Life lessons between the hashes
Editor's note: This column contains information from a two-part series entitled "The Real Frozen Tundra" as presented via video and news story on ESPN.com Tuesday, Oct. 10 and Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Can football change a person, a community? Can a game give hope to those who seem to have none?
In Barrow, Alaska, 330 miles north of the Arctic Circle football is an experiment.
The Barrow Whalers football team concluded their first ever six-game season this fall and despite the naysayers may have brought a number of students back from a dangerous edge.
The high school has a mere 52 percent graduation rate. The students not attending class often fall victim to alcohol and substance abuse.
In an effort to combat these problems the school sent out a survey to students requesting feedback about what could be offered to help alleviate the problem.
The number one answer: football.
Thus the debate began.
Opponents of the newly formed football program argue the money should be spent elsewhere. The argument being that extra funds are better used in hiring more teachers, providing more student support through activity centers and counseling and offering sports that are more available to both genders.
Proponents say the benefits of the program far out-weigh the expenditures. They say football teaches students accountability and discipline; that it requires participants to answer not only to coaches and school faculty but also to friends and teammates when they miss practice or a block on the field.
To be clear, the football program has been expensive to institute. This first season has cost the high school $200,000. However, many of these costs are start-up costs. Barrow purchased uniforms, pads, helmets, cleats, balls, training dummies, field paint and a myriad of other items, many of which will not have to be purchased again for quite some time.
So, after a season that boasted a 1-5 record with the only win coming in the team's last home game 28-22 against Sitka High School, the question becomes philosophical.
In reading responses from players, about the program and the win, it is evident that some good came of the endeavor. Kids learned the values of discipline, loyalty and dedication. They also learned the consequences of departing from those values, with one of the team's few players with previous experience being kicked off the team after an incident in flight on the way to an away game. The player struck another passenger twice during the flight leading to the dismissal.
It is also safe to say that a struggling community rallied around the team, with nearly one quarter of the Barrow population turning up with pickups, ATVs and the occasional recliner to watch the Whalers' three home games.
But can a game really inspire hope and unity?
In a town dominated by native Inupiat Eskimos, whaling captain Roy Nageak says it best: "Look at the quarterback, he makes a perfect throw, it's a touchdown. If the harpooner makes a perfect throw, you get the whale. The running back is just like the gunner, there to help the quarterback out. And the linemen, doing all the dirty work and moving the team downfield? Those are the paddlers in the back of the boat — they push the line forward, they move the boat forward. Those are the unsung heroes you can't do without. People don't realize the lessons that apply."
Maybe we could all take a little from the Whalers' story and apply those principles of discipline, loyalty and dedication. And maybe this is one instance football is a life lesson that offers a glimmer of hope.