Old Newsboys Goodfellow Fund Of Detroit

It started with a cartoon--"Forgotten," by Tom May--in which a poor child, too young and innocent to understand why she had not received a Christmas present from Santa, weeps over an empty stocking. It ran on Christmas Day in 1908 in the Detroit Journal, where it caught the attention of key Detroit businessmen. Deeply moved, they entered into a solemn pact to do all within their power to prevent any Detroit child from being "forgotten." In 1914, under the leadership of James J. Brady, himself a former newsboy, the Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund of Detroit was formed. This year, the fund celebrates 100 years of making sure there is "no kiddie without a Christmas." One such fortunate kiddie was retired Detroit News columnist Pete Waldmeir, a longtime Goodfellow who generously agreed to write the introduction to this book, Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund of Detroit: 100 Years.

It started with a cartoon—“Forgotten,” by Tom May—in which a poor child, too young and innocent to understand why she had not received a Christmas present from Santa, weeps over an empty stocking. It ran on Christmas Day in 1908 in the Detroit Journal, where it caught the attention of key Detroit businessmen. Deeply moved, they entered into a solemn pact to do all within their power to prevent any Detroit child from being “forgotten.” In 1914, under the leadership of James J. Brady, himself a former newsboy, the Old Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund of Detroit was formed. This year, the fund celebrates 100 years of making sure there is “no kiddie without a Christmas.” One such fortunate kiddie was retired Detroit News columnist Pete Waldmeir, a longtime Goodfellow who generously agreed to write the introduction to this book, Old Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund of Detroit: 100 Years.

High school football has been an institution in metro Detroit since the day the assembly line changed America. From the game's inception at the prep level in the early 1900s to the annual Thanksgiving Day games that would make or break a school's season, prep football has been a rite of passage for players, parents, coaches, and fans alike in Detroit since after World War II. Detroit's high schools were massed and assembled from the immigrant pockets that carved out city and suburban landscapes. The one constant in all these cultural melting pots was high school football. For parents and neighbors of the marching bands, cheerleaders, and players, football season in the golden age of high school sports was an all-community event. Towns shuttered and time stopped for nine Fridays in the fall.