SMITH CENTER, Kan., Nov. 7 — Their photos are on the cards traded over at the elementary school, and their exploits are on the lips of the old men who gather at the Second Cup Cafe each morning. They are the sons and grandsons of this north Kansas town, and for 30 autumns now, the Smith Center Redmen have puffed up the chests of folks here.
The Redmen have won three consecutive state championships. Hubbard Stadium attracts more than 1,600 people a home game.
They are a high school football team, a superb one that has won 51 games in a row and three consecutive state championships, and has outscored opponents this season, 704-0. They are more than that, however, to the 1,931 people here who all know one another’s names: The Redmen are proof that hard work and accountability still mean something.
The trading cards, for example, are not about hero worship. Each player and cheerleader signs a contract pledging to remain alcohol-, drug- and tobacco-free. If they break that promise, they must go to the elementary school to explain to the children why they were kicked off their team, and their cards are revoked.
Interest in the town’s youth is not limited to worshipful talk in its cafes, either. As many adults cruise Main Street as teenagers on weekends, and the Jiffy Burger remains a nexus for three generations of Smith Center denizens — except for Friday night, of course, when the Redmen (10-0) will travel to Oakley (11-0) to face the Plainsmen in a playoff game.
“What we do around here real well is raise kids,” Smith Center Coach Roger Barta said. “In fact, we do such a good job at it — and I’m talking about the parents and community — that they go away to school and succeed, and then pursue opportunities in the bigger cities.
“None of this is really about football,” he added. “We’re going to get scored on eventually, and lose a game, and that doesn’t mean anything. What I hope we’re doing is sending kids into life who know that every day means something.”
Like many small towns on the plains, Smith Center has struggled to retain its population. Its two biggest employers are Peterson Industries, which manufactures trailers and campers, and the school district itself, with 120 employees. Somehow, Smith Center added 43 children to its district, and its senior high school enrollment is 154 students, about evenly divided between boys and girls. More than 60 percent of the high school boys play football.
Some credit the growth to an ethanol plant that opened a year ago in nearby Phillipsburg and employs about 40 people, or the campus for transcendental meditation 12 miles northeast of here that will open in 2008.
Everyone agrees, however, that the main attraction is Coach Barta and the football program he has built amid wheat fields and water towers. Not only does Hubbard Stadium attract more than 1,600 people to watch his team each home game, but Barta’s scouting report for the coming opponent also becomes the hot topic of discussion throughout the week. This week for Oakley, it runs 28 pages and kicks off simply with, “This is the real deal, we must prepare well and quick.”
“We get it on Monday night,” said Joe Windscheffel, the Redmen’s senior quarterback. “As soon we get home, our dads start devouring it, and pretty soon, wherever you go in town, that’s all anyone is talking about.”
Barta, 62, is quick to smile and is a gentle sort with a honey baritone. Over 30 years here, he has won 273 games against 58 losses (an .825 winning percentage) and guided the Redmen to six state titles. He has had plenty of offers to move up and on, but instead he stayed and watched dozens of his boys go to play college football. One, Mark Simoneau, reached the National Football League.
“He looks and sounds like a math teacher, which he is, and is about as laid-back as they come,” Simoneau, a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints, said by telephone. “As good a coach as he is, he’s a better guy. He treats people like gold.”
Perhaps the best evidence of Barta’s hold on the town is the number of former players who have returned home each weekend for games and, in many cases, for a whole lot longer. Four of his former players teach here and coach alongside him.
“I left here and went to school and thought about doing a lot of different things,” said Brock Hutchinson, 33, whose father, Dennis, has been Barta’s top assistant for the past 30 years. “But the farther I got away and thought about other things, the more I wanted to come home. Coach Barta and my dad showed me how you can really impact a kid’s life as an educator.”
What Hutchinson and the others have returned to is a town with few distractions. The nearest McDonald’s is 90 minutes away, and the town’s lone theater gets a new movie every week, which it plays each night at 7:30. “Sometimes, though, if there’s only a few people there, they won’t even show it, and tell you to come back another night,” Windscheffel said.
There is timelessness to Smith Center football, as well. The Redmen rarely pass, and they operate the same wishbone offense they have used for 30 years. Last month, they received national notice when they scored 72 points in the first quarter against Plainville, breaking a national record set in 1925.
“We aren’t proud of it,” said Barta, who was born and raised in Plainville. “They had some turnovers that we took for touchdowns, and it just snowballed.”
Barta pulled his starting offense after his team’s third touchdown. He played his freshmen, but the touchdowns kept coming. So he told his young players to run out of bounds or fall to the ground if they got loose. Still, the final score was 83-0.
Barta is not even sure that this is the best Redmen team he has had. Not that long ago, Smith Center had more than 80 players and was in the bigger and more competitive Class 3A. In 1985, its conference, the Mid-Continent League, had three of its members win state championships — Norton (4A), Plainville (3A) and Victoria (2-1A).
Now, there are 46 Redmen, and they are playing in Class 2-1A. Two other Mid-Continent league schools will drop to the next and lowest class, eight-man football.
Barta considers this his favorite team. He has 12 seniors who have never lost a game in their high school careers.
“They like each other,” he said. “They are more like brothers than teammates.”
Win or lose against Oakley on Friday night, the pickup trucks with the sons and the daughters of Smith Center will be back cruising Main Street. Their moms and dads, aunts and grandfathers, will be nearby keeping a watchful eye.
“Sure, we like our football around here,” Barta said. “But we truly believe it takes a whole town to raise a child, and that’s worth a whole lot more.”
What I like about this team, this town:
1) Hard work and accountability are good things
2) A promise is a contractual agreement
3) Parenting is a top priority (the community is involved, I see this akin to when the Church body makes a commitment to help parents spiritually nurture their children. This is not the 'It takes a Village' government involvement mentality.
4) Teammates = brotherhood
5) Everyday is important
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