By Brittany Bowyer
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SCOTTSDALE — The Desert Mountain Wolves football team recently spent some time doing a volunteer community service act as a way to give back to those who support them. On the team’s Homecoming Saturday, a large number of Wolves showed up for a meet-and-greet at a local senior center. Organized by one of the Booster moms, the boys had a chance to mix and mingle with some residents of the facility.

“So they help sponsor our team, and we decided, hey, you know, we will kind of go there and meet some of the folks that live there,” Coach Logan Radke said. “I don’t really know how it all came about other than [the booster parent] had some affiliation through work, and [Andara] was sponsoring us, so we thought it was right that we go and meet the people that live there and chat them up a bit. Kind of see who they are and then what their stories are a little.”

Andara Senior Living Facility, which is walking-distance from Desert Mountain’s campus, is a large sponsor of the Wolves football program. Not only do they support the football program, but a number of coaches past and present have had family that live there.

“My grandparents live there so I stop by every Friday before our home games and that makes it really easy,” Radke said. “There’s another offensive line coach from what, a year ago? His in-laws lived there as well, so weirdly enough, we’ve got a lot of ties there.”

Once the boys arrived, they first took a picture with everyone. Then, they got to enjoy live music at the facility’s happy hour, where they also drank lemonade and got to socialize with residents. One of the players even brought his dogs along for the meet and greet, which seemed to be a hit.

“The two dogs that you see, that was actually our running back, my teammate, his two pugs,” Christian McComber said.

While speaking with the residents, they learned one gentleman was a former football player at the University of Iowa, sharing stories with the boys from back in his day when he played.

“He won two Rose Bowls,” senior Ryan Cratty said. “I thought that was really cool just seeing how people there had big football careers.”

“They were chatting him up for quite a while,” Radke said. “It was just cool to see them be able to kind of put on a different hat and then have conversations with people they haven’t met yet that they may not share a lot of life experiences with, but find some commonality in there.”

However, their experience went beyond just the gentleman who played for the Hawkeyes. McComber said he personally connected with a man there named Emmitt, who he says spoke to him about the value of hard work.

“His message to me was that yes, education is important but also hard work will get you so far in life,” McComber said. “You don’t have to be the smartest person in the world, but as long as you work hard and try your best in everything that you do, you can accomplish so many things.”

McComber went on to describe how Emmitt had started his own business based off his hard work and his merits, not off any connections. He said it resonated with him, both in football and in life.

“That kinda just motivated me to show within football and within life, I don’t have to be the biggest,” McComber said.

He continued, “I don’t have to be the strongest, but as long as I work and I keep my head down and trust in God and his plans for me, I know things will turn out right.”

Radke feels like these experiences are good for the team because it not only pushes them to talk to people outside of their comfort zone, but it shows them a different perspective of life. He said a lot of the people at the facility aren’t originally from Arizona, and many of these players have never really ventured out beyond the Scottsdale area.

“Giving them a little bit different perspective, or you know learning about other places, is always fun when you’re learning through other people’s experiences versus your own,” Radke said.

Despite being on the same day as the school’s big Homecoming dance, a large number of players still showed up to the meet and greet.

“We had more guys than I would’ve expected to show up on Homecoming Saturday, so that was awesome,” Radke said.

“It was no big deal,” Cratty said. “We went at about 3 p.m., so I just had to be home in about an hour or so and it wasn’t too long. Only about a 30-45 minute experience, so it wasn’t anything too crazy.”

The players showed up because they understand why it’s important to give back.

“I feel like it’s always good to do something nice for others,” McComber said. “I feel like we get to just show people what we’re about, that we’re not just about football. We care about our community and care about the people who support us. Interacting with the community isn’t bad. It can bring more people to games and just make it a better experience for everybody overall.”

“I think I just personally took away that you have to be open to do stuff like this because I think it’s just good for people to do,” Cratty said. “Especially when someone gives you something, I don’t think you should just brush it off and say, ‘I’m not going to go do that.’ I think it’s a good thing to go and say ‘I’m gonna do that, they’ve given me so much,’ and go pay a little respect back to them and go meet some people.”

Because of how well the event went, Radke said he believes they’ll likely organize another one in the future.

“We had a great time,” Radke said. “I know the boys were there for some time, and it seemed like everybody walked away smiling and really enjoyed themselves, so I don’t see why we wouldn’t continue to do it.”

Brittany Bowyer is a Report for America corps member, covering sports for Independent Newsmedia in Arizona. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.