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'Throwback' league provides organized football for youths who might not otherwise get chance
| Monday, Apr 28 2008 10:39 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Apr 28 2008 11:27 PM
It's called "Throwback Jr. NFL," and its a new opportunity for Bakersfield-area boys ages 10-to-12 to play tackle football.
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Delray Beavers, a coach an organization director of the Throwback Jr. NFL, said he is seeking coaches and others to help the league financially.
Even some 9-year-olds could play if they're big enough.
Many of the prospective players are described as "at-risk" youth by Delray Beavers, the league's organization director and team manager.
"They are largely from single-parent families," Beavers said. "Most of them are exposed to gangs and drugs."
Beavers' organization is registering players and teams are being formed. At this time, he said about 120 players have signed up and are distributed among eight teams. Games begin in late summer.
"When we begin playing in August and September, we'll probably have 160 to 180 players," Beavers said. "That's our target."
The organization was previously known as Junior Pro Football, which began in 1997.
Prior to this year, Beavers' organization had players in the 12-to-14 age group, but only enough players for one team, which competed against teams from the Los Angeles, Palmdale and Lancaster areas. Last season's squad size: 21 players.
"The pickings were getting thin with the 12-to-14 bracket," Beavers said. "We'll let Jack Frost and Golden Empire go for those seventh and eighth graders. Now we'll take the younger kids and start a league."
Many players over the years have moved from Beavers' organization to local high school football, and several are playing in college.
Brandon Smith, a former West High athlete, is a junior wide receiver at Arizona State and a product of Beavers' league.
"Delray had a huge influence on me," Smith said in a telephone interview from Arizona State. "I met Delray at Grissom Park. When I started, I couldn't afford to play."
Thanks to a fee waiver, Smith was able to join the league.
"It was real beneficial," Smith said. "It gave us something to look up to after we got out of school. It kept us out of trouble."
That laid the foundation for Smith's success at West, and later at Arizona State.
"By the time we got to high school, we knew what we had to look forward to," Smith said. "It was an introduction, so we weren't seeing everything for the first time when we got to high school."
Beavers said among other athletes who went through the program were A.J. Jefferson (now at Fresno State) and Princeton McCarty, who were West standouts, and former South High quarterback Joseph Maldonado.
For Beavers, it's more than organizing a league and signing players up. He can't do everything by himself and he's looking for help, financially and from individuals who can coach.
"We would really appreciate help from our community, considering the young men we work with are from our community," Beavers said.
Many of these families have difficulty coming up with the $125 per player cost to participate. Beavers said he is willing to work with families having financial difficulties, even allowing installment payments, if necessary.
"If a family has a kid interested, we ask the parents to let their relatives know and maybe come up with the money that way," Beavers said. "And if a family can't afford the initial payment, we'll let them do it in installments."
Beavers said the cost for running the organization ranges from $160 to $200 per player.
"We are looking to furnish our players with new equipment and uniforms because ours are too old and need to be replaced."
Beavers, 36, graduated from South High School. He played football there and also at Bakersfield College. More recently, he was with the semipro Bakersfield Panthers.
Beavers was part of a group that organized youth tackle football in 1988, a group that later became Golden Empire Youth Football.
When Junior Pro Football started in 1997, it was a league for 10-to-12-year-olds for two seasons before switching to the 12-to-14 age group that was in place through last season.
"We wanted to be able to play with the kids in Golden Empire or Jack Frost when they had their little tournaments," Beavers said. "They didn't have that for the younger groups."
It's gone full circle with the return to the 10-to-12 age group.
"Now we've decided to go full-throttle," Beavers said. "Bakersfield is growing. There's a need for this. Most of the middle class kids wind up at Golden Empire. Our kids don't have that opportunity. We're trying to make it more affordable for those kids."
Beavers said the league needs to raise about $19,000 this year, adding that most of that will be generated from registration fees.
Fundraisers such as car washes and candy sales, along with donations, will hopefully make up the difference, he added.