100 years of Thermopolis Bobcat football to be celebrated at halftime Friday

It takes a lot of work to make it to your 100th birthday, a Centennial, if you will, so its only appropriate to have a Centennial Celebration for the Thermopolis Bobcat Football team this Friday night during half-time of their home match up against Mountain View.

Gone are the leather helmets of the 1920's, replaced with state of the art fiberglass that include special padding to keep concussions at a minimum. Way back then, players took hits to the face resulting in massive facial injuries and loss of teeth, so they took it upon themselves to come up with their own kind of face guard, something that looked more like a knight's helmet than a sporting helmet.

The same boots a player would wear every day were used on the field, too, which makes you wonder how in the world they ran, compared to the gridiron cleats athletes wear today.

Through all of those changes in equipment, Thermopolis Bobcat football has been a Friday night ritual for fans through snow and sleet, on wooden or metal benches, always cheering on our boys in purple and gold.

The Cats' long tradition has seen 27 different coaches, from Charles Horne to the current head coach Matt McPhie. One name has been synonymous with Bobcat football, Joe Bush, who spent 11 seasons coaching. Names like John Melton, Phil Treick, Rick VanCleeve and Bob Million bring back memories for former players.

Just for the record, in 100 seasons the Cats have won 386 games, lost 444 and tied in 20 games, making their average 46-percent on the field. Not bad for a 100 year program. In fact, it's a better percentage of wins than bigger schools like Rawlins (38%), Jackson (42%) and Kemmerer (45%).

Of course there were ups and downs over the last 100 years, like the 0-9 seasons from 1959 and 1983, or the 0-8 seasons in 1974, 1977, 2006 and 2007.

But those losing seasons are greatly overshadowed by the state championships the Cats brought home in 1928, 1929, 1932, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2009 and 2010.

National Federation Football Rules have what's known as the "Mercy Rule" if one team happens to get so far ahead of the other on the score board, mercy is given. That wasn't the case, though, in 1924, when the Bobcats were like a hurricane on the field, blowing away Lander, 87-0 during coach Joe Bush's first season.

A betting man would say the rivalry between Thermop and Worland probably started on November 11, 1921 when the Warriors stomped the Cats 109-7. That would definitely account for the decades long purple and gold vs. black and orange.

They boys went on their longest unbeaten streak from 1927 to 1930 when they won 19 games, but on the other side of the ball, their longest losing streak was also 19 games, from 2005 to 2007.

Today, the Bobcats are 2-4 on the season before they take on Mountain View this Friday.