Six-Man History

Six Man football started in Chester, Nebraska in 1933 during the depression. The school had a scarce number of students and the high school and was unable to play eleven-man football. After that the trend caught on and more small schools started to play six man football. During the depression more teams in Nebraska played six-man than eleven man.

A man named Stephen Epler who worked at Chester High was thinking of ideas to field a football team out of the tiny school for the principal. He decided on six because he thought that five was too few. This would allow for even split of ends and the backfield. During the depression Epler was looking for ways also to save money for smaller schools also. This included using soft-soled shoes instead of cleats and not using any hip pads. The shoe idea was all right but anyone who plays six man knows that you need all the pads you can get because of the high speeds and harder hitting.

Texas started playing six-man football in 1938, as far as I can tell they played nonstop unsanctioned until 1972 and under the UIL until today. Literally hundreds of teams played in Texas prior to 1972. 50 schools played in 1938, while 112 played in 1939.

The rebirth of six-man football began in earnest in the early 70’s. This is true of most of the six man states. New Mexico for instance played outlaw six man from 1979 until 1987. Roy won 5 state titles in the outlaw days although in some years only four teams played. The New Mexico Activities Association recognized the sport in 1978. 20 teams competed in New Mexico as six man football teams in 2000. Nebraska also recognized its first state champion in six-man in 1987, but the Nebraska Athletic Association withdrew its support for six man in 1998. In 2000, 7 teams in Nebraska and 1 team from Kansas are still competing in six-man football, but the number is dwindling from the high of 22 teams in 1997. Colorado started playing sanctioned six-man football in 1986. In 2000, 16 teams played in the Colorado leagues. Montana had a high of about 12 teams with state sanctioned championships starting in 1984. Texas has been by the far the most successful six-man state with recognized championships starting in 1972 and well over 150 public and private school participating in 2000. Most state playoffs are 3 rounds, but to win the state title in Texas you must win 5 games in a row.

Possibly the biggest change in six-man football was the change that allowed a hand off to be called a legal exchange. The rule was put in place by Texas in the 70’s. The National Sports Federation which governs the rest of the six-man states did not allow hand-offs until 1998. Before this change the rule was a "clear and visible pitch" which was a improvement over the first rule of a pitch or pass of a least one yard. The exchange rule modernized the game of six man football to allow the importation of some eleven man concepts to the game, while still keeping the six man flavor. Several states had teams that played at the top of the state for six-man football for several years. Ft. Hancock Texas won 4 in a row from 1988 to 1991 and 5 of six from 1986 to 1991. To make this more impressive Ft. Hancock won three of the final games by the 45-point mercy rule. New Mexico’s version of Ft. Hancock was Mountainair who had four straight from 1989 to 1992. Unlike Ft. Hancock, Mountainair has no other titles. Nebraska only recognized one back-to-back champ, Wolbach 1995-1996. Colorado has two three-peat champions with Arickaree 1986 – 1988 and Revere 1989-1991. Revere is a six-man power in Colorado with 6 titles. Montana has the six-man record for consecutive state champions with 5 for Highwood 1988-1996. Many of these teams with small enrollments would have not been able to field a team in other classification so these championship whether one or 5 in a row are very sweet.

Written By: Dan Sebastian