Sports

Barrow football program featured in Sports Illustrated video

The Barrow High School Whalers' football season may not have taken them to the place they most wanted to go, but it did land them -- and the City of Barrow -- in the national limelight.

The Whalers were featured in a production of "Underdogs: Inspiring Stories in High School Football," earlier this month as part of an effort by a Sports Illustrated film crew. The 13-minute film showcases the obstacles the Barrow High School football overcomes to field the country's only high school football team in the Arctic Circle and centers around the Whalers' regular season finale against Eielson.

"They did it the last week of our regular season," Barrow head coach Brian Houston said.

As part of the film, Sports Illustrated film crews visited Barrow to film segments on the hardships the team and players face.

Houston and several BHS players were interviewed about fielding a team just 100 yards from the Arctic Ocean, and overcoming long, arduous trips to play games -- some more than 500 miles away -- as well as overcoming social issues such as alcohol use, domestic violence, suicide and depression.

"There's some negative points to being here in Barrow," said Houston. "Suicide, depression. There are just so many things that affect our community."

Football plays a key role in that effort, helping keep athletes involved in healthy activities, developing leadership skills, a hard work ethic and positive role models.

ADVERTISEMENT

"You just have to try and deal with it, and try to teach them life lessons about it and keep them away from that type of stuff," Houston said.

The film crew also traveled with the team to Fairbanks to film parts of the Whalers' showdown with Eielson at Buck Nystrom Field on Oct. 4. Eielson won that game, and the ensuing week's rematch in the state semifinals, en route to claiming the 2014 small-school state title.

The film is the first of the third season of SI's popular "Underdogs" series. It has been nominated for an Emmy in the past.

Now in its 10th year of fielding a team, the North Slope Borough School District has had its share of successes, including installing the first artificial turf field in the Arctic Circle. The district also briefly fielded a popular eight-man conference for several other North Slope schools, including Point Hope.

This story originally appeared in The Arctic Sounder and has been republished with permission.

ADVERTISEMENT