Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
Just over two decades ago, 21 years to be exact, the athletic department at Rockford High School brought a football coach from the east side of the state to its sprawling community 15 minutes north of Grand Rapids.
The administration looked to Frankenmuth High School, and coach Ralph Munger, to try to turn around a program that had up and down seasons playing in the old Tri River League, and then the OK Red Conference, but had never qualified for the playoffs.
There was instant success, as Munger won eight games in his first season at Rockford and qualified the Rams for their first playoff appearance. The team lost to Grand Ledge in that appearance, but making the playoffs was to become a trend that Rockford fans would soon expect.
After a couple of down years, Munger has turned Rockford into a state powerhouse.
In his 21 years on the sidelines for the Rams, he has posted a 184-52 record and led the team to 18 playoff berths, including 17 straight. During this incredible string, Rockford has won three state titles (2004, 2005, 2008) and has been runner-up twice (1998 and 2006).
For his body of work, most of it in Rockford, Munger was inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007.
I’ve had the pleasure of covering Munger and Rockford football for 16 of these years, and what amazes me most about the program is how the whole community buys into their Friday nights in the fall.
Ted Carlson Memorial Stadium is painted in orange and black, at least on the home side, every home game during the fall.
The stands and the press box are jam-packed, elbow to elbow, with fans and staff waiting for the Rockford team, some 80 strong some years, to march from the locker rooms in the school behind the stadium.
Usually those fans go home, or to the Corner Bar in downtown Rockford, happy and discussing what they just witnessed.
Even though the school is huge, with some 2,500 students, the community of Rockford still has a small-town feel, hungering for its own version of ‘Friday Night Lights.’
This small-town community has produced the likes of former Central Michigan University and current San Francisco 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley and former Central Michigan and Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Adam Kieft. Last year’s team was led by 6’7″, 320-pound offensive tackle Ben Braden, who is now playing for the University of Michigan.
Rockford is really a small farming community that turned into Grand Rapids suburbia, but which still produces its fair share of hulking linemen cut out of the farm-boy mold.
And the offensive and defensive lines aren’t the only place you will find talent on a Rockford football field. It’s everywhere, and that’s why this program has become one of the top programs in the state in any division.
On August 24, Ted Carlson Memorial Field will once again be filled with fans dressed in orange and black. The marching band will be lined up, ready to pump up the crowd. The smell of grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, both from inside the stadium and out in the parking lot (if there is tailgating for this event) will permeate the air. It’s an important night for Rockford fans. Not only is it the first game of the 2012 season, but this is a game that has been talked about for a year.
On August 24, the Lowell Red Arrows come to town for the second game of a home-and-home series. Last year the Red Arrows dominated Rockford, beating the Rams 28-7.
Of course, Rockford went on to win 11 games in a row before losing to Detroit Catholic Central in the state semifinal, but Rams don’t like to lose, especially on the green turf of Ted Carlson Memorial Stadium, which makes this revenge game so interesting.
The problem for Rockford is that coach Noel Dean and the Lowell football program have winning tradition on their side as well. And it’s all wrapped up in a pink bow.
The state of Texas doesn’t have anything on us here in Michigan.