By FRED KRONER
Thursday September 1, 2005
CHAMPAIGN — It was big:
–like Shaquille O'Neal visiting an all-day kindergarten class;
–like Nicole Kidman joining eight of your closest friends for a birthday party in your back yard;
–like the potential winnings in this week's Big Game lottery in Illinois.
The football rivalry between Urbana and Champaign Central high schools has been tantamount in importance and impact for nearly a century.
The 100th game between the schools will take place in eight days, with the 7 p.m. showdown scheduled at Champaign's Tommy Stewart Field at Centennial High. Advance tickets are on sale at the athletic department of each school.
The 1978 Wright St. Trophy, with Urbana Mayor Jeff Markland (L) and Champaign Mayor Bill Bland.
Don't think it's just the athletes from yesteryear who place a premium on the series. Tommy Matt, a current senior linebacker at Central, said, "Some would say every game means the same, but this one means a lot more, especially with it being the 100th game."
Bruce Elliott, a 1968 Champaign High graduate, went on to play in two Rose Bowls (1970 and 1972) as a defensive back at Michigan. For three consecutive years he played in collegiate games that attracted more than 100,000 spectators. And yet ...
"I probably remember some of those high school games better than the ones in college," said Elliott, now an attorney in Ann Arbor, Mich. "You tend to remember those games in high school. They were kind of the first experience.
"You hear about the rivalries in college –Auburn and Alabama, Michigan and Ohio State. Champaign and Urbana was that same kind of rivalry."
Tracy Parsons, an Urbana graduate who played football at Northwestern and is now president of the Urban League, can relate to the significance of the Tigers' annual showdown with the Maroons.
"Those games were the most memorable for me, including my college career," Parsons said. "It was a wonderful experience and has lasted a lifetime."
The old-timers will tell you, in case it's not already abundantly clear, the games were intense, and they were fiercely fought. Beyond a victory, pride was at stake.
"I don't know if I could compare anything to the magnitude of that game," said Bill Stahl, a 1975 Central graduate who quarterbacked the Maroons. "That took on its own flavor."
Joe Millas was a News-Gazette sports writer for 20 years before relocating to Florida in 1993. He said the manner in which an overall season was viewed for each school hinged on the outcome of the Urbana vs. Champaign Central game.
"If you had a losing record and won that game, it wasn't a losing season," said Millas, who teaches speech and leadership development at Palm Beach Community College.
Millas also expressed similar thoughts after covering the Nov. 4, 1977 game. He wrote:
"... it's a season wrapped up in one joyous night, and Urbana's Tigers celebrated for a whole season after they defeated arch-rival Champaign Central 14-13 in overtime Friday night.
"The pandemonium in the Urbana locker room could have easily given someone the impression that the Tigers had just captured the Class 4A state title. They couldn't have enjoyed it more. ..."
Entering that game –the lone overtime game in the series –Urbana's season record was 2-6 and the Maroons were 5-3.
No truer words could have been written than those penned by Millas, according to Andy Dixon, from Central's Class of 1972.
"We could have been 0-8, but if we won the Urbana game it would have been a successful season," said Dixon, now an equipment manager at the UI. "It was the season."
Ask Charlie Bareither, a 1966 Urbana graduate, to recall his best high school performance, and he finds his memory concerning details of particular games has faded. Time, however, has not eroded the visions of the football games with heated crosstown rival Champaign.
"There were games where I gained a lot of yardage or did things statwise, but that game (against the Maroons) is the one I remember," Bareither said. "I remember it more intensely than any other game I played in. I didn't think about anything but that game for an entire week leading up to it.
"Other games were just games. Champaign wasn't just a game. It was a war, and the intensity level was 1 or two times greater than when you played anybody else. It was a huge challenge."
The players' feelings were shared by the spectators. For decades, fans turned out en masse for the game. The 1925 game was played on Thanksgiving Day and had a crowd of 8,000.
In 1934, the attendance was 7,000. Two years later, 6,000 watched the high schoolers play ball.
After the 1936 game at Champaign's McKinley Field, News-Gazette sports writer T.O. White wrote in the Oct. 24 editions: "It is quite a tribute to the importance of the game when thousands of people will set an hour or more just to be sure of a good location."
In 1944, the 8,000-person mark for attendance was hit again.
Fred Major Jr., a retired geologist who lives in Houston, Texas, placed the 1944 spectator attendance in perspective.
"During the war years, Champaign games were drawing more fans than the University (of Illinois) was," said Major, a 1947 Champaign graduate. "They had (gas) rationing, and not many people were driving any distance to a ballgame."
