Single Wing Football Fanatic News

Deciding to take off a year from coaching after 25+ years as a HC has been an experience that has brought many transitions throughout the year. My first interview at Cienega High School brought with it goose bumps as I got a smell of the football season that was about to begin; but I would not be there after many years of coaching this great game we call football.

Each day the level of anticipation for football playoffs builds to a fever pitch. The excitement grew stronger as the Scottsdale Christian Academy vs Valley Christian game drew near.  Here I was the night before trying to sleep before this great battle to see who would get the higher seed for the playoffs.  As I was trying to sleep my mind wandered as I thought how lucky we are as coaches to be able to coach young athletes year in and year out and my thoughts were diverted to where it all began.

I started thinking of all the offenses we would be seeing in the playoffs: the spread, single wing, double wing, wing-t, flexbone, wishbone, option, and many others. With all of these variations I started to hear whispers from the past as I thought of all the great players and teams that came before us that had brought us to this point in football history.

As I thought of all of these great teams and players that had played this game throughout history, my thoughts went back to where it all began so many years ago. While you may have thoughts of Notre Dame, Yale or Princeton and players from those fine institutions, my mind went to the teams, players, and coaches where it all truly began, the Carlisle Indian School.

There comes a time where it all begins and although Carlisle Indian School may not have invented the game of football, there was a point in time where all was nearly lost and the game of football was about ready to fold.  The Carlisle teams of years past, under the leadership of Pop Warner and players like Jimmie Johnson, Gus Welch, Joe Guyon, Jim Thorpe, Eddie Rogers, Albert Exendine, and Mt. Pleasant showed the entire world that this game could be so much more than the brutal style of football that they had played so many years before. 

While many may think that the game was saved by the likes of Yale, Princeton and even Notre Dame, the reality is that the Carlisle Indian School was far ahead of their time and whether it was a rule put in place to stop their ingenuity or a style of football played to this day, it was the Native Americans that brought excitement and stability to the game of football.

While watching the SCA vs VC game before the playoffs, and getting results from around the state, my mind again drifts to the past.  As I watched Storrer from SCA run the single wing offense with precision or hearing of the Gunslinger from Yuma Catholic, or the team from ALA, I saw visions of the great ghosts of Carlisle that have not only been forgotten but in the end never given credit for bringing to us the great game we now see today.

With every pass, run, formation, or strategy that you may see on the gridiron in the 21^st century its roots can be found way back in time with a little known football team that made football their own and transcended the game into what we see it has evolved into today. When we go out on a Friday or Saturday and watch teams, coaches and players battle it out on the football field, look closely, you can see the ghosts of Thorpe, Mt. Pleasant, and Welch whispering directions.

As I was leaving the football stadium at Valley Christian high school and walking down the bleachers I glanced down on the field and I smiled as I saw the legends like Thorpe, Welch, Mt. Pleasant, Exendine and Johnson, leaving their footprints on the football field like Michelangelo’s brush on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

So as my excitement grew thinking of the many great teams and players we will witness in the state playoffs of AZ at all levels, the Ghosts of Carlisle continued to haunt me.

They ask me not to allow their memories to fade and to bring their lives back to the forefront.  Thus allowing all football fans to not only remember them, but in the end, give them credit for being the teams, players and coaches where this great football game really started.

Finally, the Ghosts of Carlisle can rest in peace with their legacy as caretakers of the game secured.

The first installment in a series of articles.

Hello Single Wing Football Fanatic Fans!
Today we are going to do a preview of what this season and rivalry was about between these 2 top quality programs. The exciting part of this rivalry is the distance of the schools but more importantly  matched some of the top single wing minds in the Nation.
COACHING PREVIEW
Hoehne Farmers:
Coach: Jasper Butero

