FAITHFUL FANS ARE THE SOURCE OF JACKSON'S FOOTBALL FEVER

JACKSON -- After every Jackson High School home football game, the players' parents serve a family-style meal to the players, coaches and their families gathered in the gym. Many former players from past teams stop by.

"It's like a community party," says head coach Carl Gross. "We eat and talk and lots of times stay 'til midnight."

The communal meal is one of many ways in which the Jackson football team seems like a highly successful family enterprise, one which has finished second in the state playoffs two of the last three years and just completed its first undefeated season in more than 60 years.

When the 10-0 Indians play Kirkwood tonight in a Class 5A state sectional game at Houck Stadium, the Jackson stands will appear to the opposition as a noisy blanket of red. To Jackson players that blanket provides a kind of security, says David Turner, president of the high school's booster club.

"When the kids go out on the field and see a bunch of people in the stands that care about them it makes them feel good about themselves," he says. "It makes them feel better and do better."

Membership in the booster club tends to be stable, he says. "Even if their kids go through school, people still join. The school and athletics are a community pride thing."

The boosters raise money through concession stand sales and a golf tournament held every July. The money pays for team banquets, fills requests for uniforms or helps pay for the athletic teams' out-of-town trips.

"I've been in the club for five years and we've never turned down anybody," Turner said.

He theorizes that Jackson has such broad-based support for its athletic teams because the community, though growing, still has a small-town feel.

"Maybe it's easier for people to know the kids personally," he says. "It's like one big family."

The Jim Walker family is an example. Walker's father Dean played football for that undefeated 1935 Jackson team. Walker himself played quarterback for the Indians from 1967-69.

He operates the 25-second clock at Jackson home games. His wife, Sally, is the sister of Sam Birk, a good football player for Jackson in bygone years.

Their daughter Lindsey, a senior who runs track, is the girlfriend of Jackson player J.P. Hall.

The Walkers' son Chase is a sixth-grader who plays in a Cape Girardeau tackle football league and is one of the ball boys at Jackson home games.

With such family legacies common in Jackson, no wonder the entire town gets excited when fall football practice begins.

"Everybody anticipates it every season," Walker says. "It helps making it to the playoffs a couple years in a row."

Gross says the coaching staff talks to the players about community pride. "They're playing for Jackson High school, for themselves and for the community."

He has coached at Jackson since 1981 and has seen down years but says people still filled the stands.

There's a waiting list for season tickets in the concrete part of the Jackson stadium. "Some people have had season tickets for 35 or 40 years and don't want to give them up," Gross says.

Many merchants change their outdoor signs the day before games to show their support for the Indians. One of those is Estes Deli & Bar-B-Q, an establishment located near the high school. Owners Alan and Nancy Estes find themselves feeding many of the players and coaches on game days.

"The coaches eat here every home game," he says. "And most of the time they eat the same thing. They don't want to break tradition."

Football coaches on winning streaks are known to do almost anything to keep from changing their luck.

"We're pretty superstitious," Gross admits.

He always eats his pre-game meal at home, something bland. The plain sandwich and crackers protect a nervous stomach, he says.

"Over the years of worrying, I've found if I go with something spicy I'm not going to be any good on the sideline."

His players eat healthily on game days, too, mostly turkey sandwiches. "They save the combinations (pork barbecue with pimento cheese spread) for other days," Nancy Estes says.

The Estes took their 8-year-old son Dustin to last Friday's game against Poplar Bluff. Already Dustin, a fan of past Jackson great Nathan Norman, has announced his intention to play for the Indians someday. "He's planning on being there," Alan says.

Monday morning quarterbacks fill the shop on the mornings after games. "They follow the sport and they know the sport," Alan says.

The community's support for the team hasn't changed that much because of its recent success, he says.

"It was like that when I was in school 20 years ago."

Gross described the Jackson crowd against Poplar Bluff as "humongous" and expects the same tonight. Running onto the field before a large crowd of friendly fans is a great feeling for a high school player, he says.

"Jackson has football fever now."