A Former Football Manager Celebrates the Start of High School Football Season

Michael Floyd is Sports Editor and Senior Reporter for the Tuskegee News. A former football team manager at T.R. Miller High School, Michael wrote the following article celebrating all that is good about high school football in Alabama, especially in a small town.

There are few sounds in this world that can stir the soul quite like a Friday night in an Alabama football stadium. The band is playing, the cheerleaders are working the crowd, the lights are shining down on the field, and somewhere in the distance, you can hear a PA announcer calling the teams onto the field.

For me, those sounds bring back a lifetime of memories, and especially the memories I made as a manager with T. R. Miller High School.

Being a manager may not have put me under the Friday night lights wearing a helmet, but it put me right in the middle of everything that makes high school football special.

I learned that football is about far more than the players whose names appear in the newspaper. It is about the managers, coaches, trainers, band members, cheerleaders, parents, grandparents and fans who all become part of the same family.

I remember the preparation as much as the games themselves. There was always something to do. Equipment had to be ready. The sideline had to be organized. Players needed things before, during and after practice.

On game nights, there was that familiar feeling of anticipation as kickoff approached. You could feel the excitement building around the stadium. Then came Friday night!

Standing on the sideline as a manager gave me a perspective that I will always treasure. I watched young men push themselves through heat, exhaustion, disappointment and pressure.

I saw teammates encourage one another when things weren’t going well. I watched coaches demand discipline and effort, even when nobody in the stands could see all the work that had gone into getting there.

Those experiences taught me something about football in Alabama: We don’t simply watch high school sports here. We live them.

In Alabama, a football game can bring an entire community together. For a few hours, worries are put aside, and everybody has a common cause. Whether your team is a perennial powerhouse or a small-town program fighting for every victory, Friday night matters.

That is why I love high school sports in Alabama so deeply. There is something wonderfully pure about them.

The players are representing their schools, their families and their communities. The rivalries are real, the traditions run deep, and the memories created under those lights can last a lifetime.

When I think back to my days as a T. R. Miller manager, I don’t just remember football games. I remember friendships, long practices, busy sideline duties, laughter, nerves and that unmistakable feeling of being part of something bigger than myself. So welcome back, high school football.

Let the bands play. Let the buses roll. Let the stadium lights shine. It is Friday night again, and I couldn’t be happier.

There is another part of this season that means just as much to me: the memories. Years can pass, players can graduate, coaches can move on, and stadiums can change, but the feeling of Friday night never really leaves you.

Once you have experienced it, a little piece of that football field stays with you forever.

I think about the young players and mangers who are now where I once stood, getting ready for their own Friday nights.

They may not realize it yet, but these are some of the days they will remember most. They will remember the teammate beside them, the coach who believed in them, the roar from the stands, and perhaps even the disappointment of a hard fought loss.

Those moments help shape who they become.

That is the true beauty of high school sports in our great state. The scoreboard tells us who won, but it never tells the whole story.

The real victories are found in character, commitment, friendship and perseverance. Football teaches young people how to work together, how to handle adversity and how to keep moving forward when things do not go their way. However, the passion is real and can get the best of us.

I will always have a special place in my heart for T. R. Miller, period. Being a manager allowed me to see the game from close range and understand that everyone has a role. A huge thanks to Coach Rob Atkinson and Coach Jamie Riggs for entrusting me. I may not have carried the football, and just filled up the water bottles, but I carried memories that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

To all of you, my charge is simple, enjoy this season. Fill the stands. Support the kids. Cheer loudly. Someday, we will look back and realize those Friday nights were not just football games. They were our lives.

Michael Floyd is the Sports Editor and Senior Reporter for The Tuskegee News. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University. He can be reached at tunewsfloyd@gmail.com