Stilwell Football: a Seventy Nine Year History
By Gregg W. Stilwell
Part One : 1921-1949
The date was Friday, September 30,1921. The time, 3:30 P.M.. On an overcast, but otherwise pleasant afternoon, Stilwell High School played it's first football game. Paul Hale's Red and White clad Stilwell Indians lost to the Muldrow Bulldogs 20-17. One week later SHS notched it's first win on the football field, beating Sallisaw 12-6. The inaugural season ended with a record of 1-1.

The twenties were, for the most part, successful. Professor H.O. Lucas took over for the 1922 and 1923 campaigns. Lucas's first season saw SHS post a 3-1-1 mark, followed by a 4-3-1 campaign in 1923. Stilwell claimed two victories over Sequoyah and single wins over Sallisaw and Van Buren, Arkansas in Lucas's final year.

Due to an inadequate number of players the school didn't field a team for the 1924 season, but rebounded in 1925 to record the schools only perfect season. Ollie White's charges allowed only six points all season, knocked off Sallisaw and Sequoyah twice apiece, and beat Westville in the first ever "Battle for Baron Fork" to post a 5-0 mark. Jim Gordon's 1926 team finished 8-3-1, recording seven shutouts along the way, including a 60-0 decision over Grove.

Floyd Thompkins was brought in as coach in 1927 and changed the school's mascot from "Indians" to "Pirates". Thompkins team was held in high regard throughout the state. Stilwell rolled to a 4-0 start, dispatching Watts 46-0, Muldrow 46-0, and coaxing a forfeit out of Sequoyah. Stilwell's week four 136-6 trouncing of Salina helped set up one of the most hyped contests in the early history of Oklahoma high school football, a meeting between the two teams widely regarded as the top two teams in the entire state, Stilwell and Muskogee.

So important was the game that it was a featured attraction of the 1927 Muskogee State Fair, and among the spectators was Charles Lindbergh, who had just weeks earlier completed his famous trans-Atlantic flight, and was a special dignitary at the fair. The Salina game had taken it's toll on the Big Red however, as the terrific trio of QB James Bradley and HB's G.L. Dannenburg and Ray Sixkiller were sidelined by injuries. Without the heart and soul of the team, Stilwell was no match for the Roughers, who prevailed 34-0. The 1927 season ended with a 9-4-2 record.

E.G. McLemore, the first player from Stilwell to play in the National Football League, returned home to coach the Indians in 1928. McLemore had learned from the best, playing for the Jim Thorpe coached Oorang Indians and against soon to be legendary coaches George Halas and Curly Lambeau, and used his knowledge to guide his '28 squad to a finish of 6-1-2. The only blemishes being a 2-0 loss to Sallisaw in the rain, and 0-0 ties against traditional powerhouses Stigler and Wagoner. Notable wins were SHS's first football victories over Tahlequah 18-0 and Eufaula 19-7. McLemore's 1929 Pirates were 6-3-2 and recorded the only win in school history over Muskogee7-0 and another defeat of Tahlequah, this time by a 18-0 tally.

The 1930's can be considered the first lean decade of Stilwell football. SHS recorded only three winning seasons during the 10 year span. The top records were 6-5 by G.R. Hurd's 1932 Pirates who strung together an impressive four game winning streak in mid-season with victories over Vian 46-0, Sallisaw 12-0, Heavener 15-6 and Tahlequah 12-6 and had a chance to claim a share of the NOAA title if they could defeat Stigler in a Thanksgiving afternoon, homecoming showdown. The Panthers would prevail 7-6 and clinch the championship for themselves. The narrow loss to Stigler was typical of the series between the two schools for the next two decades. Stigler would rarely dominate Stilwell, but the Indians would not be able to defeat the Panthers until 1952.

Jerry Lewis was hired as head coach in 1933 and coached his squad to a finish of 6-4-1. Two of those wins, however, came via forfeits from Checotah and Westville. Lewis's second year as coach resulted in a 5-6 record. The 1934 season will best be remembered as the year that Indian Pride came back to Stilwell. Due to an overwhelming outcry of fans the Indian was officially brought back as the school symbol. The moniker had several years of history behind it as it was used by "Every team since the school was established here at statehood with the exception of the past six years." according to the 12-7-33 Stilwell Democrat-Journal, which went on to explain, "The name Indians is more suitable as practically every player on the team is of Indian extraction and Stilwell is the center of one of the greatest Indian populations in the United States." "New uniforms with an Indian emblem have been ordered to replace the old Pirate emblem" wrote the DJ "No change will be made in the school colors which will remain red and white."

