Gridiron Glory: Racine Raiders continue a tradition as they play on for love of the game

The high point of the Racine Raiders football team may have occurred during a Canadian blizzard, when the Racine players were given beds with no sheets, the team president nearly got stuck with a $17,000 bill and the crowd booed America's national anthem. "They treated us like dirt," recalled Bob Milkie, the Raiders' coach at the time. But like any sports team with a storied history, the Raiders rose up and vanquished their opponent, defeating the Ottawa Bootleggers, 15-13, to win the 1989 Minor League Football Alliance championship. "The guys took the flag down, wrapped it around themselves and paraded it around the crowd," the prideful coach said. Football in Racine, it may surprise some to learn, dates back to the earliest days of the National Football League. A team first called Racine Legion and later the Racine Tornadoes vied with the Green Bay Packers. Yes, those Green Bay Packers. Racine would soon lose its NFL franchise. But it still holds a status in football that no other Wisconsin city can match. The Raiders, or some incarnation of the team, have played football in Racine almost all of the past 50 years. Quite a feat when measured against cities such as Milwaukee, where amateur football teams have come and gone. For the Raiders to thrive takes considerable community commitment: scores of volunteers, crowds of 1,000 to 2,000 per game, a government subsidy of sorts - and a determination that a city of 85,000 can support a serious football team. Serious as in more than a dozen championships; as in guys who drive 90 minutes from New Holstein three times a week to practice and play; as in wives and girlfriends who tolerate the time away and, in the worst moments, watch their man get hurt and carted off the field (the team does provide insurance for football injuries). Men in their 20s and 30s who are still playing football sport an uncommon brand of toughness. And perhaps a gnawing inside that won't subside. "Everybody who plays," said 38-year-old lineman Greg Fictum, the commuter from New Holstein, "seems to have some unresolved issues with football." Souvenirs and snacks The souvenir stand at Horlick Field, a stadium that has been around since Racine was in the NFL in the '20s, is modest in size but amazing in scope. You can buy a Racine Raiders T-shirt or hat, of course. But you can also find an authentic Raiders mini-helmet, license plate holder, bandanna, boxer shorts, tambourine, yo-yo, construction hat, polo shirt - everything from a $1 marker to a $70 windbreaker and more. This team gets support. And, why not? Tickets cost $7, $4 for kids. For $2 you can get a 16-ounce beer, a six-inch pizza, a brat or a funnel cake. "I think the fans just click with the team," said Tony Milisauskas, a Kenosha County attorney who's been bringing his kids to Raiders games for 10 years. "It's a good place to come. It's good, cheap entertainment." Clicking with the players is easy: they walk right past the refreshment stand going in and out of the locker room. They seem an arm's length away when you're standing along the fence in the end zone. And they stay after the game to hand children souvenirs and sign autographs. The Raiders organization also goes the extra mile. In July, Milisauskas and his daughter were among perhaps 100 people who continued watching the Raiders through a hard rainstorm. After their picture appeared in the local newspaper, the Raiders framed it and sent it to Milisauskas to show their appreciation. Four years ago, supporters helped pay to charter a jet to take the team to Massachusetts for a national championship game, one of the few the Raiders have lost. The atmosphere at the games, with a cash raffle, a peppy public address announcer and Racine radio station WRJN-AM (1400) doing live broadcasts, makes it feel like home for Debbie Bryant, who moved to Racine from a small town in Iowa. Her stepsons volunteer as ball boys and her grandchildren eat nachos and watch the game. "We support things that we have," Bryant said of her fellow Racinians. "To keep it here, you have to support it." Aid also comes from the city, which lets the Raiders sell concessions at the more than 100 annual events at the city-owned Horlick Field. The concessions are the major revenue source for the team, which is about a $150,000-a-year operation. And then there are the more than 100 regular volunteers, from the ball boys to the coaches and the general manager. They include Racine police sergeant Joe Mooney, the team's former general manager and now one of its broadcasters. "We have more volunteers than some teams have fans in their stands," he said. Winning ways Winning helps any team. The Racine Raiders have enjoyed their share. In 1954, a year after the team was founded by the late restaurateur William "Wigs" Konicek, the Raiders won the Bi-States Football League championship. They did it again in '56. Some players never lost. Jim May, a retired executive with one of the Johnson family companies in Racine, played quarterback for the Raiders in 1964 and 1965. The team won all 11 games and claimed the league championship in both years, good enough to get May inducted into the Raiders Hall of Fame earlier this summer. "I'm kind of embarrassed to go into the Hall of Fame," May said at Horlick Field, recalling a 97-yard touchdown pass he threw to receiver Ron Anton. "But I'm honored to get it." Ten years after May stopped playing, the team folded in 1975 amid financial problems. In 1978, a new owner emerged and formed the Racine Gladiators, paying players and hoping to make it a going concern. The Gladiators won three championships but were sunk by financial problems by 1985. In 1986, the Raiders were resurrected as a community-owned, non-profit organization. Milkie, now a retired bearing company executive, Mooney the police sergeant, banker Jess Levin and others rebuilt the team. Nobody got paid. But soon there would be glory. The Raiders won the league championship in 1987. They did it again in '88, along with a national championship victory before 6,299 fans at Horlick Field in what became known as the "Mud Bowl." Then in 1989, the Raiders were invited to Ottawa to play in perhaps their biggest championship ever. Milkie, the coach then, said the host Canadians had promised to pay $17,000 to cover the cost of bringing the Raiders to Ottawa, which the Raiders president had put on his credit card. But when the money wasn't forthcoming - after a night without bedding in what Milkie called "The Bates Motel" - the coach delayed the start of the game for an hour until the money was paid. Then, in a blizzard with the temperature about 5 degrees, the Raiders went out and beat the Bootleggers. Dreaming of glory Such success, as well as a reputation for a well-run organization, have enabled the Raiders to attract players from well beyond Racine. Sixty players, from as far away as Madison, Fond du Lac and northern Illinois, are on the roster. None are paid, but the team provides all equipment, lodging and most travel costs and even pays mileage to players for practices they attend, if they live more than 30 miles from Racine. "Everything about it is top-notch," said linebacker Chuck Kramer, a health care company planner who lives in Round Lake, Ill. Kramer chose the Raiders five years ago after playing for two Illinois teams where players sometimes had to dress in parking lots or use the woods because there was no bathroom. In 1987, six Raiders briefly played in the NFL when the pro players went on strike. And even though no Raiders have gone pro since then, some of the younger players still dream about such a chance. Linebacker Alex Powell, a 28-year-old mortgage loan officer from Lake Geneva, admits he harbored such hopes when he joined the Raiders in 1998. But now it's about playing for the love of the game and for the camaraderie. "These are guys that basically you went to war with every night," Powell said of the Saturday evening games. The friendship is more than social, said Powell's wife, Brandi, who recalled that six players attended the funeral when two of the couple's children died. "We got as much support from them as we did from our family," she said. The players and their families have to devote a lot of time to the team. The twice-a-week practices run two hours or more and then there are the dozen or so games each season. This season, the Raiders have won nine games and lost two. Once again the team will be competing in the playoffs. Raiders assistant coach Phil Micech of Milwaukee, who played for the team for 16 years, likens the love in Racine to what Green Bay feels for the Packers. "Racine can say they're fortunate to have the Raiders, but the Raiders are fortunate to have Racine," he said. "It's almost like God made Racine a football community. They love their football."

19 Sep 2004 by Tom Kertscher