I began going to Seymour School in Kindergarten. However, I never made it past the first grade before being home schooled. This didn't stop me from becoming an avid fan of the Seymour Warriors, something I still am.
I have always loved High School athletics and specifically those of small town America. I remember attending a Football game in Parma Ohio at the High School my wife graduated from. As I sat in the stands of this huge sports complex in the middle of the suburbs and looked out at the field, I realized very few of the people that were sitting around me even knew the players names. These were their classmates and yet they didn't know them. That's the difference between a graduating class of over 300 and a class of 15.
Small town athletics is American. It fills the tapestry of American culture as well as any other institution does. It binds family and community and tradition together and gives us something to look forward to at the end of the week.
I attended my first High School Football game on September 10th, 2004 in Seymour Iowa. I went to church with the teams Quarterback, Casey Warren. That night the Warriors beat the Grandview Park Baptist squad, playing their first season of Varsity Football, by a score of 68-7. It was a great night and I was instantly hooked. I attended every home game after that and watched the team post a 5-4 record that year only to have tragedy strike as their beloved coach and friend Jack Couchman was permanently injured in an accident. It was a bitter sweet year. But the team rallied around their coach. T-shirts were made saying "Bear Football", benefit auctions were held . The team, the school, the community...all were bound together to help their coach.
This is why I love small town America. Team, School, Community, Friends, Family....they are all one in the same.
This blog hopes to dust off the old annuals and maintain the history of Seymour High School Athletics for all who love small town sports and communities.
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