Valley City High Revs Up Halftime
Valley City (VC) couldn’t sit back and do nothing after Valley Prep started doing drone shows during halftime of their home football games. VC doesn’t have the funds to do a drone show, so they had to think outside the box. Band Director, Ludwig Chopin, had to come up with something inexpensive and entertaining. After some brainstorming, he came up with a grandpa 40 yard dash race.
The 40 yard dash is the standard used to measure the speed of football players. Chopin is going to invite 10 grandfathers to participate during halftime, and it’s on a first come, first serve basis. They have to be at least 50 years of age, and they have to show a picture of a grandchild in order to participate. He also is going to have two flights: ages 50- 65 and 66 +.
They’ve had one race so far, and the fans absolutely loved it. Carl Lewis won the 50- 65 flight, which wasn’t much of a surprise. He’s 54 and in great shape, and he was a track and field star in high school. They only had one injury in that race; one 64 year old grandpa pulled a hamstring. And, they only had one grandpa that injured his pride by doing a major face plant which drew many ooo’s and ahh’s from the crowd.
Jesse Owens won the 66 + flight. It was very close, but he inched out a grandpa from the visiting team. The 66 + flight had 2 injuries. Jimmy Goforth tore his ACL, and Major Falls took a tumble and broke his wrist. Goforth said, “I was the fastest boy in my class in 6th grade. I had to get out there and show everybody that I still had it. Well, I don’t. I felt pretty good about my chances until they blew the whistle. I didn’t even get out of the starting gate without my knee buckling on me. I knew it wasn’t good.”
Major Falls tumbled face forward about halfway through the race, and he landed directly on his face. In trying to break his fall, he broke his wrist. Falls said, “Well, I broke my wrist, but my pride and my nose are hurt more than my wrist. I’ll be back to race again. Those old geezers better watch out!”
Chopin told me that multiple grandmothers approached him after the game saying they wanted to race also. So, Chopin will probably add a grandma’s race as well. These races are must watch, so VC hopes this will bring in more fans to their home games.