ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 18, 1996 TAG: 9611180088
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
THE BLOOMER BOWL starred thirty women in full uniform playing a four-quarter tackle football game for a good cause.
They hugged instead of shaking hands after the coin toss.
And many opted for mascara and lipstick instead of smearing grease under their eyes.
But the 30 moms who played in the Bloomer Bowl proved they're too tough to sit on the sidelines.
The mothers - who range in age from 25 to 40 and all have sons who played on Cave Spring Recreational League football teams this year - played a four-quarter tackle football game in full uniform Sunday to raise money for the families of four boys who had surgery for game injuries such as torn ligaments.
Unfortunately, some of the pigskin-carrying moms may find themselves in the same predicament.
At least four were hurt in practices over the last two weeks - one suffered cracked ribs, and one has a dislocated and fractured shoulder - and two were taken off the field on stretchers before halftime Sunday.
"Maybe next year we'll do a car wash," joked Mike Dull, whose wife, Paula, and daughter Michelle Heishman played for the Scarlet Babes, named for their red jerseys, which, like their helmets and other equipment, mostly were borrowed from their sons.
He added, "I'm pretty impressed by them."
Clearly, the Babes and their opponents, the Black Lightning, fought a fierce, very un-momlike battle. But they loved it, for the most part. Their families, on the other hand, didn't quite know whether to laugh, cheer, or worry about what happens if it's up to Dad to make dinner.
Ben Dull, 12, said of his mom, "She's doing pretty good. I'm surprised. I'm used to me being on the field and her doing the cheering." Ben and many of his fellow sandlot football players took their cheering seriously, in fact - they dressed up as cheerleaders, complete with lipstick and pigtails.
Brad Boothe, 17, watched from the stands with his grandparents as his mom, Anne, fought for the Babes. His brother Casey plays for the Cave Spring Knights.
"I think she's got a lot of guts, because she's real small. She's the smallest one out there," Brad said, adding, "I think she can handle her own, though. If they make her mad, they'll wish they hadn't."
Brad himself played for the football league until last year, and he went to several of the Babes' practice sessions, which generally ran from one to three hours in the cold at night. His mom looked good, Brad said, but "she whined a lot, though, about how she had bruises on her arms and stuff. She used to always make fun of us complaining about being hurt, but now she sees what it's like."
For her part, Anne, who works at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, said she gained a lot from playing. "It makes me have a different outlook on the sport," she said. "It's a lot tougher than I thought, and you have to have a lot of intelligence to play the game and remember all these plays."
Several of the women were Hokie football fans, and they couldn't get enough. Others were more willing to look at it as a one-time experience.
Marla "Crippler" Cain of the Black Lightning was feeling a little crippled herself after injuries from practice, so she sat out most of Sunday's game. "I'm so taped up, I can't feel anything," she said. "I'm taped from my ankles to my hips, but it's for a good cause."
Denise Jones of the Babes hurt her arm, and Charmaine Bush of the Black Lightning hurt her knee in Sunday's game. Both had suspected breaks or fractures and were taken to the emergency room by the Cave Spring Volunteer Rescue Squad.
Everyone was worried and concerned about the women who were hurt, but most had no regrets over their decision to forgo a powder-puff game of touch or flag football.
"Next year, maybe we'll do a longer conditioning period," said Liz Hamrick, who was hurt in practice and whose 9-year-old son, Daniel, plays for the Rebels.
"Tackle's funner than flag," said Donna Sellers, who organized the game and played for the Babes. "You just break a nail in flag." She said the moms are looking forward to a rematch, possibly in other sports such as baseball or wrestling.
In the end, their teams tied 7-7, with Black Lightnings mom Gena Kidd and Babes older sister Michelle Heishman scoring touchdowns.
"Awesome!" said Scarlet Babes coach Charlie Fochtman after the game. "I never expected the tackling. I thought it was going to be a high-scoring game. The tackling was amazing to me. I didn't expect these women were going to hit like that."
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY\Staff. 1. Charlene Nance (left) and Gena Kiddby CNBof the Black Lightning team celebrate after the Bloomer Bowl ends in
a 7-7 tie at Cave Spring Junior High on Sunday. The mothers of
sandlot football players organized and played in the game to help
raise money for players who had been injured during the season.
color. 2. Michelle Heishman of the Scarlet Babes carries the ball
against the Black Lightning defense. 3. Players with the Scarlet
Babes listen to the coach at halftime during the Bloomer Bowl on
Sunday.