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Joe Davidson --- Sacramento Bee August 22 2006 The Sacramento Bee 8/22/06
Page C2 "Home Cookin’" by Joe Davidson
Gobblin’ good time on the gridiron
Decades ago, well before the Kings and before any squabbles over arena talks, there was tradition to be found between the city’s two oldest high schools.
McClatchy and Sacramento – monuments of academic and sporting pride since, well, forever –would trot out marching bands, football players and alumni, who then piled into Hughes Stadium for a game. Afterward, there was Thanksgiving dinner, which tasted good to the winners and was hard for the losers to stomach.
The tradition stretched from 1937 to 1975, done in by the advent of the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. In subsequent seasons, the rivals played when they could in what became the Bell Game, but the meeting was stuffed into the middle of seasonal schedules.
Now tradition makes a comeback. The Dragons and Lions will not play on Thanksgiving, but they come close this season – November 10 –with their matchup at Hughes again being called the Turkey Day Game. Practice started Monday for area teams, and coaches at Sacramento and McClatchy reminded that the end of the season is just as important as the beginning because that’s where the rival waits.
There is a Web site dedicated to the effort of reviving the game: TurkeyDayGame.com.
Football feast
How good was the Turkey Day Game? Jerry Royster, Artimus Parker, Lou Harris, Leland Glass, Ralph DeLoach, Tommy Agosta, and Benny Crocco played for Sacramento, while Herb Jackson, Tom Relles, Frank Geremia, Gene Cronin, Phil Riles and Jim Mills represented McClatchy. Some of the region’s top coaches – George Relles, George Bican and Dave Hotell – prowled those Hughes sidelines.
The largest prep football crowd in regional history – 26,000 – was at Hughes in 1947 as the Lions claimed the conference title.
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