6-man football a Nebraska invention
Pitching with Pritch
By Larry Pritchett
How many of you have been to a 6-man football game? Did you know that 6-man football was invented in Nebraska? Nearly 90 years ago 6-man football had its start and it was started by a teacher at Chester High School. Stephen Epler, a teacher, and coach at Chester High School, visited with his Superintendent about a concern that the school would not have enough students to play 11-man football. Epler put together a different game with just six players. His game was one that relied on speed more than size. The rules are a little different. First of course was that six players made up a team. Another rule was that any of the 6 players could touch the football and could score a touchdown. It was sometimes called football, which was like fast-break basketball. The player that receives the snap can pass or punt but cannot cross the line of scrimmage without a hand-off or lateraling the ball. A touchdown counts 6 pts, a point after if kicked is 2 pts and if it is scored with a pass or run it is 1 point. A field goal is 4 pts. The field is 80 X 40 and the offensive team must go 15 yds for a first down. There also have to be three or more players on the offensive line. As of 2018 when the last stats were taken there were 5,700 high school students competing in 6-man football. At this time there are 32 schools in Nebraska that are participating in 6-man. There is a sign by the highway that goes by Chester, Nebraska sporting Home of 6-Man Football.
The first game was on September 26, 1934, in Hebron, Nebraska with one team from Chester and Hardy schools, and the other team was made up of players from Belvidere and Alexandria. Admission was 5 cents for the nosebleed seats and 25 cents for the good seats. Many times it is a high-scoring game. Take a look at one of the games played in Nebraska, you will see what I mean by high scoring.
This article got my attention because I grew up in Pratt County in Kansas and went to a rural school in Byers, Kansas. I think during my high school days the highest number of students in my grade might have been 12. We graduated with nine. We played 6-man football when I was a freshman and a sophomore. I even scored some touchdowns, and most of the time I was the center on offense. The Coach even let me play quarterback once in a while because I could throw the ball fairly well and deep, but because of my outstanding speed, which translated means when I was running it still looked as if I was just out standing on the field, I played center most of the time. Then in my junior and senior years, we played 8-man football which was way different to us. We adapted ok and did fine in making the change. Then when I went to college, I got to play some 11-man football at Fort Hays State. I use the word “play” loosely because most of the time I was out standing on the sidelines! I did get in some games but during my Junior year, I was in a car accident and that ended my participation in contact sports. So, I had a chance to play all three types of football and all of them were fun. If I had to pick the hardest one to play, it might have been 6-man. Usually, schools that play 6-man are doing it because of numbers, so many times players play both offense and defense and you also have to have the skills to play on offense. You must be able to block, tackle, throw and catch the ball. If you get a chance and have not seen a 6-man game, you would not have to go too far to catch one as Wallace plays 6-man. I think you would enjoy it.