It was not, though, my first ever football banquet as a player, parent, and coach, I've been to several. Just never any that Jeff Mumm put together.
Usually, a banquet is pot-luck and recognizes the seniors and all-conference players and all that stuff.
But this one was unlike anything I've ever seen because of the total commitment to excellence. I imagine some banquets might be just obligatory. You kind of get the sense that, We have to do this at the end of the season, so let's just get it out of the way.
But the Prowler banquet was the total opposite of that attitude.
Here is what stood out to me as I walked through our cafeteria and listened to the production (or at least the first two hours (yes, you read that correctly, the entire production probably lasted three hours!), but I had to leave early because of the road conditions.
First, the total commitment to the seniors. Alice, who is our retired media specialist and unofficial photographer for the Prowlers, had framed action shots for all of the seniors on one table. I say 'unofficial' photographer in that I don't think she was paid to do it. She just did it because of her love for Prowler football. Her skill with a camera, though, is anything but 'unofficial' and those seniors will have a something special for the rest of their lives captured in that framed photo.
Second, the farewell boards the senior parents put together for their sons. These were arranged at the back of the cafeteria. I have never seen anything like this before. Again, what a great thing for players to have a reflect back on and pass down to their kids. This was a great culmination of the efforts put in by both the parents and their sons. And this is something that is not recognized enough - or even established in many programs.
Here are just a few of the boards that I snapped quick with my Blackberry.
And parents had these out for every senior!
Third, the parents themselves. I never really realized all of the traditions that the parents developed over the year. One of my highlights was when various parents of seniors got up and passed a long their traditions on to the junior parents. This was awesome and truly showed how much Mumm worked to involve the parents. This was also shown through what the parents had to say when they were given the chance to take the mic and reminisce not just about their sons' senior season but also about being a part of Prowler football for seven years.
Fourth, the emphasis on the seniors. This whole night was all about celebrating them. How could you not notice them as several tables were set up front with their senior jerseys draped over the chairs. There was no doubt who the guests of honor were going to be. How many programs celebrate their seniors in such a way?
The seniors were truly the guests of honor.
Even the placemats embodied the idea of 'team'!
Coach Mumm address the parents and the seniors.
Fifth, the highlight tape. We had a junior who really outdid himself this year in taking the team video - and combining it with some of his own video that he took at games - and using a new high light system that the coaches bought - and making phenomenal high light videos of every game. This young man has a bright future ahead of him in the film making industry.
Finally, the sense of family that existed in that room. I don't know how you could be in that room and not feel involved and valued. This all gets back to the program that coach Mumm has built, a program that resembles something I've never seen before. It's a program that will miss Mumm as he retires. But there is no question that it is a program that has touched hundreds and hundreds of players' lives.
I will certainly miss that.
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