Veterans back in focus as TC Patriot Game returns

Andrew Rosenthal, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
·3 min read

Sep. 18—TRAVERSE CITY — Steve Gaines had lived in the Traverse City area for less than a year, but he already knew the TC Patriot Game was a must-see.

Bill Myers of Traverse City convinced Gaines, who moved from Colorado Springs in November, to come to the game — an annual crosstown match between Traverse City West and Traverse City Central. Gaines served for more than 20 years with the U.S. Air Force beginning in 1985 before retiring in 2006.

"He said it's the event of the fall for the high school football season," said Gaines, who lives in Lake Ann. "It's a great opportunity to honor veterans in the community, not only armed services, but first responders, ... and and it was just an opportunity to be out here with the community."

Gaines — donning a Denver Broncos jersey — was among those honored before the game. He held no affiliation with either school but said he was rooting for Trojans because of his hosts.

He joined about three dozen others in the east end zone to be honored before the game before a packed crowd of 10,000 for the first time in two years. No. 10 Traverse City Central played Traverse City West under the lights Friday night in the 10th annual Patriot Game at Thirlby Field. The two schools played last year as the first game of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

Fanfare certainly surrounded the contest. Bally Sports Detroit aired the game, 12-year Detroit Lions wide receiver Herman Moore was available for meet-and-greets, and a Daktronics scoreboard made its debut before one four-times its size is set to be installed in a few weeks.

The two student sections were full hours before the kickoff, cheering as the rival teams ran out on to the field and warmed up.

Charlie Webster, 40, who's originally from outside of Roscommon but now lives in Traverse City, always makes it a point to come by. He made three deployments to the Middle East while serving from 1999 to 2006.

"I'm glad its back," Webster said. "Hopefully, by next year, the bikes will be back with all the flags."

Stuart Whittaker, 83 of Suttons Bay, wore a hat festooned with military pins and stood along the fence to the neighboring softball field in an 82nd Airborne Division button-up. He served in-between Korea and Vietnam from 1958 to 1961 as a paratrooper in Germany.

Whittaker said many who didn't know him approached him for a handshake, adding that it felt good to be at a Patriot Game again.

"The way they honor the veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and to honor those who protect our flag," he said when asked what makes him come back every year.

Indeed, that's largely why the Patriot Game exists.

In 2012, then-West head coach Tim Wooer approached the officials at Grand Traverse County Veterans Affairs with the idea after a former Kingsley football player Justin Hansen was killed in action in Afghanistan. Wooer coached Hansen when he held the reins at Kingsley, and he wanted to do something to honor the fallen 26-year-old.

In 2020, the game was briefly renamed the Celebrate Service game in honor of veterans, first responders, active duty and frontline workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Wooer now coaches at Kingsley again and coordinates the Stags' Salute to Service game, which Kingsley won 48-0 against Glen Lake earlier this season.

"It's a sense of community," Myers said. "The city is back."

Follow Andrew Rosenthal on Twitter @ByAndrewR