A review of UI records for 1944 showed the Illini had 5,386 fans for their season opener at home on Sept. 16 and 7,986 one week later against Indiana.
(It should be noted, however, when Notre Dame played in Champaign later that same season, the attendance was 65,114.)
Major said the spectator turnout means more now as he reflects back than it did during his teen-aged years.
"It was nice to see the stands full," he said, "but then, my mind was on the game and not too much on the stands."
As recently as 1961, a popular Friday night attraction continued to be the Champaign football game against Urbana.
A person known for his movie reviews –not his sports writing –nonetheless staffed the 1961 Urbana-Champaign football game for The News-Gazette. In his story, Roger Ebert wrote:
"... and for 7,500 fans, jammed shoulder-to-shoulder at Champaign McKinley Field in one of the history's largest C-U game crowds, there was a classic chapter added to a gridiron rivalry that reaches back to 1894. ..."
Darren Hursey, a 1986 Urbana graduate, was the starting quarterback in three successive games against the Maroons. He said a lot was at stake because of the interest in the contest.
"Everybody knew when we were gonna play that game," Hursey said. "Since that was one game the general public would be at, we all wanted our best hits."
What Hursey sensed was a reflection of the pulse of the two communities. Former News-Gazette sports editor Loren Tate, never at a loss for an opinion, said, "By far, that was the biggest game. There were strong, aggressive feelings in both cities. There was not anything that approximated it.
"As big as Central and Centennial is now, it was never as big as Champaign and Urbana was at its peak. A lot of people came out who might never have come to another event."
Doug Carroll, who now works as the education reporter for the Arizona Republic, grew up in Urbana and faithfully accompanied his father, Bruce, to the Tigers' games for years before he entered high school.
"I grew up thinking high school football players were as huge in terms of stature as you could get," said Carroll, a 1973 Urbana graduate who spent nearly seven years as a sports writer at The News-Gazette in the 1970s. "What sold me on how cool high school sports could be was the Urbana-Champaign football game.
"People you didn't think cared would be there."
What evolved over the years was a mutual respect for the opponent, not a bloodthirsty drive to win at all costs.
Champaign's Tom Stewart coached in 31 games in the series (winning 17) and savors one lasting memory.
"Smitty (former Urbana coach Warren Smith) and I talked, and as intense as the rivalry was, he and I couldn't recall an unsportsmanlike conduct call on either team," Stewart said.
He said it showed that aggressiveness and dirty play did not have to be intermingled.
"Boy, we went after it each game," Stewart said.
Prior to Stewart's era, there was conflict and confrontation. The series was suspended in the early 1900s, and when it resumed in 1907 it wasn't on a permanent basis, and the schools did not play in 1908. As reported in Urbana's high school yearbook, The Rosemary, there was little advance notice for the 1909 game.
"As Urbana won game after game in 1908 she thot (cq) of each one as a step toward wiping out the defeat at the hands of Champaign the year before, but as the season came to a close, with Urbana the acknowledged champions of the state, our sister city lost all her 'nerve' and as a result the Twin cities did not meet that year. In the early spring of 1909, Urbana began sending representatives to Champaign every week to arrange a game for the next fall. However, the only replies we received was 'we will see.' ... After telegraphing to nearly every school in the state for a Thanksgiving day game, Urbana gave up in despair and stopped practicing, but for some reason, altho (cq) Champaign did not have a date for the 'Turkey Day,' practiced every day and night, and finally on the evening before Thanksgiving, notified us she would play. We jumped at the chance and everyone knows the result."
Urbana's 33-0 victory was its first in the series.
The News-Gazette, in its Nov. 26 coverage, offered this commentary in a non-bylined story: "The general impression on the part of all (1,000 spectators) who witnessed the game is that arrangements should be at once made for a game next year. This would be something to work for by both teams and the patronage would be better. But whatever is done, the game of Thanksgiving 1909, will go down as one of the nicest, cleanest and best games ever played in the two cities."
Joe Fisher was a quarterback at Urbana during Smith's tenure. He was promoted to the varsity as a sophomore, and it didn't take him long to comprehend the importance the game meant to the coaches.
"It was the only game of the year we practiced on Sunday," said Fisher, a 1973 graduate. "We would meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. and start preparation for Champaign. We would point for that game."
Former Tiger Mike Ellsworth said media members did more than their part to call attention to the game.
"You couldn't get away from what the game meant because of the publicity in the newspaper," said Ellsworth, a 1974 Urbana graduate. "It was a point of emphasis even when practice started in the fall."
