BUTLER, Pa. — From the North, let me confirm, football is different in the South.
More on that later. But that dateline caught your eye, I’m sure. This is my parents’ hometown. The Jeep was invented here in 1940; there’s a monument commemorating that fact downtown on the beautiful Veterans Town Square across from the historic county courthouse.
Butler’s best-known sports figure is Terry Hanratty, who is recognized most places for leading Notre Dame to a share of the 1966 national championship as a two-time All-America quarterback. In our neighborhood, we recall Hanratty and Joe Gilliam as “the other” QBs who battled young Terry Bradshaw for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ starting job.
Brett Michaels, frontman of the great rock band Poison, is also Butler born. Bret Sychak, 61, grew up in nearby Chicora and formed a group called Paris in 1983. The following year, he and the boys changed the name to Poison, moved to the other LA (Los Angeles) and found fame in 1987 with their Look What the Cat Dragged In album (remember those?).
Five of my cousins live here. Two of their wives were at the July 13 rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds when shots rang out as former President Donald Trump was speaking. Monday afternoon, a Congressional task force toured the site. Two cousins, my brother and I visited it Saturday afternoon. It was sobering, stunning to try to understand how the shooter could have settled unimpeded by security where he did, just 20-30 yards farther than goalpost to goalpost on a football field. As Cousin Jeff said, “Swiss cheese.” No matter what your political beliefs.
Back to sports. Last Friday night was the kickoff of the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League football season. Butler’s Golden Tornado bowed at home 20-14 to the Knights of Shaler Area High School.
It was not the talk of the town. And that’s my point this morning.
This week is jamboree time for LHSAA football. The college season kicked off last Saturday with a handful of “Week Zero” games, and Week 1 unfolds this weekend – Northwestern State starts Thursday night at Tulsa, then Saturday night, Louisiana Tech hosts Nicholls and Grambling goes to UL Lafayette. LSU plays USC in Las Vegas Sunday evening.
You probably knew all that. Football season is paramount in the South. Not a recent development.
It’s just different elsewhere, even in the Allegheny Mountains. Driving downtown in Butler, city population 13,000, you don’t see any signs indicating excitement about the Golden Tornado. This is western Pennsylvania, legendary for the quality and intensity of prep football.
Maybe it’s the fairly humid 86-degree weather today. Not exactly what we saw in the 1983 Tom Cruise movie All The Right Moves, focused on a high school football standout in a steel town much like Butler.
These people do love their football. Saturday in the tree-shrouded valley of Memorial Park, above a babbling creek, there was a day of “midget” football with kids in full gear running spread offenses, and little girls in cheerleader outfits lining the sidelines. The Steelers’ QB scramble is a much hotter topic than Pirates baseball – unless Paul Skenes is due to start.
The excitement level just reaches a higher plane in area code 318.
We’ll see some saucy jamboree pairings this weekend; and every local prep team and fan base will be juiced up full throttle even for preseason battles. It’s going to somehow ramp up a notch next weekend for the regular-season kickoffs. If you don’t have a favorite to cheer, there’s still plenty to savor, from the bands and spirit groups to the talent on the fields and some high-caliber matchups.
LSU, Grambling, Tech and Northwestern are about to tee it up.
It’s football season in the South. It just doesn’t get better than this.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com