Tradition Shines at Clawson Football Alumni Game

Faces from Clawson’s past and present gathered Wednesday night for the 2011 Football Alumni Game.

Fans welcomed nearly 60 former players to for a game of flag football as part of 's homecoming week.

Current head coach Jim Sparks said the goal of the event was to celebrate the tradition of the Trojans program in a fun and positive way. The first ever alumni game succeeded with flying colors on that count.

“We are so proud of our tradition here at Clawson, we are trying to bridge today with yesterday and create something great for tomorrow,” Sparks said. “We have people from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s, and people here are going to see tradition hasn’t died; it just keeps getting better.”

The football team at Clawson High School goes all the way back to 1927. Sparks was able to get graduates from as far back as 1962 to hit the field. Nearly 50 years of the team’s 84-year history was represented.

“Thank God for Facebook,” Sparks said, laughing.

Sparks split the group into teams leading up to the event and each player had their own personalized jersey. The blue team was named Team Moore after Sparks’ predecessor Richard Moore.

Moore coached Clawson and won 150 games during his 21 years on the sideline. He was back on the sidelines Wednesday coaching the team named after him.

The gold team was Team Hamilton. Bob Hamilton coached the Trojans for more than 40 years and while he has since passed away, his family was on hand for the event and given a helmet signed by the entire gold team. Former assistant coach Jeff Ross coached Team Hamilton.

“This is great having everybody here,” assistant football coach Ralph Haney said. “I know a lot of the faces. I’ve been coaching at the school since 1989.”

The game itself didn’t disappoint.

Team Hamilton scored first with a 40-yard touchdown pass from David Custer (class of ’00) to Steve O’Connell (class of ’11).

Team Moore didn’t wait long to respond. Three minutes later, Steve Feeman (class of ’05) hit former teammate Bob Shenk (class of ’05) with a 15-yard touchdown pass.

Custer and O’Connell hooked up again for Team Hamilton in the second quarter. O’Connell made a diving grab in the back of the end zone to go up 13-6. But that was the last time the team would score.

Feeman hit Dan Glander (class of ’96) with a touchdown pass at the end of the half and then passed to Bryan Morin (class of ’06) in the third quarter to go up 20-13. Feeman would add one last touchdown in the fourth quarter to Dan Gough (class of ’99) to put the game out of reach at 26-13.

When the clock hit zero, Team Moore celebrated by giving its coach a Gatorade bath.

“I could’ve done without that,” Moore said, joking. “It was a blast, I didn’t know how much fun it was going to be, but it was really a lot of fun. Some of these guys that played tonight were my age, that graduated in ’63 and that’s when I graduate high school.”

Morin was named the game’s offensive MVP and Doug Mason (class of ’89) won the defensive MVP award.

“That (defensive MVP award) was unexpected,” Mason said. “But it was awesome, it was awesome to be under the lights again.”

Current players were on hand to help put the event on. Some worked concessions while others moved the chains on the sidelines. Even though they weren’t playing, it was clear they enjoyed the festivities.

“It isn’t just exciting for us, it’s exciting for the whole town,” current Trojans wide receiver Kelcey Davis said.

Spark didn’t rule out making the game an annual event. He said he was going to talk with the participants over the next couple of weeks and see if there is interest in doing it again.

But his next order of business will be Clawson’s homecoming game on Friday night against an undefeated South Lake at 7 p.m. A win would guarantee the Trojans at least a share of the Macomb Area Conference division title and clinch a playoff spot.

"You play all season to have an opportunity like this," Sparks said. "They play fast, physical. Really good defensively and have a lot of explosive players. It’s going to be fun, we both are pretty good teams."