By Justus Wise, Headliner Sports Editor – September 7, 2021
As we say goodbye to our grass football field at Bear River high school it seemed only appropriate to send it off with a love letter from former players and members of the community that experienced so much during its tenure.
It is important to remember that we do not send love letters at the end of a relationship but rather at the beginning of a new one. As we move forward into the future with our new turf field, we shouldn’t look back forlornly at what might have been, but instead look eagerly forward at what could be. What games will be won or lost, what records will be broken, what new lessons can be learned, what impact will future players have on the community around them? We, with this new and improved field, usher in a new era for Bear River athletics and the community.
Bear Field, while everything around it has been updated or expanded, has remained a constant for decades. It has remained the same while the game of football has evolved, and the players of the sport have come and gone. It has hosted generations of boys that turned quickly into men as they trod through its grass. Whether they were running to score a touchdown, sprinting to finish a kodiak, or walking to prepare for an upcoming game, the players will never forget their time on the field. As the blood and sweat and tears shared among brothers sank deep into the soil it sank further into those players’ hearts and minds. Each memory shared by player or coach will forever live within the collective memory of Bear River football and of Bear Field.
It will be more than the memories that will live on through the lives of former Bear players. The lessons learned through diligent coaching have and will continue to shape each person involved in the Bear River athletic program. Everything translates, good things happen to good people, perfect effort and courage are never waisted, and the knowledge that we are here for the benefit of others. These lessons, taught by coaches and solidified through the game, will forever live as scripture for former and future players of Bear Field.
We say goodbye, yes, but we also say thank you. Thank you for turning boys into men. For teaching lessons that could not be learned anywhere else. And above all for providing a place for us to play the sport that we love. Some might think it odd to find pride in an inanimate field of grass, but in this instance, and many like it, those in the stands will never truly understand what it means to play on the field.
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