Thanks to my publisher, Arcadia Publishing, I'm thrilled to offer this exclusive cover art + page preview of Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries, due August 25th and available via signings three weeks prior to release date.
Cover Art: Download FootballBookCover.pdf
Page Preview: Download Page70.pdf
This is Page 70 of the Gone But Not Forgotten chapter of the book. This specific page highlights three Kimball-Dondero games in Royal Oak. In case you're wondering, I use Kimball-Dondero material in website teases like this because the two rival schools are now closed and the pictures are no longer in use for publication and promotion purposes. I've left copy and art on schools that have a present day stake in our prep football landscape, or material that was harder to track down due to availability or rights, to be seen in book stores, not websites.
Rest assured, your school is in this book if they have any stake of relevance in our prep football footprint. I reference over 100 high schools as well as many of the early, forgotten, traditional and newer rivalries over the past 50-60 years. If you're a fan of the PSL, Catholic League, MAC, MEGA, Kensington Lakes, OAA or any of the older, smaller conferences that spawned today's giant leagues, you'll like this book!
The first picture is the 1969 game at Kimball, when, depending on what paper you read, Kimball was ranked No. 1 or 2. Dondero triumphed over the undefeated Knights in an 8-6 upset that was described by Royal Oak's Daily Tribune as "an upset for the ages". The game ruined a possible state championship for Kimball. As is the case in many good rivalries, Kimball returned the favor in 1975 after stuffing the Oaks in the shadows of it's own goalposts late in a 20-19 upset over undefeated and No.1 ranked Dondero. The Oak, Dondero's school yearbook, summed up the '75 game as the "the most thrilling Dondero football game in several years, capping a season that saw the Oaks come within one yard of a perfect season".
The lower picture -- one of my favorites found while trying to secure art for the title -- is from the 1979 game. Dondero was lead by junior captain Brad Cochran, who on this night put the Oaks in a 7-0 lead with a 23-yard touchdown, but it was Kimball who turned heads in a 27-7 upset of league champion Dondero. Similar to '75, the loss eliminated any chance of Dondero making the MHSAA playoffs. It was this loss that drove Cochran, a pre-senior captain at Dondero, to enroll at Birmingham Brother Rice. It spurred a state championship the following year for Rice and the creation of the MHSAA's transfer rules for prep athletes statewide.
The important story lines from these games are told in story from the games played over the years in Dearborn, Monroe, Birmingham, Detroit, Allen Park, Grosse Pointe, Livonia, Wayne, Westland (that's Nankin Township for you, Joe Falls) and all points in between.
Don't forget Brother Rice coach Al Fracassa will join me at Border's Bookstore on Woodward Avenue in Birmingham at 7pm on August 8th! I'll also be at the Border's in Southgate -- a community as passionate about prep sports as any in metro Detroit -- on August 9th at 1pm.
The 2008 prep football season starts in just two short months, but who's counting?
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