Six-Man football becoming more popular

By BILL HART/Sports Writer

Six-Man football may be played in small schools, but it's becoming big time spectator-wise.

Several years ago, May and Zephyr met in a playoff game at Brownwood, and it drew nearly 5,000 fans. That was regarded as the largest crowd to ever see a Six-Man game.

Not anymore. It was estimated that more than 5,000 fans saw the state championship game two years ago when Milford and Amherst played at Wylie, then last year's title game in Sweetwater between the same two teams drew more than 6,000 fans.

That's one of the reasons Gordon and Whitharral are playing their championship game in Sweetwater at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Mustang Bowl, which can seat 6,700 permanent seats with room for almost that many more to stand.

Obviously, the attendance at Six-Man is growing because of outside interest. The population at Gordon and Whitharral, like all Six-Man towns, totals a whole lot less than last year's crowd. So why is the interest skyrocketing?

"We're getting a lot more media coverage now," says Randy Savage, the superintendent at Gordon. "Two years ago, we brought in a team from Colorado to play and last year, we had the team from Canada (Bjorkdale). Then Sports Illustrated did a story this fall on us and Zephyr, and the ABC network is supposed to send a crew down here and Whitharral this week.

"When we played Milford last Friday in Glen Rose, there were some people from San Antonio sitting behind us. They told us they came because they wanted to see what the feeling was in a small community where the school program was succeeding.

"We have fans who come to our games from the Metroplex and a lot are curiosity seekers who have never seen a Six-Man football game. They get interested and keep coming back."

Coach Nelson Campbell says the school gets a call every week from a doctor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth who wants to know where the Longhorns are playing that week.

"I've never found out what his name is, but he said he played Six-Man football in Iowa," Campbell said. "We've drawn pretty well since I came here (1981), but the attendance has really grown since we started making the playoffs regularly in 1991. But it has been really good the past two years."

Campbell also knows some fans who drive up from Houston because they have relatives playing. But most have no ties in Gordon.

There were four newspapers represented at last Friday's game in Glen Rose, plus the Mineral Wells radio station which carries all of the Gordon playoff games. The estimated attendance was more than 5,000 (capacity is 6,500) and Gordon's side of the stadium was full. Milford's side would have been close to capacity had those standing by the fences sat down.

Both Savage and Campbell agree that it was the largest crowd to see Gordon play.

"We had about 3,000 when we played Bjorkdale here, but we didn't try to make money out of that game," Savage said. "We sent free tickets to most Six-Man schools in the state for the coaches and athletes.

"I think some people come to see what country living is like because they're tired of the big cities and want out. We haven't had many move here, but they are going to other places.

So, if you're planning on going to the game in Sweetwater, you might plan to get there early to get a good seat.