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The Holly City Midget Football League began its first season in the summer
of August 7, 1959. Athletic Director and Football Coach John Barbose of
Millville High School served as the league advisor. Earl Banks was the
first President of the Holly City Midget Football League and John
Lookabaugh was the first player agent and Ray Dill had the duel role as
Treasurer and Secretary.
The League started with four teams and the sponsors were:
1. City National Bank coached by Dale Hoffman ,Ken Wilson, Gran Simmerman
and Wilber Goodwin.
2. Millville National Bank coached by Joe Taylor and Paul Cossaboon.
3. Local 219 coached by Jim Ayers, John Jurich, Jerry Kolpacke, Chan
Cossaboon and Player agent Ralph Gerard.
4. Gartons Sports Center coached by John Lookabaugh, Earl Banks, Ray Dill
and Paul Royal.
Approximately 1500 people attended the first game of the H.C.M.F.L. at
Municipal Field (Chiola Field) to watch the newly formed League made up of
4 teams and they were treated to some interesting football. Gartons Sports
Center was the only winning team that day of the four that played. They
crushed the Local 219 by a score of 25-0. Millville City National Bank and
Millville National Bank played to a 12-12 tie. Gartons Sports Center won
the League title in the first inaugural season.
In 1960 Gartons Sports Center again retained its League Title coached by
John Lookabaugh.
The Gartons Sports Center team was ranked 8th in the Nation among Pop
Warner Teams which during the 60's had over 4,662 teams in the nation.
The League has been going strong since the the 50's and 60's under great
directions from League Presidents from the past Earl Banks, Ray Dill,
Walter Barber, Joe Riely and Tom Fulginiti. Karl Frank became the
President in 1967 and continued his leadership through the 1992 season and
has still maintained some capacity working with the league and continuing
his outstanding volunteerism. George Kendrick took over for Karl as
President and Brian Gandy held the post also after Karl Frank.
During the 70's girls were introduced into participating in the League as
Cheerleaders and since then Mae Haas helped form the cheerleading coaches
and served as Cheerleading Director and Advisor for over 20 years. Debbie
Zieneker served in this capacity for several years and Mae returned for a
few more years and now Barb Russick has taken over as the Cheerleading
Director and Advisor for the future of the H.C.M.F.L... The girls help a
lot for the fund raisers and promote spirit and enthusiasm during the
league games.
The H.C.M.F.L. has played many games at the Municipal Field (Chiola Field)
located behind City Hall and shifted games in the 70's over to the Union
Lake Field located off of Sharp Street. In the fall of 1974 the league announced that a field that took 4 years to
prepare was to be dedicated to and name the Karl Frank Field located at
the Cedarville Road Complex. All games are now played at the Cedarville
Road Complex and the game field is named after Karl Frank for all his
years that he dedicated to the youth of Millville. The H.C.M.F.L. has had
many great volunteers and presently possesses some of the best coaches,
administrators and volunteers in the City of Millville. There is a lot of
history associated with this league and we hope to enter some more
information on our website in the future to honor many players,
cheerleaders, coaches, administrators and volunteers to help promote the
past and future of the Holly City Midget Football League.
NEW ERA:
In 2005, the HCMFL Board of Directors and Coaches voted to disband the
recreational intra league and enter the traveling Tri-County Football
League. The goal was to eliminate the weight limits and play other
teams from outside the city. Before this was voted on, Tri-County
had to agree to allow Millville to place two teams in each Division,
therefore we would not have to cut kids from participation.
Millville is the first team to enter two teams in each division in the
Tri-County League. The divisions are set up by age groups, Freshman
(6-7), Sophomore (8-9), Junior (10-11) and Senior (12,13,14). Any
participant who is a freshmen in High School are not permitted to
participate. Any participant who is within the
sending district of Millville High School are eligible to participate.
The Board had a hard time
coming up with names for each division. After numerous meetings the
names were voted on as follows: Central Division are known as the
LIGHTNING
and the South Division are known as the
THUNDER.
Our first year of participation was a hug success with all but one team
having more than 25 kids participating.
With this historic year,
the Holly City Midget Football League is starting a new era of Football
and hopefully with many years of success.
2006 was
an historic year for our league. With our second year in Tri
County we crowned a Champion,
Jim's Lunch
Lightning Bolts completed an undefeated season (12-0) and won
the Sophomore Division Championship. The team was under the direction of Head Coach
Robert Ennis. The Rocap Shannon Funeral
Home Freshmen Thunder made it to the Tri County Finals, and
completed the year at 11-1, under the direction of Head Coach Michael
Airey.
| Year |
Title |
Conference
& Division |
Coach |
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2006 |
Grand Champion
Jims Lunch Lighting Bolts
12-0 |
NFC - Sophomore Division |
Robert Ennis |
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2006 |
NFC Champion
Rocap Shannon Funeral Home
11-1 |
NFC- Freshmen Division |
Michael Airey |
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2007:
2008: Members
of the Board of Directors and Coaches voted for a four team
league instead of eight. This was a very emotional and a
historic vote. With the declining number of players, the
league officers could not allow a team to forfeit games.
At this time, the league coaches decided to embrace the
"THUNDER" logo and nickname.
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