Larry Lautenbach's first and only season in 1936 yielded a 6-5-1. The defense played well posting four shutouts, but the offense was shutout five times and scored more than one touchdown in a game only twice, 13-0 versus Watts and 14-6 against Westville. Not even Oklahoma Coaches Association Hall of Fame member Kester "Tractor" Trent was able to shape the Indians into a winning club, posting records of 2-9 in 1938 and 2-6 in 1939.

The Indians posted five straight winning seasons to begin the '40's, highlighted by 8-1-1 and 8-1 marks in 1940 and '41 respectively, under the guidance of H.L."Goob" Arnold. Arnold's 1940 Indians rank among the best defensive teams in school history. Seven points were the most Stilwell allowed in a single game that year, and the Big Red defense posted four shutouts. A 6-6 tie against perennial thorn-in-the-side Stigler, and a 6-0 loss to Sallisaw ruined an otherwise perfect 1940 campaign. The 1941 club was NOAA Co-Champion with Checotah. The Indians were upset again by Stigler 7-6 early in the season but managed to score a big 26-0 win over Checotah to claim a share of the title. In the early years of Stilwell football, the school did not participate in the State playoffs. Instead the school annually played their final game on Thanksgiving afternoon, usually against arch-rival Sallisaw. Stilwell blasted the Diamonds in the '41 Turkey Bowl, 25-6. The town was only able to celebrate the victory for nine days. On December 7, 1941 the friendly war games waged on football fields across the nation were replaced by a real life war as Japanese bombers attacked Pearl Harbor.

With the United States forced into entering World War II, the Stilwell school system, like all schools at the time, were forced to make cutbacks. As a result the Indians would not be able to hire full-time coaches until hostilities ceased. Superintendent G.N. Mounger pulled double duty as football coach during the war years. Mounger's teams were actually very successful, posting records of 3-2-1 in a short 1942 season in which travel was restricted. The longest road trip was 28 miles to take on Tahlequah in a 6-6 tie. In 1943 the Indians would post a 7-1 mark, outscoring their opponents 254-45. The Indians fell one game shy of winning the NOAA championship dropping a 19-13 decision to...you guessed it...Stigler. The loss to the Panthers was the only time all season that Stilwell failed to score at least four touchdowns. Notable wins included whippings of Tahlequah 52-0 and Westville 47-0 and a pair of wins over Sallisaw 26-0 and 26-13.

The 1944 Indians lost a little of their offensive punch of the year before, scoring only 130 points, but the defense was actually better than the previous year allowing only 39 points. Stilwell's 7-2 record was good enough for third place in the NOAA.

By the time Stilwell took the field for the 1945 season opener in late September, V-J day had come and gone and Stilwell was back to full time coaches. Sadly, many Adair county soldiers had lost their lives defending the country over the past three years. The first county resident to die happened to be James Bradley, the star quarterback of the 1926,27,28 teams, who went on to play college ball at Wake Forest. Bradley died crossing a river during jungle maneuvers. Stilwell Athletic Park was renamed in his honor during the 1945 season and was officially dedicated as James Bradley Memorial Athletic Park in early 1947.

Oddly, Stilwell's hiring of full time coaches resulted in a downward spiral that lasted until 1955. Pete Forrest coached Stilwell to a 2-9 record in 1946. Perhaps the Stilwell players weren't accustomed to playing under the lights, which were installed in time for the season opener against Wagoner, a 25-0 Bulldogs win. In fact, not only did Stilwell not win a game under the lights at home or away ,( both wins came at Haskell which wouldn't have lights at their field until the next season) the Indians would go fourteen straight games without scoring a single point. The Indians finally broke the night time scoring ice...barely...scoring late in the fourth period of a 32-6 loss to Westville on 10-24-47. Two weeks later Stilwell would record their first night time win, shutting out Haskell 6-0. Al Rhoads's team struggled to a 1-9 finish in that 1947 season.

Marshall von Bieberstein managed the first winning post-war record in his second year as head coach in 1949. von Bieberstein's 1948 team was only 1-8. 1949 however, saw the Indians match their win total of the past three years in the first four games of the season. Stilwell easily won contests over Watts 26-0, Talihina 34-7, Sallisaw 33-6 and Eufaula 26-6. The schedule makers had dealt SHS a bad hand by midseason, and the Red and White dropped four of their next six. Losses came against traditional powers Stigler 12-0, Wagoner 39-0 and Checotah 31-20, and a 12-0 upset against Tahlequah. Stilwell and Spiro met for the first time on the football field in the season finale with Stilwell claiming a 20-6 victory to finish at 6-4.