From parking lot to title game
Wolfpack players pay to play with little glamour
Chances are you’ve never heard of the Spokane Wolfpack or the Washington Football League, and are only vaguely familiar with semipro football.
It’s a nine-team league in which players pay to play – about $250 per Wolfpack. Most hold jobs. The Wolfpack have college students, attorneys, truck drivers, construction workers, firemen, even a mixed martial arts fighter.
They practice two or three times a week, then carpool to games on Saturdays, typically in front of about 500 fans at a high school stadium. No radio, TV. No scores in the newspaper.
“We didn’t know early on if we could get West Valley (High School’s field), so at one point this winter we were holding practices under the freeway in a parking lot,” assistant head coach Jim Nendel said. “It was cold, but it was dry and we could run around and do some stuff. The guys have battled and fought through and stayed really positive with everything they’ve had to endure.”
Nendel said the players’ commitment and talent has the Wolfpack to the verge of a title. Spokane (6-3) defeated top-seeded Yakima 19-13 last week to advance to the WFL championship game against the Wenatchee Valley Rams (7-2) tonight at 6 in Wenatchee.
The winner will host Portland, the Oregon Football League champion, next Saturday for the Northwest title.
The Wolfpack are in their first year, but the organization has deeper roots in the league. There used to be two area teams, the Spokane Sabercats and State Line Miners. They essentially merged, along with some new additions, to form the Wolfpack under first-year owner Eugene Burgess.
“Everyone felt the same thing,” said Burgess, a former Sabercats player. “With the athletes on both clubs, if we could get those two teams together we’d be a team to be reckoned with.”
The 38-year-old Burgess can’t fit all of his titles on a business card. He’s the owner, head coach and offensive coordinator. He also plays tight end and has filled in at quarterback.
Players must be at least 18 years old. Nendel said players generally fall into two categories, a sizable group of 20- to 25-year-olds and another group in their upper 20s, early 30s. Some, like 46-year-old linebacker Ken Bebout, don’t fit either category.
Many are graduates of area high schools and some played in college, including ex-Eastern Washington Eagle Joe Mitchell and former Whitworth Pirates Tim Mitrovich, Casey Lawrence and Clark Pauls.
“It’s probably comparable to D-III or D-II, without the precision because we don’t have the time to practice,” said Nendel, a former Whitworth assistant. “The guys are bigger than high school players and when we get refs who do high school games they say it’s a lot faster.”
Employers have been generous about modifying work schedules to allow players to make games and practices.
“The level of the commitment guys have shown … one of our guys works nights at the correctional center in Airway Heights,” Nendel said. “Last week we had a game at noon in Yakima and he got off work at 7 a.m. He drove over. He was dead tired, but he played.”
Burgess said it’s roughly $15,000 to fund one season of play. Sponsorships have helped offset costs and players’ fees were higher this season, in part because new uniforms had to be purchased.
Burgess wants the Wolfpack to cap the season with a title.
“I’ve lived here four years and Spokane and Idaho has been the doormat, scores like 50-6 or 60-12,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done before. This is where most of the guys are from and to play for something that we consider meaningful, I’m most proud of that.”