Early games in the C-U series were scheduled at different times. For more than a half-dozen years, it was played on Thanksgiving Day.
In 1938, the game was played the fifth week of the season. For almost three decades –ending after the 1985 game –it found a home as the season finale. It was then changed to Week 8 for 17 years because Big 12 Conference administrators wanted to reserve the final game for nonconference opponents.
Not coincidentally, spectator interest waned once the Maroons and the Tigers didn't end the regular season against each other. The 1985 game drew 575 fans, and in 1992 Urbana's smallest home crowd of the season was the week Central was the opponent.
In 2003, the date of the game shifted again to its current spot the second week of the season, a move which Stewart does not advocate.
"I can't fathom the game being played this early in the season," Stewart said.
Current Illini senior defensive back Morris Virgil, who graduated from Urbana in 2001, believes the game will retain a special place in the hearts of the players.
"The rivalry is always going to be there because the kids are always going to grow up with each other," Virgil said. "You know if you win that game, you've got bragging rights for a year. It's always for something."
Greg Boysaw, who graduated from Central in 1985 and is now an Indiana state policeman, said one reason the game is important is many of the athletes have grown up competing against each other for years.
"Even when I played college ball (at Illinois), when you know you're playing an old buddy, you probably play a little harder," said Boysaw, a high school All-American. "Everybody is trying to make a name for himself and show his buddy up to have something to talk about. It was always important to me to play well in that game."
Twice –in 1937 and 1966 –Urbana and Champaign were both unbeaten when they played each other. Urbana won the Oct. 22, 1937, contest 6-0.
News-Gazette sportswriter Pat Harmon captured the emotional aspect in his article. He wrote:
"When a fellow gives his best for 48 minutes and that isn't enough to win, there isn't much that he can say. Words do not fit the situation.
"Therefore, the Champaign high school football players were not ashamed to bow their heads and cry after their 6 to 0 defeat by Urbana Friday night. Rolling toward their own dressing room in their bus, they had not a word to say. Warner Nelson, Harold Grierson, Bob Wilson, Eddie Lyons ... big husky boys, but they had just finished playing their hearts out and the tears couldn't be held back. One couldn't help feeling the sincerity and the sorrow in their action. A man's a man for that." ...
In an effort to promote next week's anniversary game, athletic directors John Woods, from Central, and Jeff Isenhower, from Urbana, have teamed up to make it a memorable night, including the creation of a 40-by-100-foot tailgate tent which will include food sales from each school's boosters.
"My involvement has been nonstop since basketball ended," Woods said.
The second-year athletic director is optimistic that all 5,000 seats at Centennial –2,500 per side –can be sold. The prices are $3 for adults and $2 for students.
"I hope so," Woods said. "It would be neat for the game, the alumni and the community."
Four billboards advertising the game went up on Aug. 8 around the Twin Cities –including two on University Avenue –with the cost covered by sponsors First Federal and Adams Outdoor Advertising.
When the players take the field, they will be wearing brand new retro uniforms from a bygone era. Urbana's are a combination of the 1920s with a "U" on the front as well as the 1960s with three stripes on the sleeves (two thin ones sandwiched around a thick one).
The Tigers couldn't adhere strictly to the 1920s look because no numbers were on the front of the uniforms, and that is now a requirement mandated by the Illinois High School Association.
Former players have been invited back –Central sent in excess of 1,200 mailings –and all who attend will be recognized on the field by decades at halftime of the game.
Central senior Emma Henigman spent more than 45 hours researching team rosters from previous years and locating addresses for many of the former Maroons.
One change Isenhower would like to see in the future is for the game to return to Week 9.
"I'd love to have it back to the end of the season," he said, "and I have a feeling it will be discussed again."
However, don't look for an immediate switch. The Big 12 scheduling for football is completed through 2016, and the Central vs. Urbana game will occupy Week 2 for at least 11 more years.
Stahl, who lives in Gurnee, will be in town celebrating his 30th high school class reunion the night of the Maroons' showdown with Urbana. He hopes to watch part of this year's game.
"It was nice when it was the last game because everything built up to that final game," Stahl said. "I guess now they have the whole offseason to get ready for it."
Whether it's Week 2, Week 5, Week 8 or Week 9, former Maroon Dixon has a dream which he knows can't come true.
"I wish I were playing in it," he said.
What Dixon is left with is perhaps the next best thing to participating: Memories.
In Ebert's 1961 game story, he wrote:
"When you can't scream any more, or you can't cry any more, you'll remember. ..."