2009 Shelby Whippets Football Schedule

The following is the new
2009 Shelby Whippets Football Schedule.

GOOD LUCK WHIPPETS!!

DAY	DATE	OPPONENT	HOME/AWAY	TIME
FRIDAY	8/28/09	Madison	Away	7:30
FRIDAY	9/04/09	Lexington	HOME	7:00
FRIDAY	9/11/09	Ontario	HOME	7:00
FRIDAY	9/18/09	Bellevue	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	9/25/09	Upper Sandusky	Away	7:30
FRIDAY	10/02/09	Galion	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	10/09/09	Tiffin	Away	7:30
FRIDAY	10/16/09	Norwalk	Away	7:30
FRIDAY	10/23/09	Fostoria	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	10/30/09	Norwalk	Away	7:30

Link: Shelby Football Schedule and historical scores.

2009 Shelby Ohio Bicycle Days Photos

Below is a collection of photos from yesterday's (July 11th, 2009) Shelby Ohio Bicycle Days parade. They were taken from the northern side of East Main Street at Wentz Avenue:

Shelby High School Marching Band

The Farm Tractor Brigade

Tiny Twirlettes

Tiny Twirlettes Marching
Llama Trot

Horse Riders and Cleanup Crew Close "Behind"

Candy Scavengers

King Midgets

It was an enjoyable Bicycle Days Parade, partly cloudy, breezy, not too warm. There was a good turn-out too.

Shelby Bicycle Days 2009

Shelby Bicycle Days is here!

For those who don't know, the Shelby Bicycle Days festival was combined with Shelby's 4th of July festival a few years ago, that's why the festival takes place on the 10th of July. Also, the date allows 4th of July travelers to return to Shelby and still enjoy the local festivities.

The 2009 Shelby Bicycle Days schedule is as follows:

Friday, July 10:

• 4-8pm: Log Cabin opens
• 4-10pm: Rides at Central Park
• 4-10pm: High School Avenue Food Concessions
• 4:30-10pm: Central Park Vendor exhibits
• 5-6pm: Band Stand music by the New Washington Band
• 6pm: Band Stand, Kiddie Royalty Crowning
• 6pm: Siegfried Park, Family Feud Softball Tournament
• 7-9pm: band music at Spiritual House
• 7-8:30pm: Skiles Field, Real Guitar Hero competition

Saturday, July 11:

• 7:30am: Central Gym, Whippet 5K Run registration
• 8:15am: High School Avenue, Whippet Fun Run
• 8:30am: High School Avenue, Whippet 5K Run
• 8:30am: Dr. Westbeld's Parking Lot, Cornhole registration & tournament
• 10am: Great Scot Parking Lot, Bike skills competition
• 12-5pm: Central Gym, TC 1st Annual 3-point shoot-out
• 12-11pm: Central Park rides
• 12-11pm: Food concessions open
• 12-8pm: Log Cabin opens
• 1pm: Parade preparation, Wentz Ave. & Grand Blvd.
  
• 2pm: Parade, Main Street, South Gamble, Tucker Avenue
• 2-5pm: Shelby Museum opens
• 3pm: Skiles Field, Real Guitar Hero finals
• 3:30pm: Band Stand, Shelby Help Line Ministries pie auction
• 4-10pm: Skiles Field, Christian music concert
• 7-9pm: High School Ave. & Main Street, Cloverleaf Square Dancers
• 10pm: FIREWORKS at SKILES FIELD!!

It should be a good time at this year's 4th of July and Bicycle Days Festival in Shelby, Ohio USA. Does it get any better than this for good, wholesome, hometown-small town fun? I don't think so.

I expect to be attending tomorrow's parade so later I'll post some photos. Looking forward to it! And it seems that this year, unlike in year's past, it should be a little cooler with highs in the mid-80s. On the downside, the Shelby weather forecast for tomorrow's festivities includes scattered thunderstorms. That's bad.

"When I was a boy," I too rode my little banana-seat coaster bike in Shelby's Bicycle Days Parade. It was carefully adorned with wheel-spoke noise-makers and handlebar streamers. Man, I could pop some wheelies on that thing. But proudly, if not reservedly, I displayed my bikemanship during this annual Shelby Parade under the hot summer sun. Inevitably, impatient and energetic youngsters would often crash into one another, sending adjacent kids tumbling to the asphalt - albeit at less than 1-mile per hour.

Shelby High School Visit

Last month I visited the Shelby Senior High School for the first time in probably 10 years. Wow. It's exactly the same as when I went there in the early 1980s and yet lots of details are very different. Of course, the architecture has remained the same since its building in, when, 1968??

