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COACH ROGER BARTAOver the course of 31 years, Coach Barta has won 289 games against 58 losses and 8 state championships. He is shaped like Buddha and speaks in the soft whisper of a monk. He has led the Redmen to 67 straight victories, the nation’s longest current winning streak. Still, he is thinking about retiring. His gospel is simple: “When we learn to respect each other, we’re going to learn to like each other. When you like each other, you learn to love each other, and then together we are champions.” |
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ASSISTANT COACH MIKE ROGERSMike is Colt’s (Redmen junior running back) father and the Redmen’s first all-American. He is a full foot taller and 100 pounds heavier than his oldest son. Mike won a scholarship and played at the University of Kansas in the 1980s. He married his high-school sweetheart, Cally, and both returned home to teach at the Smith Center schools. Mike and Colt love each other, but now walk the tightrope of coach and player, father and son—not always successfully. |
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SENIOR RUNNING BACK AND CAPTAIN MARSHALL McCALLHe is as all-American as Opie with straight A’s and a penchant for worrying: about keeping together a senior class that has never really won anything, about keeping the streak alive, and about whether he can earn a scholarship to play football in college. When Marshall suffers a concussion in the first series of the opening game, the whole season is put in jeopardy. |
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SENIOR LINEMAN JUSTIN NIXONJustin is 6 feet tall and 350 pounds; his calves measure 22 inches, his biceps 21, and his thighs 31. Justin captured the state weightlifting championship and set a record by squatting 605 pounds and benching 460 pounds. Kansas State is recruiting him, but wonders if he is perhaps too gentle a soul to play big-time football. Justin, however, just wants to be the first Nixon in five generations to attend college. |
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JUNIOR RUNNING BACK COLT ROGERSColt is barely 5 foot 3 and 135 pounds, but he is the Redmen’s best and toughest player. He endures a dozen shots a week for allergies, and a procedure to open his esophagus to keep him from choking. He ran for 1,745 yards, averaging 11 yards a carry, and scored 22 touchdowns. Colt wants to play college football like his father Mike did, but is frustrated that his small size has scared scouts away. He is being recruited, however, by the U.S. Naval Academy for wrestling, a sport where he is undefeated in high school and a 2-time state champion. |
