40 years later, Gator football continues its tradition of equal opportunity

At least one child has been buried in his Hilton Head Gators football uniform.

That's how proud the little Pee Wees, Small Fries and Midgets are to tape on and strap into their yellow and green uniforms that make them lookjust like the Green Bay Packers.

The Gators youth football program will celebrate its 40th anniversary at 4 p.m. Saturday at Barker Field.

Founder Maynard Barker will be among those honored.

It all started when he went with his wife, Mary Ann, to watch their little boy, Britt, perform in the physical education finals at Sea Pines Montessori School.

"He had to walk across a balance beam six inches off the floor with a bean bag on his head," Barker said. "I turned to Mary Ann and said, 'I'm starting a football team.' "

In 1969, there was no recreation field. There weren't even very many kids. But Bill Carson and O.J. Malphrus got busy on a field as soon as they finished putting together Harbour Town Golf Links for the first Heritage that year.

And Barker made an important decision that remains the greatest legacy of the Gators, much greater than the championship trophies or the 27 kids who went on to play in college.

Every child -- regardless of color, ability to pay or ability to play -- could be a Gator.

The program was integrated before the public schools were. That was huge in Hilton Head's development because all the white newcomers needed to know the Gullah who were already here.

Transportation was provided in an old school bus with green gators painted all over it. And it never cost a child a nickel for cleats, uniforms, socks, anything, thanks to donations from Sea Pines and the Bargain Box thrift store, a concession stand at the Heritage, and the concession stand at the games that turned virtually 100 percent profit thanks to donations from grocer Gene Martin.

Whether a boy lived in a million-dollar home on the ocean or on a dirt road where his mother washed his uniform in an iron pot over fire, the Gators were all equal on the field.

It was a big deal to be named "Player of the Week" in The Island Packet. The stands were packed after the parents built a new field they ended up naming for Barker.

Today, 90 kids are Gators, and they long for the community support that has gotten so fractured since 1969.

The Gators remain one of the few things that bring whites, blacks and now Hispanics together for a common cause. The boys still run on Barker Field as equals. And they still put wobbly yellow helmets on their heads, not bean bags.