I visited the High School for the annual Arts & Crafts fair which takes place every October in the Shelby High School basketball gymnasium and also in the YMCA gymnasium next door.


What I noticed immediately about the differences in the Shelby gymnasium is that it has a new scoreboard, new wall-art, and - the biggest change of all - the brand new bleachers! I don't know when they tore out all those long wooden planks but replaced them with short sections of red-or-gray fiberglass ones. That must have been a HUGE expense but it's good to know the high school, school board, boosters, or "other" take such pride in wanting the best for their kids.

The basketball bleachers were always an ominous mechanical mechanism. So many times I found myself sneaking around underneath with a little nervousness, not knowing WHEN the bleachers would be detracted, certainly slicing-and-dicing my body into an unrecognizable pile until the cleaning crew would find me after the next basketball game. At pep rallies we band members would sometimes drop our music, jackets, or even trombone slides into the unreachable depths below.

Same goes for the Shelby High School cafeteria. It was (and surely STILL IS) another location for all kinds of eating, flirting, food-fighting, and lots of other nonsense. The dining hall looks exactly the same, complete with trophy case and photos of past football & basketball team champions, top athletes, and academic overachievers. The only difference I could see are those cool-new cafeteria dining tables! They're still the fold-up/stand-up variety but they seem to have a plastic or fiberglass top as opposed to the old particle board we had. Also, the seats seem to be retractable, round plastic stools. We had the run-of-the-mill stackable chairs. I have to wonder how many children have fallen off of these new, round seats with only one leg.


I'd like to someday take a tour of the Shelby High School halls, visit some of my old classrooms, check out the empty locker rooms and weight room, and even look into the bathrooms. Surely they look tiny now. Almost all of my teachers have since retired except for one or two. Sometimes I'll run into the retired ones in the stores and shops around Shelby or Mansfield. It's always nice to see them.

2008 Shelby Whippets Football Schedule

(also see: 2009 Shelby Whippets Football Schedule)

The 2008 varsity football schedule for the Shelby Whippets has been posted! (scroll down for schedule)

Before long the Shelby stadium bleachers at W.W. Skiles Field will be full of anxious fans cheering on their hometown heroes. The first-time starters and the rest of the team, well-trained and well-prepared, will have those first-game butterflies in their stomachs. The coaches, anxious to find out if their boys have learned their plays and if they will execute them sharply, will soon know what kind of season they'll have. While preparation is key for the first game of any new season, the results of that first game will reveal what improvements must be made.

There's something really very special about playing under the lights on the freshly-cut grass of Skiles Field. It's the first warm football Friday night of the year and you're in front of the entire town of Shelby, Ohio USA. The Shelby Marching Band is performing many Shelby High School and Ohio State University fight songs to encourage their team as they rip through the GO SHELBY WHIPPETS banner before the game starts, while preparing for a crucial 3rd and long, or giving the defense a boost.

My days as a junior and senior class football player under head coach Bill Varble have long passed me by but the memories are vivid and enjoyable.

(also read "Shelby Whippets Football: Hometown Giants")

The schedule below was taken from the www.HungryHounds.org website. Go there for game results.

DAY	DATE	OPPONENT	HOME/AWAY	TIME	RESULTS	W-L
FRIDAY	8/22/08	Madison	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	8/29/08	Lexington	Away	7:00
FRIDAY	9/5/08	Ontario	Away	7:00
FRIDAY	9/12/08	Tiffin	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	9/19/08	Norwalk	Away	7:30
FRIDAY	9/26/08	Fostoria	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	10/3/08	Willard	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	10/1008	Bellevue	Away	7:30
FRIDAY	10/17/08	Upper Sandusky	HOME	7:30
FRIDAY	10/24/08	Galion	Away	7:30

Shelby Daily Globe, Mansfield News Journal

Most small towns have only one newspaper. We had The Shelby Daily Globe locally but many people also subscribed to the Mansfield News Journal - the newspaper of the nearest city 12 miles away.

The Shelby Daily Globe was always delivered Monday through Saturday by a young boy of maybe 12 years old, riding a coaster bike and maybe streamers attached to his handlebars. While I don't recall what time the paper was delivered, it USUALLY reached the front porch with a muffled "thump!" or the front door with a "bang!". Or, sometimes, the paper would reach the bushes and we'd have to go searching for it.

The Shelby Globe is very professional for being a "small town newspaper". It carries roughly 9 pages of national and international news, local news, local sports (of course!!), and 2 or 3 pages of classifieds. It really has a little of everything packed into a little space. When I was growing up The Globe was only printed in Black & White and with grainy photos. Now different colors are used and the color photos are sharp.

