Cavaliers

WASHINGTON CAVALIERS

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Cavalier approach suits semi-pro players

TEAM PROFILE

BY GAIL WOOD
THE OLYMPIAN
www.theolympian.com

This article appeared in the July 2, 2000 edition of the The Olympian newpaper
Reprinted with permission from the Olympian

TUMWATER - Don Sicard is called "Marlboro Man."

The 36-year-old chain smoker with sunken cheeks and deep-set, hollow eyes, is a stick figure in cleats. The backup defensive back for the Washington Cavaliers might weigh 135 pounds.

Sicard never played high school football, but he has played for the Washington Cavaliers semi-pro team for seven years.

During a practice day at Tumwater Middle School, Sicard tried to defend a running play. A lead blocker with a 100-pound weight advantage leveled the thin defensive back

"We're going live?" he asked, bouncing quickly to his feet.

No one answered. "They're going live, then I'm going live,' the Marlboro Man said, snapping his chin strap.

Another running play. Again Sicard was knocked off his feet.

"I've got to get lower," the Marlboro Man chided himself angrily, again bouncing back up.

"He's not the biggest player, but he's got the biggest heart," said Cavaliers owner and coach Bill Booth.

Booth, who is from Kelso, looks for players with heart, skill and desire to play on his team each summer. The players work their schedules around family and work considerations.

This year Booth has nearly 20 players with South Sound ties, enough that the team's name has been changed from the Cowlitz Cavaliers to the Washington Cavaliers.

Mike Farley, an outside linebacker for Timberline in 1991, is a recent recruit. He got a call from Lowell Hoff, a 1993 Capital graduate.

"He asked me if I was interested in playing football," said Farley, a welder at Setina Manufacturing. "I honestly thought he was talking about flag football."

When Farley was told it was tackle football, the discussion became, "I will if you will."

Farley hadn't played in eight years, but in his first game with the Cavaliers he started at linebacker and tight end.

Cavaliers practices consist of passing drills for the quarterbacks and receivers and blocking drills for the linemen. The workouts end with a brief scrimmage.

No one runs sprints.

Pre-game warmups are loosely organized, but do include team calisthenics.

"There's not the organization you have in high school or college:' said Erik Olson, a former standout at Capital High School and Whitworth College.

"Also, it's always been 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir' with the coaches. Here, you're on a first-name basis. And the coach asks you what you think about a particular play."

Booth, a self-employed handy-man, drives the 120-mile round trip from Kelso to practices in Tumwater twice a week bringing some players along in his 15-passenger van.

Booth runs the Cavaliers on a shoestring yearly budget of about $9,000, a good chunk of which includes the $500 weekly stadium rental and the $400 paid to officials each game. At the start of the season players pay $90 to play. Half of that will be returned at the end of the season if they turn in their gear.

"Nobody is getting rich doing this," Booth said.

Unless you count memories, dreams and goals.

"Our first game was something else," Olson said. "It was the first time Lowell and I were on the same field together to play football since high school. There's a bonding there that's hard to explain. A lot of memories came flooding back."

Cavaliers players come and go like traffic on Interstate 5.

Since the first day of practice in April, five of the original 27 players remain. A handful of players came to a recent practice to sign up, even though the team already was two games into the season.

Omar Lee, who played high school football at Yelm in the early 1990's, was thinking about joining his brother Prathus, a running back who played junior college football.

"There's no way I'll play running back," Omar said as he watched his brother look for a hole during a scrimmage. "I'll play defensive back. At least that way you're the one delivering the hit."

Players know each other mostly by first names or nicknames.

"You don't bother learning anyone's name until their third week of practice," Olson explained.

Booth is one of those who has been around for a while.

A couple of years ago, at age 46, an opponent showed up for a game with only nine players. Talk of forfeiting was cut short when Booth suggested that he and five players from his team join the other squad.

"They agreed and we played," Booth said.

Booth played center and nose guard. All 165 pounds of him.

"I couldn't get out of bed the next day," he said, grinning. "I thought my back was broken."

So it goes in the world of semi-pro football teams like the Washington Cavaliers.

Just ask the Marlboro Man, who is probably still talking to himself out there on defense.