Jasper Butero is a native of the Trinidad area. He was a very successful HS and College player  where his experience comes from  when he played in the 1960’s at Trinidad State Junior College under legendary single wing coach “Bear Wetzel”. The program was very successful and before the school folded their program they were one of very few teams heading into the 1970’s who still ran the single wing formation. With this experience of not only playing but being mentored by the “bear” he became a very successful HS coach at Hoehene where he not only ran the Single Wing but also was and is considered one of the most successful coaches defending the single wing formation because of his experience in college. Under his regime at Hoehne Coach Butero fielded some excellent teams from the area. What added to this rivalry was that Trinidad Catholic was coached during this time by Coach Gene Salbato, who also was mentored in one form or another by the “Bear” This led to many top battles and Coach Butero was faced year in and year out with only one playoff spot. Not only did he run the single wing at the 11 man level but he had success at the 8man level as well. His success at Hoehne reach its highest level in 1980 when from out of nowhere he led the Farmers to an undefeated season which eventually culminated by beating Walsh at home fo the state championship. Hoehne was always considered the orphan child when it came to being covered by the local newspapers in sports and in 1980 many waited for the  “Butero led Farmers” to fall instead of giving credit to them of being capable of winning a state championship. The Farmers were mostly country bumpkin farmers kids and the kids that came from nearby surrounding areas were considered outcasts from the other school or even considered at-risk. So sad to say those of us from Hoehne never were given a lot of respect. Coach Butero also was faced with having nemesis Sargent HS in his conference. Not only was Sargent a powerhouse in football and most other sports, but they featured his good friend Coach Rice who also is a single wing legend as well as being mentored by the “bear”! This meant that both Trinidad Catholic and Hoehne had to face a Sargent team who had a coach as a DC who was one of the top single wing coaches around. As coach Rice stated in our discussion during our 2008 single wing tour,”Jeff I strongly feel that you learn more about this great single wing offense by having to defend it then by just running it as an offense!”  In this conference only there was only room for one team to get to the playoffs and many years the team that won almost won state each year and the teams who did not make it lost only to one of these 2 other teams.
Coach Butero and Rice  to this day are great friends but Jasper Butero built a top program and later after winning state continued to coach for many more years until he gave it up to be a very successful Supt. at Hoehne and surrounding schools. Not only did I learn alot from him by running the single wing but by playing defense for him and seeing how he ran his famous “Buzz Saw” defense as I so named it many years later. The best part was that by playing safety I saw all the in’s and out’s of this offense from a very young age.
In the end it is my feeling that 1981 was probably one of the best coaching years for Jasper because of what he faced after winning state. Not only was he facing a depleted team but he faced a media that still was not willing to give him the respect for his program that they deserved and he had a big winning streak as well. It is still my contention that until you face this type of adversity you will never know what type of coach you are when the deck is stacked against you. Coach Butero built a top notch program by teaching his players respect and taught them first to be great gentlemen and not only great players on the field.
 
Trinidad Catholic Tigers
Coach: Gene Salbato assistant coach Marvin “Bear” Wetzel
What comes to mind right now is how there is a lot of fan-fare going on because of the teams that now have top wingle wing coaches across the nation in Akron, Edwardsville and NC. Well in my opinion this combination was far ahead of its time when the Tigers had the luxury of having Salbato and Wetzel as their coaches for many years until their retirment many years later.
Coach Salbato was also taught much from the Bear. I would say he is best known for being a very soft spoken humble coach who to me was a huge role model besides being a legend coach like Bear and Butero. His teams were not only tough but they were very well disciplined. The single wing teams that he had were some of the best ever to play the game. To this day I have rarely seen screen plays ran as efficently as his teams did in his coaching days. The best thing was I am sure coach knew many people may have said he had the Bear and that helped but when it was all said and done Coach Salbato has his own place in the lor of single wing football. Coach Salbato was the first coach I was associated with concerning the single wing as my entire family went to this school and my dream was to play and be a mighty Tiger under his guidance. I can remember as a youngster from years 8 and up listening to the playoff games on the radio and not being able to take myself away from those games. or sneaking in to the filed for games or practices. To me Coach Salbato was the “Man”. Not only was he a great coach in my mind but he was a family friend. When my mother was murdered and I was forced to return to the area and when I had my team face him the first thing he said when he saw me was telling me how sorry he was about my mother and then he gave me a big hug. Coach salbato ended his carrer at Hoehne running the single wing in 8 man football and that day when we matched against each other I was taught that I was still the student and he the teacher as he proceeded to beat us handily and I was unable to stop his single wing attack for very long. before this matchup the last time we faced each other was my last HS game on their field for a chance to go to state and I intercepted a ball at the end of the game to stop a drive for their go ahead TD. As the single wing gods would have it we would meet again and Coach Salbato would have the last say and hurrah against the little kid who worhipped the ground he walked on when it came to single wing football. My only regreat as a plyer was never to have been coached by him. But the single wing gods are good as in place of him Butero was the other person I would play for during my HS years.
Assiatant Coach Marvin “the Bear” Wetzel:
His name is legendary in single wing football. For those of you not lucky enough to have met him or to be mentored by him here is a quick recap: Coached at New mexico Highlands, HC at Trinidad State Junior College where he was a very successful coach running the single wing offense before they folded their doors in the early 1970’s. He stayed in Trinidad and coached with Trinidad Catholic for many, many years. He was a grqaduate of Marshal University and in one season he was one of the top leading scorers in the nation as he played in the Tangerine Bowl game back in the early 1930’s. He was elected to the Marhsall HOF in the 1980’s, inducted into the legends of the Single Wing Coaches Association and this year in the newly formed Single Wing HOF. Coach has been a mentor to so many coaches in CO and more that the I-25 corridor as I call it in CO was because of his single wing prominance. He is still around and still loves the game. He was a very good family friend and along with Coach Salbato took me under his wing when I was at the field as a youngster.
As you can already see this rivalry was one of the best because of the coaches themselves. As coaches we all know what it is like coaching against not only our mentors but fellow single wing colleagues! Well this had it all as you had mentor and students all coaching against each other for many years!
Later today we will pre-view the teams and their chances during the 1981 season! 
 

