To begin with, my children already lived here with their mother and stepfather. The varsity football team, the Stephenville Yellow Jackets, was the winningest Texas football team in the 90's and my sons, along with their stepfather, urged me to come and see these kids play. "They are phenomenal!" I was assured. I went to watch them play as they won the Texas State Championships in 98 and 99. They WERE phenomenal! My youngest son played football at Stephenville High. His underclass teams won district and he played Varsity ball on a team that went to the Bi-District finals his Senior year. This was enough to get me to criss-cross the wide open spaces of Texas from Arlington, chasing after my son's football games for four years, including quite a few contests right in his home town of Stephenville.
Game by game, the town was growing on me.
Some unusual things were happening there that caught my attention from my apartment in Arlington. For starters, on a Christian radio show I used to listen to, the host, Dawson McAllister, mentioned he would soon be speaking at a rally in...where else? Stephenville! Hmm. Intriguing. Turns out, my kids attended that rally. I found out later, most EVERYBODY's kids attended.
Another happening that the Holy Spirit used to lure my attention to Stephenville was the war against prayer in the schools, particularly at sporting events and graduations. The reports were on virtually every nightly newscast. I noticed during my brief visits to town that there were many kids wearing a bright yellow t-shirt with the words "I Pray before I Play" emblazoned boldly upon the front. Following are some pieces of articles I found on the Internet, the likes of which I seemed to be hearing regularly back in the late 90's. They speak for themselves, painting an accurate picture of the climate of those days:
"...the athletic field is rapidly turning into a culture war battle zone, as it did Friday night at a game in Stephenville, Texas, over the issue of school prayer. Education boards and school principals across Texas are struggling with federal guidelines on religious activities, including the ban on official school prayer. Earlier this year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that some religious references were permissible at school events like graduation ceremonies, but were inappropriate -- not sufficiently sacred -- during other activities like athletic contests. Jurists ruled that the hootin' and hollerin' of a down-home football standoff lacked the "singularly serious nature" of other functions, such as a graduation event.
"That didn't stop a small group of 15 students on Friday night, though, from smuggling a portable public address system into a high school game in Stephenville, Texas, to lead supporters in public prayer...
"One of the "prayer warrior" students at Friday night's game told the Stephenville Empire-Tribune paper, "This was not about football, it was about God. We decided to pray for God (sic)." According to an Associated Press report, local high school superintendent Larry Butler said that the impromptu prayer rally did not have support of authorities from the district. "With that being said," added Butler, "I applaud them for doing something that they feel really strongly about. I think the entire community of Stephenville believes in school prayer."
"So far, there are no other reports of spontaneous prayer outbreaks at weekend football games. News accounts suggest that most school district throughout Texas are abiding by the Circuit Court guidelines..."
FROM ANOTHER ARTICLE...
"A number of "spontaneous" protest at football games have taken place in Stephenville. Last week, the Board of Trustees of the Stephenville Independent School District grappled with a policy which would permit a student selected by popular vote to deliver a pre-game "message," provided certain rules were observed. The local Empire-Tribune newspaper noted: "The rules are that the purpose of the message is to encourage good sportsmanship and student safety and to promote the proper environment for the competition... The message may also be used to welcome or greet fans and the opposing team and/or to commend them for their achievements.
"While one board member mused that the new policy "would legally create an open forum for a period of time designated for the message and designate a place for the student message," another member saw through the obfuscation. Referring to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court decision disallowing pre-game prayer, he told fellow board members: "This is the law today whether we like it or not. Until this is cleared up, I personally think we go against the law if we allow student prayer, or any prayer, before the game..." "
HERE'S ONE MORE FROM '99...
Students Defy Federal Judge on Prayer at High School Game
Stephenville, TX