Rambler Gridders Make IL State Playoffs

Postseason trip is 1st since 1997

Floyd Mays kept his balance and gained yardage in Mooseheart’s playoff football game at Cambridge.

> Mooseheart football fans had waited a long time to see their team--the state’s smallest school playing football--return to the IHSA playoffs. When the day came, Saturday, Oct. 28, they filled the visitors’ stands at tiny Cambridge, amid the windswept prairie of northwest Illinois.

But although the Ramblers were competitive throughout the first half, the hosts weren’t in the mood for an upset and ended the Red Ramblers’ season with a 44-12 contest.

“We’re obviously very happy to get back,” Mooseheart football coach Gary Urwiler said. “This was a great experience for the boys to be able to play here. This was a good atmosphere to play in.”

Urwiler said he doesn’t want the wait to be nine years before the next playoff appearance.

“We got a taste of it and hopefully they want to taste it again,” Urwiler said. “Hopefully they’ll put the work in during the offseason. This was exciting and a great experience.”

Red Ramblers quarterback Chris Morones also found room at the line of scrimmage early in the contest.

> The success of Mooseheart’s football team was reflected off the field by a large number of newspaper stories --focusing not only on the Red Ramblers’ achievements but also the character of the players comprising the team’s roster.

In addition to stories in the Aurora Beacon News, Kane County Chronicle and the Daily Herald, Chicago Tribune prep sports columnist Barry Temkin used his Oct. 27 piece (above) to focus on the background of Mooseheart junior wide receiver Andy Greenaway, who is sponsored by Medina, OH Lodge 647. Temkin’s column showed Greenaway. As Greenaway told Temkin, “I give it my best shot.” And so did the 2006 Red Ramblers football team!

> The end of Mooseheart’s playoff game wasn’t end of the team’s day in northwest Illinois. After the Red Ramblers met at the middle of the field in Cambridge (above), they got cleaned up and made the short drive north to Geneseo, where local Lodge 990 combined with Rock Island Lodge 190 to provide the all team members with a postgame meal.

The team couldn’t wait to get into line to sample the Swiss steak, mashed potatoes and other goodies. And there was cake for dessert!

The team, coaching staff and administrators were greeted at the door by Rock Island administrator Tom Dillon. The Red Ramblers received winter knit hats before dinner and, after eating, took time to pose for pictures before heading back to the Child City campus.

Homecoming 2006 a Sun-Dappled Success
Katherine Morones was crowned Homecoming Queen while Stephen Pinto was the Homecoming King.

> Great weather, a stadium full of Moose members as well as plenty of alumni -- and a heartstopping finish to the football game. What more could Mooseheart have asked for during its 2006 Homecoming weekend?

But Homecoming is only partly about football, and there were a number of activities on campus throughout the day that helped spread the spirit not only of Homecoming but of the Child City as well.

As the day drew to a close, though, attentions returned to the football stadium, and the Red Ramblers responded with an 18-17 win over Brookfield Academy that clinched the team a spot in the Illinois high school playoffs.

Child City Executive Director Scott Hart kissed “Big Momma” the hog, after he finished first in a contest organized by students.

’77 Grad York
Gives Organ Concert

> Diana York, from the Mooseheart class of 1977, gave a concert on the House of God organ on Homecoming morning.

The concert was a Mooseheart Alumni Assn. fundraiser toward the ongoing repair of the organ to its original condition. The pipe organ, the original $300,000 instrument installed when the House of God opened in 1950, had fallen into disrepair.

York first performed a concert on the instrument in 2004 to raise funds for an initial $5,000 repair to the organ.

Funding for the second stage is ongoing. Repairs in this phase of the project will cost $12,000, and will involve removing dust and dirt accumulated in the organ’s 3,400 pipes.

For information on how to contribute to the organ repair fund, contact Moose Charities at 1-630-966-2200 or at its website: www.moosecharities.org.

State Associations Make Homecoming Special Day

> As part of Homecoming festivities, the North Carolina Moose Association donated a computer to the North Carolina Residence.

Fitzgerald is 2006-07 Mooseheart Student Mayor

> In choosing Chris Fitzgerald as this year’s student Mayor of Mooseheart Child City & School, residents of the Child City chose a candidate who knows the campus, its policies and its programs inside-out.

After all, the current senior is one of those students who has literally grown up at Mooseheart. Now 17, Fitzgerald was admitted to Mooseheart as a toddler on May 1, 1990 and this has been his primary address ever since. Ironically, he almost wasn’t allowed to run, as he is a senior at Mooseheart High School who will graduate this coming May 26 .

“Originally it was supposed to be sophomores and juniors running,” Fitzgerald said. “I wrote a letter to Mr. (Gary) Urwiler (Superintendent and Principal of Mooseheart School). I stated reasons why he should include a senior. He wrote me back that, yes, seniors would be allowed to run.”

So Fitzgerald ran. He had one competitor, sophomore Gabe Kendor. In the end, Fitzgerald won by one solitary vote in balloting by the entire Mooseheart student body. Voting concluded Nov. 14 and the result was announced later that day.

Mooseheart had student mayors from the 1950s through the 1970s but had gone years without such a student governmental role until the 2005-06 school year, when Sergio Mazon was narrowly elected over current senior Katie Morones. Fitzgerald is the second in the resumed position.

“It gives the kids a chance to be involved,” said Urwiler, who initiated the move to bring back the student-mayor position.

One of Fitzgerald’s ideas is to have a suggestion box available to students, to allow reasonable requests to be brought to the attention of the administration.

“There are limits,” Fitzgerald said. “If you say you want to get rid of the school (disciplinary) point card, then that’s not going to happen, because that goes deeper than just Mooseheart.”

Fitzgerald has literally grown up at the Child City. He was just 14 months old when he first arrived, sponsored by Batavia, IL Moose Lodge 682.

“Mooseheart means the world to me,” Fitzgerald said. “I don’t remember much about my very young years. But I have been given food, clothing, a home and a complete experience. I have Family Teachers (Mooseheart's in-home caregivers or surrogate parents) who are loving people who want the best for me in all aspects.”

Fitzgerald’s term ends with his May graduation. With a thought toward a future career in nursing, Fitzgerald said he would like to attend Olivet Nazarene University. He has also already been accepted at the College of DuPage.

‘Mooseheart means the world to me. I have been given food, clothing, a home and a complete experience. I have Family Teachers who are loving people who want the best for me in all aspects.’

Chris Fitzgerald
Mooseheart Student Mayor