Another football league: ‘The Rest of the Story’

or some 40 years up until the mid-1990s, radio journalist Paul Harvey hosted a daily show called “The Rest of the Story” in which he told stories presented as little-known facts or forgotten and overlooked facts within a variety of subjects. In his unique style, he talked about incidents, issues, people, and organizations but often from very different viewpoints. It added a “what you may not realize though is … ” point of view.

Perhaps you have heard or read about a proposed new football league based within the City of Rome school system. Unless you have special interest in youth football or have someone in your family who does, you probably thought nothing of it and went on with life.

For over 60 years, the Boys Club of Rome now known as The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Georgia has sponsored the football program for youth aged 5-12 in our community. The vast majority of boys who have played or are playing high school football in Rome and Floyd County, both presently and throughout those many years, have participated in this well structured and supervised program.

In fact the same goes for those area high school football players who have gone on to play in the ranks of colleges and universities and a few even professionally. The region and state football championships which have been won by schools in Rome and Floyd County including Rome High’s recent championship have done so with teams which were filled with young men who played in the Boys & Girls Clubs/Rome-Floyd Recreation Authority program.

Frankly, the staff, administration, and Board of Directors of The Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Georgia do not understand why our proven and excellent football program for boys from all of the city and county schools, which also has provided other services to so many boys and girls in our community, should be severely harmed or destroyed by a new and unnecessarily duplicating league.

The portion of the money which is made by the current program and goes to the B&GCNWGA helps to fund the work of the organization.

“The Rest of the Story” is that the B&GCNWGA used those net proceeds along with donations from the community and other revenue sources to serve over 3,000 individual youth in 2016 with attendance averaging 425-450 per day. Parents who can afford it pay only $5 per week for afterschool and summer care in a safe and well-staffed environment. No child is turned away.

84 percent of the children whom we serve come from low-income families.

60 percent come from single parent homes.

The members of B&GCNWGA have a 100 percent high school graduation rate.

During the school year and in the summer of 2016, B&GCNWGA provided 100,000 meals to its members, which in some cases could be the only meal(s) of the day for the member.

While in our care, our children and teens get help with homework, learn about self-respect and anger management, build self-confidence, and learn about art and music.

Perhaps, in the glow of their recent and well-deserved State Championship in football, the Board of the City of Rome School system and its administration believe that it would be advantageous to create their own feeder programs to help to ensure future championships for Rome High. This new league could harm or destroy a program with a rich and successful history of providing well-structured competition for boys from both the City and the County Schools. But, “The Rest of the Story” is that with history as a guide, it isn’t necessary, and in creating such a league, programs and services which attend to the needs of thousands of students, most of whom attend city schools, could be eliminated or cut.

We of the staff, administration and Board of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Northwest Georgia only ask that the Board elected be responsible for all of the City of Rome school system’s students and consider all of the consequences of creating this proposed youth football league.

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