Six: A Football Coach's Journey to a National Record

by Marc Rasmussen

Overview

In the 1940s and 1950s, unable to field competitive football teams of eleven boys, small high schools across the United States started playing with six, instead.

Claremont, South Dakota, was one such place. Bill Welsh strode into town in 1947, started a six-man team at the high school, and six years later had racked up a national record of sixty-one consecutive victories. His career as a high-school football coach is without equal. His role as mentor, coach, and teacher influenced the lives of many young men across the state, but his legacy is the record of the Claremont Honkers and their domination of six-man football in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Minnesota.

Marc Rasmussen has unveiled the many facets of Bill Welsh's life and shined a spotlight on the all-but-forgotten sport of six-man football and the all-conquering Honkers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780984504145
Publisher:	South Dakota State Historical Society
Publication date:	08/30/2011
Pages:	155
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.60(d)

Table of Contents

Maps ix

Preface xi

Introduction: Game Day, 1948 1

Part 1 Coach Welsh

1 Willis ("Bill") Welsh 27

2 Bill Welsh, The Coach 41

3 Forest City, Tragedy, and Change 57

4 The Coach Returns 71

Part 2 The Claremont Honkers

5 The Tale of Six-Man Football 81

6 The Mythical State Champions, 1947-1948 88

7 The Streak Continues, 1949-1953 102

8 After the Streak 128

Conclusion 137

Appendix 141

Bibliographic Essay 143

Index 147