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These Bulldogs celebrate Season X

Special needs team to play ninth Super Bowl game

Sentinel photo by BRADLEY KREITZER CPW wrestler Chris Dubler, left, tries to stop running back Miranda Taylor in a Burnham Bulldogs special needs football game Sunday at Kish Park.

LEWISTOWN — Kenny Varner was interviewing Noah Wise, founder of the Burnham Bulldogs Central Keystone Football League team, 10 years ago — ironically, he notes, for The Sentinel.

Varner, who went on to start the Hometown Sports Scene magazine, recalls the conversation he had with Wise.

“He said, ‘I’d like to start a special needs football team'” — not out of the realm for Varner, who had experience as a Special Olympics basketball coach.

“I said, ‘I can do it,'” the Lewistown native recalled. The result of the commitment by both men will be seen on Mitchell Field Sunday, when the Burnham Bulldogs special needs football team ends its 10th season with its ninth Super Bowl.

Their game is at 3 p.m., followed by the CKFL peewee and midget championships.

Four players on this version of the Bulldogs have been there from the beginning: Adam Wert, Zach Van Horn, David Fye and the legendary Bobby Fisher, who has spent most of the season on the inactive list, Varner said.

“He is still part of the team. He has come out to a couple games and is going to help coach for the Super Bowl,” Varner said.

It started with eight kids, Varner said, and  “They were learning as well as the coaches.

“When we first started, we would tell the people playing us to stay back, be careful (because) they were learning,” he recalled. “Now we’re telling the kids, ‘Stay back — don’t hurt them.'”

There has been no shortage of opponents for this Bulldogs team, as community organizations, businesses, varsity sports team, and others have turned out to play them. They’ve taken on members of the local Army National Guard Stryker unit, Penn State football players and even took part in a Halloween-themed game.

“Our first season we had five games. We grew to as many as 30,” Varner said. “The funniest crew we play against now is the professional wrestlers. They put on a good show for our kids. They actually treat our kids like gold.”

Central Pennsylvania Wrestling and Classic Championship Wrestling members may be a favorite for the Bulldogs, but their arch rival has to be Overhead Door.

“They’ve been one of the biggest rivalries,” Varner said. “We haven’t lost many games, but every game we lost was to Overhead Door. We played them in six of the nine Super Bowls we played, so it got to be quite a heated rivalry.”

He said that the competition doesn’t change too much from year to year because the groups that come to play enjoy the experience so much they want to do it again.

Varner said a Bulldogs game is in many ways like the Harlem Globetrotters or professional wrestling, which are entertainment set around athletics. The game is touch football, played in 30-minute halves, with the number of players on the field varying.

They have to adapt the game to the players, who may fall into any number of special needs categories. Past challenges included players who were not independently mobile; the team has been able to work with hearing-impaired players and this year added a non-verbal, autistic player.

“We had to adapt to make it fun for the kids but not making it boring. (Referees) improvised to help the players learn to play the game first, and to have fun with it,” Varner said. “Every year we have to adapt to another kind of person, a different kind of player with different needs. Each player is treated accordingly.”

Special needs athletics traces its roots to a camp started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1962. Special Olympics began in 1968 and has expanded from track and field to include numerous team sports. Little League International introduced its Challenger Division in 1989.

Football is in a trial mode with Special Olympics, Varner said, but officially there’s just one team and it’s here in Mifflin County.

Varner, who works with United Cerebral Palsy of Pennsylvania, says there’s a notable difference in the way people react to those with special needs today, and combined with their football celebrity, it’s been positive for everyong.

“When I was growing up, special needs people — Down Syndrome, autism — were frowned upon. The kids were hidden,” he said. “A lot of our kids, when they play these other teams, our kids actually become like icons. It’s really heartwarming.

“They bring a spark to my life, a piece that’s been missing. I’ve could be having the worst day and go to pick up one of my clients, and before long, how can you be down in the dumps when you have these kids that just enjoy life? They take every breath and make it worthwhile,” he said. “A lot of times I feel like I’m the lucky one to be working with them.”

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