“I would say 11-man [football] is still on the table…Back in November, some things got lost in translation going to the newspaper or going to some parents or in the email…”
This is what Athletic Director Kurt Ruch told me last Tuesday, January 24th, two days before the decision on the future of George School Football was announced. In the original email to the internal school community about the program’s re-evaluation, it was expressed that only two options were being considered: converting the program to an 8-man football team or removing the program as a whole. This excluded the possibility of a return to 11-man football next school year. However, that clearly remained an option, and it happens to be the one that George School has chosen for 2023-24.
So GS Football sticks with 11-man. How did this decision come to be? Who were the important parties involved? And what implications does this have for the future?
Kurt and Head of School Sam Houser had meetings with parents of current players around the time of the initial email’s release, and eventually with players in early January. I talked to Sam twice during the process of writing this article: once before the announcement and once after. When I talked to him before, he emphasized how valuable the players’ feedback was in shaping his view of the situation: “[The players’ feedback] was extraordinarily thoughtful. It was extremely helpful, and I’m very proud of what they were able to share from their point of view not just about safety…but what they get out of the football program.”
Players weren’t the only members of the community giving meaningful feedback. Sam and Kurt received almost all of the feedback directly after the announcement, with most parents calling to express their opinions. While parents were calling the school, students and alumni turned to social media to express their perspectives.
Students used Instagram, creating the George School Football Supporters account. Here, they have expressed their passion for keeping the 11-man football team, engaging many current students and recent alumni. They have strongly encouraged people to sign a petition on change.org in order to “Save George School’s 11-Man Football Team.” At the time this is being written, the petition has received 519 signatures, with almost all coming from members of the school community, internal and external. Additionally, as part of the student response to the re-evaluation of the program, members of the football team wrote a letter to the Board of Trustees expressing their thoughts on the matter, and their arguments were certainly influential when it came to making a decision.
Alumni have expressed their opinions using the George School Football Facebook group, which currently has 268 members. Both alumni and parents have explained their arguments for why 11-man football should stay, and they have since celebrated the recent decision. Many alumni, including former players, have vehemently defended the 11-man football program, highlighting the life lessons the game has taught them and the teammates and friends they gained along the way.
“It provided the kids with a lot of opportunity to learn about themselves, learn about teamwork, and [other] very important lessons,” commented John Gleeson. Gleeson, Class of 1965, was involved with the George School Football program for over 50 years, both as a player and coach. As the head coach for thirty years, he called the shots during some of George School Football’s most impressive victories and monumental triumphs. He also taught in the English department during his tenure working for George School, and he recently published a book, The Quakerly Gridiron Brothers, which highlights the history of the football program at George School. He was able to reflect on why alumni are so supportive of the team, and why they have since reacted passionately to the possibility of the program’s cancellation:
“Football is the kind of experience that it’s a real team sport, and you have to bond with each other or you’re not going to be successful either as a team or an individual…I think a lot of the guys who wrote back [on the Facebook page]…those are the things that they remember…The brotherhood that was football for the guys who played it, even when they are many years past their graduation, [they] still remember football and the experiences they had.”
Football has become a unifying game for generations of George School students. Past players often emphasize the lessons they learned while wearing the helmets and pads, and how these lessons helped to shape their lives beyond high school. For alumni, the legacy of George School football and what it means to its players is worth protecting for future generations of student-athletes. That’s why alumni fought so hard for 11-man football to remain at George School.
When I followed up with Sam after the decision was released, he told me about the main reasons why staying put was the ultimate result: “The quality of the feedback was good…and we were encouraged to look at ways we could manage the program that would address our safety concerns. We see a way to do that, and that’s good, so we wanted to try to give it another shot.” He also detailed how the strong enthusiasm and passion of the current players, along with help from parents and alumni, helped them reach a definitive verdict.
Within 24 hours of the school-wide email’s release, responses to the decision were already piling up on the school’s end. Head of Marketing and Communications Tricia O’Neill told me the feedback she received was, “pretty balanced in response. Some people were like ‘That’s awesome! Great decision.’ Others said ‘I never understood why George School had a football team,’ and questioned the sport’s alignment with Quaker values.” As more people become aware of the certainty of the situation, Tricia expects and invites the conversation to continue, which is why marketing has created the email football@georgeschool.org, which is open to any questions regarding the football program and its future implications.
In his December email, Sam mentioned that the program remaining as 11-man would require a certain “investment in financial aid that would alter the distribution of funding available to all of our programs.” In light of the recent news, he stated, “There are other ways to build a program, including from inside the school, and if we do that, the recruitment costs go down. So that’s what we are going to try to do.” He continued to detail how trying to focus on football (or any singular program, athletic or not) from a financial aid perspective would decrease the need-based financial aid available for other students, which would take a toll on the student community.
When I was finishing up my conversation with Sam, I asked him about how he hopes people will respond to how this situation has been resolved, and two ideas stuck out. The first hope was that student voices will continue to play a vital role on campus. Throughout both of my interviews with him, Sam raved about how crucial the feedback from student-athletes was to the process of reaching a verdict on the football team, and he hopes that the student voice can continue to be heard at George School. “I think student voices are important to what we do at this school…What I hope students get out of this is that they can come and talk with us if they have concerns.” Sam continues to hold office hours, and he encourages students to talk with him about the issues at the school that are concerning them and what they think the school can do about it.
The second hope Sam has is that people will continue to support the football program. “What I’ve heard from a number of alums, parents, faculty/staff, [and] students is how important this game is to our culture, and whether people have played football or not…football games are a place where the community gathers and you see a wide cross-section of the community in one spot being George School.”
The George School community spoke, and the administration thoughtfully listened and took action. We now know with certainty that the Cougars will be suiting up and taking the field for their 100th season come Fall 2023.
