Perfection A Long Time Coming

Gibraltar High School, so long an athletic doormat, is now home to perfection.

Last night the school’s baseball team completed an unblemished Packerland Conference Championship season, spanking Green Bay NEW Lutheran 14 – 2. This spring has been the culmination of a remarkable turnaround by the school’s athletes.

Last fall the football team made it’s first-ever foray into the playoffs. The soccer team, which competes jointly with Sevastopol, won its second conference title in three years and came an overtime goal short of a state appearance. The boys basketball team had its most successful season since 1970 and the girls set a school record for wins. And this spring, the girls track team won conference and the baseball team achieved perfection.

Of course, Gibraltar sports teams were perfect many times in the 1980s and 1990s – perfectly winless. I was part of some of those teams. I grew up and attended the school when the losing culture permeated through all athletic endeavors that weren’t named cross-country or golf.

The huge goal for my classmates and I was to break the football team’s losing streak, which extended to 10 years before we snapped it in 1996. We celebrated like it was the Super Bowl, because at Gibraltar, it was.

And that was the qualifier for success at Gibraltar in so many sports for so long. Competing in one of the state’s most mismatched conferences when measured by enrollment, Gibraltar often settled simply for showing up. For many of us, it was demoralizing, brutal, and at times, embarrassing.

Successes ignored by most schools – a single win, a close game, a .500 record – were celebrated. We had to, just to make some of the beat-downs bearable.

Then about 10 years ago the tide began to turn, though most didn’t notice in the moment. Feeder programs were formed. The attitude of acceptance within the community and in the school’s halls subtly changed. And the community invested in facilities.

Most notable was the Northern Door YMCA, which finally provided Gibraltar kids a place to play, to train, to work out. But some dedicated Baileys Harbor leaders created a beautiful complex for soccer, baseball, and football too. Sister Bay invested in an ice rink, ball fields, and outdoor basketball courts. Then the school refurbished its crumbling facilities.

For so long, people in the community laid the blame for Gibraltar’s struggles on the shoulders of its kids. But this year, the youth of Northern Door – like kids anywhere – have shown that they’ll play, if we only give them a place. They’ll make us proud, even when the odds are stacked against them.

Myles Dannhausen Jr. is a 1997 graduate of Gibraltar High School and the current boys basketball coach. He spent his high school football career getting pummeled by the likes of Nick Greisen, Al Johnson, and Casey Rabach. It hurt…a lot.