NEOSHO, Mo. — What do you get when you combine 360 eggs, four gallons of fruit juice and four gallons of milk, along with several trays of homemade biscuits and several pans of gravy?
You have the ingredients for the weekly Neosho High School football team’s game-day breakfast. The meal is happily prepared by team parents each Friday morning. The football players gather as a team before the first class to eat in the high school’s new atrium area.
“The players have been eager to come and participate in the meal, and they are so gracious as they go through the serving line,” said Julie Shurley, mother of Neosho senior tailback Jared Shurley and breakfast organizer. “They even help with cleanup before they head to class.”
MoArk Productions has donated 30 dozen eggs each week, with Pillsbury/General Mills of Joplin donating the first four weeks’ cases of biscuits. Wise Stop Convenience Stop is making gravy for the first four weeks, while Hiland Dairy has donated four gallons of juice and four gallons of milk for each breakfast. Hardee’s of Neosho will take the second half of the season, supplying the biscuits and gravy.
In addition to the eggs and biscuits and gravy, players have surprised organizers by being big fruit eaters.
“We’re just thrilled that we can help out some way,” said Les Rainwater, co-owner of Family Market, which supplies bags of fresh fruit each week. Rainwater is also the father of Addison, senior offensive lineman/linebacker, and Gavin, sophomore defensive lineman.
In describing the effort to get the breakfast effort off the ground, Shurley confesses to a bit of early apprehension.
“The football players’ Thursday night meal has always been organized by a senior mom, so it was my year,” Shurley said. “It did seem overwhelming to the point that I was ready to just go back to Thursday night meals and give up, but Coach (Shawn) Flannigan is very persuasive. I got on the phone one afternoon and in the matter of an hour and a half I had donations for everything we needed to cook the breakfast, as well as the appliances to prepare it.”
Beginning before 6 a.m., parents warm and cook the meal on four large roasters, four electric skillets and two toasters; the equipment is all donated by Jarden Consumer Solutions. Organizers admit to using guesswork when first calculating how much food to prepare, using some online research on portion sizes. Ultimately, the parents decided that teenage boys are eating machines, and calculated on the higher end of the food preparation scale.
“Energy and fuel for the body and mind is necessary for all kids,” said Tana Wise, breakfast volunteer and mother of Alex Wise, junior quarterback. “It's hard to focus on a regular day for any person if your body's needs aren’t being met.”
Athletes exert so much more energy on game day that it just makes sense to start the day with the “tank full.”
Address correspondence to Lori Marble, c/o The Joplin Globe, Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802 or e-mail cstark@joplinglobe.com
