Posted: Jan. 4, 2010 |(0) Comments

There were grand moments to spare in the prep athletic worlds of Menomonee Falls and Germantown in 2009 but some of the very best had little to do with wins or losses or championships or epic finishes.

They were about reaching out, showing up, doing right by your neighbor and sportsmanship.

High on the list are a couple of items related to the storied Falls football team that went to the state championship game. This hardworking and dedicated group showed heart and character on the field and character and compassion off of it.

Among its highlights were the following:

• An already three-year old project that has players snow-shoveling for the elderly. It's a campaign coordinated through the area Interfaith Council and has teams of shovelers going out to help designated elderly residents anytime more than two inches of snow falls in the area.

Coach John Baker helps organize the 11 or 12 groups that go out each time there's a big snow, said retired Indians coach Jim Jeskewitz.

"John wanted them to have something to do and you really can't get the kids organized in the summer because they're all over the place," Jeskewitz said. "… That first big storm we had (in mid-December), they did a pretty good job. I didn't hear anyone complaining.

"… The kids got off to a little bit of a late start this year because of the state finals, but everyone understood how important that was to them," Jeskewitz said. "They (the beneficiaries) just know that there are a whole lot of good kids out there doing good things."

• Just before the season started, the team showed how truly unified it was when a large majority of the varsity group chartered a bus and drove up to Oshkosh for the funeral of coach Baker's mother.

Nancy A. "Ma Bakes" Baker, 75, passed away shortly before the start of fall practice and left coach Baker, her youngest child, devastated. The team understood that and wanted to support him.

They quietly entered the funeral home, presented carnations to Baker's wife, collected money for a memoriam and respectfully did a team breakdown with Baker before they left.

"People came up to me afterward and told me it was one of the most amazing things they've ever seen," said Baker at the time. "… We always try to tell the kids to be good to one another. It's nice to see they got the message."

• Then there was the matter of the letter the Falls School District received from referee Tom Kuehl and his crew after the Indians' 10-0 state semifinal football win over Appleton North. It was highly complimentary of the team's behavior and demeanor during the game.

"The sportsmanship that the entire football team of Menomonee Falls (coaches and players) showed during their level 4 playoff game was fantastic," Kuehl wrote. "… I have been officiating football for 19 years and, speaking for my crew and I, this was a fun game to work and the way the Menomonee Falls players and coaches presented themselves throughout had much to do with that. Congratulations."

Other area stories of character included the Germantown football team creating its own code of conduct following an early season off-the-field incident that threatened to derail a promising fall. The code was sponsored, thought up, written and signed by the players themselves with no pushing from the coaches.

Veteran Warhawks coach Phil Datka thought it was one of the great highlights of his championship-studded career. The Warhawks continued to play hard with no further incidents right through to the end of a 5-4 season.

There was also the Menomonee Falls boys soccer team that energized coach Scott Stein has led to seven consecutive winning records. More importantly, he has encouraged the team's parents and supporters to give more than $135,000 in donations that have gone toward field improvement, equipment and uniforms.

The team also held a fundraiser and awareness night for breast cancer research this past fall, raising $9,000 for that very worthy cause.

"The program has come a long way in the past years, primarily due to all the efforts of the people that believed that Falls could compete with the best," wrote Stein in a letter to supporters and the team.

On the character front, it seems that area athletes, coaches and supporters are already among the best.