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Hello,

Now that my site is finished and we put on the remaining content, I am starting up our Single Wing Football Fanatic News Blog. I will be having different daily issues on single wing football.

Our first series deals with Rivalries of Single Wing Football teams from past decades and beyond. This will also be a way to introduce all of you to some retired legends of the game that you may not have heard about and rivalries that still exist or have went the way of the dinosaur.

What we will do is introduce you to the coaches and the teams and then do a week by week,(daily for us) of one of their seasons. We will take you through the season with articles and such until the end of their season with or without playoffs. I will have articles to read etc. and combine with some pictures of our 2008 single wing football tour.

Please post comments here and on the blog. It is gonna be fun.

The first season, teams and coaches I will be taking you through is the following:

Single Wing Blast From the Past Rivalry:

Colorado:Trinidad Catholic HS vs Hoehne Farmers

Coaches:

Hoehne Farmers-Jasper Butero mentored by Coach Bear Wetzel

Trinidad Catholic Tigers-HC Gene Salbato, assistant coach Bear Wetzel

Rivalry-dating back to the 40s and 50s.

Season Recap: 1981: Both teams have been in the same conference for years and years. This year is interesting for many factors:

1. In the past only one team made the playoffs and it was either one of these 2 teams or Sargent who was then coached by Coach Rice another Single Wing Coach who is now in Akron.

2. New conference means Sargent nemesis is no longer in the league and now 2 teams will make the playoffs.

3. New teams are powerhouses including Springfield and Walsh.

4. Hoehne won its first state championship ever going undefeated in 1980 under legendary Coach Jasper Butero. TC Tigers almost knocked them out of the right to go to the playoffs the year before and has a nice winning streak going but lost a lot of its players from that team.

5. Walsh, who now joins the conference lost the state championship to Hoehne at the Farmers homers home field. Walsh felt they threw it away and is hoping for revenge as they bring a stud lineup back in 1981 featuring to fo the best tandem RB in the state of Co even for small school CO football.

6. The TC Hoehne game at the end of the season is at Hoehne and as usual Jasper Butero has put what he thinks is the hardest game on the schedule for Homecoming as his philosophy is you never want to lose your homecoming so you have motivation to play harder.

7. This game matches mentors as Jasper Butero played under Coach Bear Wetzel at Trinidad State Junior College where they ran the single wing.  Jasper will now face his 2 rival coaches again as the Farmers have a target on their back from winning state before.

8. Rivalry is tough because most of these kids are from the same communities but choose to go to either the private TC Tigers or the rural school Hoehne but most kids grow up hanging around each other and this rivalry is one of the best in single wing history.

So please join me as we get underway on our blog and look into the past with single wing lore!

Hello all you single wing fanatics.  We are finally up and fully functional.  We hope that you enjoy our site.  If you are looking for something and can’t find it let us know.