Above is a portion of a Journal-Tribune sports page from 1970 that told about Fairbanks High School’s first season of football. The Panthers will observe their 50th campaign and 500th game Friday when they host West Liberty-Salem. (Journal-Tribune files)
It all started in 1970
The Fairbanks High School football program will mark its 50th season and its 500th game on Friday when it hosts West Liberty-Salem at Kyre Field.
Fairbanks was the last of the local school districts to begin a football program.
Marysville’s gridiron history dated back 70 years before the Panthers first took to the field in that inaugural season of 1970.
Richwood High School began playing the sport early in the 20th Century and became the North Union Wildcats in 1965.
Jonathan Alder and Triad both began playing football in the mid-to-late 1950s.
Wayne Dodge, who was a co-captain of the very first FHS gridiron squad, shared a few memories of that initial season with the Journal-Tribune.
“Most of us had never worn a football uniform before, let alone knew where all the pads and other equipment went,” he said. “I remember Frank (head coach Spurlock) standing up there showing us how to put on everything.
“A lot of us had played touch football as kids or played in recess or during phys ed,” said Dodge. “However, none of us really knew the rules of the game.
“The athletes on the first team were pretty well rounded and highly coachable,” said Dodge. “Thus they were willing to learn how to play organized football.”
Dodge, who was the senior quarterback-defensive back, said the Fairbanks boys learned they would have a football team during the summer of 1969. That was right before Dodge’s junior year.
The Panthers scrimmaged a handful of schools’ jayvee squads – including Marysville, Mechanicsburg and Dublin – that fall.
“Those scrimmages prepared us for what we were in for the following season,” said Dodge.
Dodge was joined by several other seniors who would play only one season of Panther football.
Among those classmates he remembers were John Scheiderer, Mike Chappelear, Tom Layne, Ted Nicol, Jed Rausch, Darrell Walk, Ron Rausch, Doug Burt and Russell Angelbeck.
Walk and Rausch started at halfback and Angelbeck was the fullback.
“We had a lot of underclassmen who also contributed,” said Dodge. “They played right away and helped build the groundwork for future teams.
“Jerry Greenbaum was one of them,” he said. “He was very strong and a rugged fellow.”
The Panthers experienced success right off the bat as they finished their first season with a 4-4-1 record.
Dodge remembers one game in particular.
“It was our very first game and it was against Jonathan Alder,” he said. “We had listened to a lot of ‘trash talk’ coming from there and other schools in the area leading up to that game.”
The outcome could not have been scripted any better by a Hollywood screen-writer.
“We beat them 32-6,” said Dodge. “Darrell Walk scored the first touchdown on a 35-yard run.
“Our first-ever defensive touchdown came after we backed them up near their goal line,” he said. “There was a fumble and Bruce Heflin fell on the ball.”
Panther teams have gone on to a great deal of success during the ensuing decades, with numerous conference championships and state playoff berths.
And it all began with a man for whom Dodge to this day has very high regard.
“Frank was the perfect coach for our first team,” he said. “He was able to put together a patient and understanding coaching staff (which included John Merriman and Lane Stillings) as well.
“We all learned a lot from Frank and Fairbanks could not have gotten a better guy as our coach.”
This Journal-Tribune sports page from September, 1970, tells the story of Fairbanks’ first-ever victory over Jonathan Alder. It was the first game the Panthers played during their inaugural season. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)