Parents fly in new football helmets from Bozeman

The Somers Middle School Mustangs weren’t sure they would have a football season this year.

Blocking them from starting the season was a matter of purchasing 30 helmets — but it wasn’t long before a group of parents flew to the team’s rescue in time for the Jamboree football exhibition.

While ordering protective football gear last week, Somers Middle School seventh- and eighth-grade football Coach Randy Gilpin learned from Universal Athletic sales representative Dewey Michaels that the team’s helmets were a couple of years overdue for safety inspections to re-certify and recondition the helmets. The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment recommends — and many manufacturers require — that helmets should be reconditioned every two to three years.

At a time when more studies are being done on concussions and helmet safety, it is important to do these safety inspections regularly to protect student health and reduce the school’s liability risk Gilpin said.

Gilpin said he looked over the team’s helmets and couldn’t find documentation to state whether they had been reconditioned.

“There was a mix of helmets. The one we looked at was from 2007. With the exception of four helmets [purchased in 2011], the helmets weren’t up to standards,” Gilpin said.

Rather than put students at risk, Gilpin held no-contact practices, but the Jamboree was approaching fast, and the team needed to practice. Sending helmets for reconditioning would have taken months, and the season only goes through Oct. 14.

The team’s only option was to raise funds and buy new helmets or have no season, which would have been disheartening after last year’s 5-1 winning season.

With the school already making budget cuts and a failed general-fund levy, there was no room in the budget for expenses other than funding coaching stipends and transportation costs.

Under the uncertainty that cuts might be made to extracurricular activities during the budget process, a group of parents organized the Somers Lakeside Boosters, providing an avenue for donations, fundraising and support of extracurricular activities. The booster club raised more than $2,600 to purchase the helmets.

“To hear of a community rally to make sure kids were going to be safe was amazing,” Michaels said.

By then it was Tuesday, and practice was set to begin after school. Down to the wire, next-day shipping wasn’t fast enough, so a booster member and parent of a player — who wishes to remain anonymous — flew his airplane to Bozeman to pick up the helmets and returned in time for the 3:30 p.m. practice.

Michaels said he was surprised when the parent called up saying he would pick up the helmets.

“Driving down to Bozeman would be a big effort. I said, ‘What are you going to do, fly?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ It’s a great story,” Michaels said.

Helmets in hand, Gilpin was ready to hit the ground running.

“We had 30 brand new helmets and could commence the season,” Gilpin said.

Many of these Mustangs will become Flathead High School Braves football team members, he said. On Friday the Mustangs, in uniform, were introduced during halftime at a Braves football game.

Laura O’Connor, founder of Somers Lakeside Boosters, said parents and community members wanted to provide direct support for extracurricular activities. She said the booster club is open to supporting the needs of all youth activities in Somers and Lakeside, including those not affiliated with the school.

The club has $950 in funds for future helmet reconditioning. Another goal of the booster club is to purchase uniforms for the middle school cross country team.

“Kid are using basketball uniforms right now,” O’Connor said.

Currently O’Connor is contacting prospective members via email and the Somers Lakeside Boosters website www.somersboosters.org as they await approval for 501(c)3 status.

“At this level, you can change kids’ lives for the better,” Gilpin said about coaching middle school students. He coached in Somers from 2005 to 2008 and returned in 2011. “I’m so humbled by the overwhelming amount of support for eighth-grade football.”