Paper Jaguar
My wife Lori and I have photographed the Mill Valley Jaguars football team for eight years. We’ve seen the team win multiple state championships. We’ve seen them win in miraculous fashion. And we have seen them take heartbreaking losses.
For several years I’ve wanted to do a special project with the Mill Valley football team. But what? What could be new, different and interesting?
My first thought was to go the “Paper Lion” route.
For those of you who don’t know, “Paper Lion” was a book by journalist George Plimpton who documented his efforts as he tried out to be the third string quarterback for the 1963 Detroit Lions.
The problem was that no matter what TV shows like “21 Jump Street” and “Beverly Hills 90210” told us, there was no way in hell I was going to pass as a teenage transfer to Mill Valley. The balding head and creaking knees were a dead giveaway. And there’s no chance I was going to sit through an Algebra class again in my life. The first three times were enough for me. And yes, a D- is a passing grade.
My next thought was to ask Mill Valley head coach Joel Applebee to let me join the team for a week. I would put on the pads. Run the drills. Run the plays. And show the young bucks how we did things back in the 80s. Then I would write about my experience. I figured what I lacked in strength and speed I could make up for with experience and a willingness to cheat if necessary.
There were problems with this plan too. One, I’m sure KSHSAA wouldn’t allow it – because KSHSAA is a bunch of killjoys. And two, AM I FREAKING NUTS!!! These guys would kill me. I’m 5 foot 8 inches and in terrible shape. Best case scenario would see me in traction for six months with the hope I could one day eat solid food again.
I needed to get realistic. What could I do? I can write. I’m an award winning journalist (shameless self-promotion here) who loves sports and loves Mill Valley football. For Center Stage Sports, I’ve been writing short game summaries on Saturday mornings to go along with the game photos Lori and I take each week. I try to infuse a little bit of humor into those write-ups and captions.
During the years that we have been photographing the Jaguars, many great stories could have been told but weren’t.
I grew up in Iola, Kansas, and we had the world’s greatest sports writer. Her name was Jocelyn Sheets and she wrote incredible articles for my hometown newspaper, the Iola Register. On Friday nights she would write epic 2500-word stories about the Iola Mustangs football game. Then she would write another thousand words about the game played by the Cubs in nearby Humboldt. Then another 500-word story about the Crest Lancers; and another about the LeRoy Blue Jays.
Jocelyn was a machine. She made the community teams feel special.
Sadly, small newspapers just aren’t around anymore. The Shawnee Dispatch is gone and nothing has taken its place.
I may not be able to start a newspaper in western Shawnee but I can surely tell some stories that deserve to be told.
My first attempt at this was last year’s “Rivalry,” which chronicled the Mill Valley-St. Thomas Aquinas rivalry. I spoke to several players who were part of that rivalry over the past 10 years, who helped me to tell the story. I am proud of how it turned out, and of the way it was received. It turns out, there’s a lot of you out there who love the Jaguar story as much as I do.
So this winter, I came up with the idea of “Jaguar Summer.” I would follow the team throughout the summer and write a big article about what I observed and publish it before the first game of the season. I approached Coach Applebee about the project and he agreed to it. I was in.
But on my first day with the team, I realized that there was a gold mine of stories that I could tell. Instead of one big article, I’ve decided that I wanted to tell several stories as the summer progressed. Some serious. Some humorous. Some off the wall.
So my plan now is to tell at least one story a week. Maybe sometimes more. I hope to give you a glimpse of what it takes to be a Jaguar football player - the triumphs and heartbreak - as they look to reclaim the Kansas Class 5A state championship.
I hope you enjoy this project.
