaw Football", and most of the small communities fielded a team of sorts. Jal was no exception. The majority on Jal's team were young men working for EPNG, and I wouldn't be surprised if EPNG didn't knowingly or unknowingly furnish the team's
equipment. I don't know what set the wheels in motion to turn from "Outlaw" ball to a school activity, but in 1934 it was decided to have a Jal School Football Team. The school inherited the equipment from the "Outlaws" as well as an advisory panel that wouldn't quit. A young fellow by the name of "Pop" Stuart came with the equipment,
so he was our coach.

Now from time to time in this story I may refer to shortages or problems, but I don't want to leave the wrong impression. We were keeping up with the Joneses. We were as well off as our neighbors; there just wasn't that much money around. We were still in a depression, and while we all sat around and sang "Happy Days Are Here Again", our hearts and our pocketbooks didn't realize it. Football was a luxury, not a necessity.
While we're on the subject of money, our only source of income was passing the hat at the ballgames.

Our ballpark was the open block at the foot of the hill where the Auto store is now located. Not having a fence or stands, there was no way to sell tickets .Donations was the only way. Due to the condition of our roads we had to pley Round Robin with the other towns so we could make up a schedule. That made the donation bit fair, because each one of us had a game at home. Another thing that the round robin schedule did was even out the home field advantage. They speak of home field advantage now...you should have seen it back then when all the officials were hometown volunteers. There were a few times when some of the calls were biased, but it was a comfort to know that you would get a shot at them when they came to visit you.

Some of the other oddities of the time were the half-time huddles. Not having a field house, during the half one team would huddle up at one end of the field and the opposing team would use the other. It was not uncommon for some of the local yokels to go down and give the visitors a hard time during the half-time ceremonies. The "ceremonies" consisted pf a Pep Squad of about 6 to ten girls leading the crowd in some soul-stirring yells. I don't remember all the yells, but I do know that "Two-Four-Six-Eight" came up a number of times. Now lest you think I am picking on the Pep Squad and their actions.....our football team had its problems as well.

With a bench strength of one there was a lot of maneuvering going on. For instance--
our punter, Jay Johnson, was also our center; so when we had to punt we moved R.L.Robinson over from guard to center and our quarterback, Verlis Johnson, had to play guard. I think every quarterback should have to play in the line a few plays. That way, he'll tend to his business and not set back there picking his nose while the line is getting their brains beat out. As you can guess, my position was Tackle. It amuses me when I hear some of the old geezers my age talking about pass patterns, blocking assignments, and all the other football talk. As I recall, my instructions were "if the guy in front of you doesn't look familiar, knock him down; if he does look familiar, turn around....you're going the wrong way!"

Now our pass pattern was somewhat fluid in nature. In other words, we didn't have the slightest idea of what was going to happen. Jay centered the ball back to Verlis and we held them off of him for as long as we could. He threw it as far as he could. Now when you get in that position you are at least in a fifty-fifty situation. You have as good a chance as the other guys. Surprisingly, some of the passes were completed. Anyway, it was a beginning.

Next year there was a little money and if nothing else, we had generated enough interest to put the program on the road. Of course, they started taking all the fun out of it with their silly rules. I don't believe that I ever heard grades mentioned during our first year. If he went to school....that was good enough. A man just can't get too much education.