East Lynn Pop Warner adds to tradition of excellence

It has been a long and gratifying journey for the Pop Warner program in East Lynn leading into this year’s C squad team qualifying for the national championships. It has been a journey complete with twists and turns more extreme than those that the team will enjoy on Thunder Mountain.”East Lynn Pop Warner is one of the best-run organizations in the city,” former coach Bob Burt said. “It brings together people from many different facets of life.”Burt was a coach in the program from 1965 to 1980. He also came back for one last season in 1983. While Burt has not coached in the program for 25 years, he still remains involved with the program, attending the games and passing down tutelage to new generations of coaches.”(The program) has a tremendous tradition,” former coach Jeff Earp said. “Every coach in the program has nothing but respect for the lineage. They have laid a foundation that is 100 percent dedicated to the kids.”The program was founded in 1964 by Harry Williams, Charlie Cartsonis, Bill Mullen and Patrick Ryan. Williams took the reins as the first president of the program. At the time, East Lynn only had one team, an A squad team. In comparison, this season, there were an A squad, a B squad, a C squad, two D squads, an E squad and an F squad (both the E and F squad compete in the Mighty Mite division). The new program wore purple and white uniforms and went by the name Vikings.Skip Mageary came into the picture in 1969. He replaced Williams as the president and held the position until 1979. During his tenure as president, the program grew, forming a few new teams while recruiting more people to get involved. Much like Burt, Mageary remains a fixture at Manning Field on Sunday mornings.”You get involved because your kids are involved. Then you stay involved because your grandchildren are involved,” said Mageary. “I really think it is a tremendous program and the people who are involved should be commended. Not too many people realize the amount of time and effort that goes into (running the program).”A more recent president, Bob Dwyer, echoed Mageary’s sentiments. Dwyer served as president from 2005 to 2007.”I really don’t think some people understand,” Dwyer said. “They think that it starts on Aug. 1 and ends somewhere in October unless you make the playoffs. In reality, it is a year-round job.”In the early days, East Lynn ran a pro formation. In the pro formation, the halfback lines up behind the left guard and the fullback lines up behind the right guard. It is a well-balanced offensive system that can spawn both a hard-nosed running game and a fast-paced passing attack. Burt has been credited as the offensive innovator.”(Burt) could look at another team’s first couple of plays and figure out what schemes they were running,” said Earp.Over the years, the program has switched to more of an I-formation as the base offense, where the fullback and halfback line up directly behind the quarterback. However, it still runs variations of the same plays Burt drew up 30 years ago.”We really just looked at what some of the great coaches, like Bear Bryant, were doing,” said Burt. “Then we would try to incorporate that with our kids.”One major change that has happened over the years is that there is now a national championship format set up. In 1983, the C squad won the State Championship. However, that was the end of the road. In the years prior to that, there were no playoffs at all, only a North Shore League champion.”If you won the North Shore League, that is about as far as you went,” said Mageary. “Sometimes, we would travel to New York, or a team from New York would travel here to play on Thanksgiving.”One thing that has not changed over the years is the commitment the organization shows to the kids involved.”Now, more than ever, it’s important to keep the kids off the street,” said Dwyer. “Is there a better place to do that than at the park? They can develop lifelong friendships. I still have friends from when I played 25