The Mansfield News Journal also had everything but in greater depth and individual sections you could pull out. All the usuals included Sports, News, Home & Garden, Classifieds, and on and on. While one could subscribe to the News Journal daily, most people in Shelby would only get it on Sundays. We kids always looked forward to the Sunday comics, reading such old-time favorite comic strips as "Blondie and Dagwood", "Peanuts", "Hagar the Horrible", "Sad Sack", and my personal favorite, "Andy Capp".

While not so much when I was very young, I always got a kick out of reading the Shelby Globe section that listed the births, deaths, marriages, and engagements. It was always easy to keep up on local news this way, knowing what your neighbors were up to without personally intruding. This section also included - get this - police calls of disturbances, fights, and traffic violations!!! Oftentimes you'd read that (for example) John Smith, residing at 123 West Street, was ticketed $20 for failure to stop at a stop sign, arrested for drunk driving, or arrested for a domestic dispute. How embarrassing this must be for the person (maybe a well-known person) arrested for public intoxication and not only see his name but also his address in the newspaper! OH THE SHAME! THE SHAME!

Saturday mornings in the autumn were always much anticipated days to receive the Shelby Daily Globe. This was the day the entire town could read about the previous night's Shelby High School football game and find out how many yards their classmates ran, for how many yards their neighbors threw, or how many touchdowns their boyfriends scored. And as wonderful as it is to see your friend's name in the local newspaper, it's 10 times better seeing your own name in the newspaper. When this happens we glow with pride - or cower in shame - when walking down Main Street.

The News Journal always carried a very brief description and scores of all the area high school football games but nothing more than that. The Sunday Mansfield News Journal was always the best place to read about the previous day's Ohio State Football game, complete with statistics & photos. The anxious sports reader could also read pre-game Cleveland Browns articles - which often left the same reader somewhat depressed on Monday morning upon hearing the results.

Shelby's newspaper was always - and still is - a good read. Sometimes the national and international news would sadden but the local news was never terrible, never disastrous, and never made you want to lock your doors at night - or during the day - because there were never any murders or rapes. The occasional tragic car accident fatality would emotionally devastate the community temporarily but this was about as bad as the news got in Shelby. Mansfield, however, was another story.

Shelby Bicycle Days Parade Festival 2008

(Note: Also see "Shelby Bicycle Days 2009")

NOTE: Today's posting is more current of a current events posting than anything else. More Shelby Nostalgia to come in the very near future.

This summer's combination 4th of July festivities and Shelby's Bicycle Days parade brings lots of fun, wholesome, small town entertainment for the whole family. See the lineup below:

11 JULY: Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

LOG CABIN OPEN NOON - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

RIDES OPEN NOON - 10:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

FOOD CONCESSIONS OPEN NOON - 10:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue

VENDOR EXHIBITS OPEN NOON - 10:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

LOVE BONES PERFORMANCE 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

SHELBY MUSEUM OPEN 1:00 PM - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

East Main Street

NEW WASHINGTON BAND PERFORMANCE 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park Band Stand

KIDDIE ROYALTY CROWNING CEREMONY 6:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park Band Stand

ASYLUM PERFORMANCE 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

12 JULY: Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

WHIPPET 5K RUN

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

7:30 AM - Registration at Central Gym

8:15 AM - Fun Run on High School Avenue

8:30 AM - 10:00 AM - Whippet 5K Run

LOG CABIN OPEN NOON - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

VENDOR EXHIBITS OPEN NOON - 9:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

RIDES OPEN NOON - 11:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park

FOOD CONCESSIONS OPEN NOON - 11:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue

SHELBY MUSEUM OPEN 1:00 PM - ??

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

East Main Street

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival Parade Registration & Line-Up 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Grand Blvd & Wentz Avenue

12 JULY Shelby Bicycle Days Festival Parade 2:00 PM

Parade Route: Main Street to South Gamble to Tucker Avenue

Bike Races Immediately following parade--approximately 3:30

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Main Street

Shelby Helpline Ministries Pie Auction Immediately following parade--3:30

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Central Park Band Stand

GREG BELL PERFORMANCE 3:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

THE RELICS PERFORMANCE 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue Stage

CLOVERLEAF SQUARE DANCERS PERFORMANCE 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM

Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

High School Avenue & Main Street (Central Park area)

12 JULY FIREWORKS 10:00 PM
Shelby Bicycle Days Festival

Skiles Field

The above Bicycle Days Festival information was culled from the Shelby Chamber of Commerce website at http://www.shelbyoh.com .