The Fredericksburg Generals

The story of the Fredericksburg Generals is a story that really should be told.  I’m sure I won’t be able to do it justice, but I will try and maybe someone will help me. UPDATE!  Someone Has.  This website was prepared by me, Hal James, former owner and co-founder of the Fredericksburg Generals.  Here is link to an account of the Generals by Mike Wise, a sports reporter for the Washington Post and a sports talk show host.  ANOTHER ACCOUNT OF THE FREDERICKSBURG GENERALS.

About 1991 I was offered the opportunity take a tour on active duty with the Army at the Pentagon.  I did, and it was there that I met Lieutenant Colonel Victor Lent (LT COL was my rank also at the time).  Victor was active in the Mason Dixon Football League and anxious to expand it by attracting new teams to the league.  He knew a lot of football enthusiasts in Fredericksburg, and as soon as he found out I lived there and had a good knowledge of the business community there, he encouraged me to look into starting a team in Fredericksburg.  He introduced me to a potential manager who, although he was very young (18, I think), knew an awful lot about football and how it is managed from a prospective of helping a team operate.  His name was Matt Kerns.

MATT KERN, CO-FOUNDER OF FREDERICKS GENERALS

Raynor and I with Vic Lent's help set about learning how to get a charter with the Mason Dixon Football League to organize a team in Fredericksburg.  This entailed forming a new corporation, The Fredericksburg Generals, Inc. and issuing stock.  We found we could manage the costs even in our reduced financial state thanks to my new army salary.

The first real challenge we met was to hire a coach even though we had very little money.  We proposed to handle this by making stock in the new corporation available to the coach we hired and hopefully he would wait for earnings until the team’s efforts started to pay off.  The idea was that we would invest money, the coach would invest “blood, sweat, and tears,” and, when the resulting income came in, we would share in the benefits.  Unfortunately, this never happened, but it was a good concept, and we came close.

We got really good coverage in the local paper about the team starting up.  We announced that we would be interviewing for the Head Coach's position.  It was our plan (Raynor, Matt, and me) to let the new Head Coach arrange for his staff because that would give him the best shot at having people he could work with well.

We interviewed several (around 7 or 8) interested coaches.  Some of the coaches we interviewed had experience in the local high schools, military teams, and some even had experience with other teams in the Mason Dixon Football League.  The one thing each of them had in common was that each could see the potential for a really good team from our area.

                                      HEAD COACH JAMIE KING

Jamie King was the choice of all three of us doing the interviews.  He did not have as much experience coaching as many of the other candidates, but he exuded enthusiasm for the sport.  He had been a high school standout at quarterback, had many friends among sports figures associated with the Washington Redskins, had friends in the sports broadcasting field, and had even appeared on local television on sports programs.  The most important quality he exhibited, and one that I could see after many years as a military leader myself, was that the enthusiasm he had would translate into leadership.  I had no doubt about it.

At first, some of the candidates who weren’t selected resented his selection because of his inexperience, but they, too, soon realized his great potential and fell in line.  One of the Generals’ greatest strengths was the depth of the coaching staff.  One of the strongest was Lonnie Messick.  He was a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and had coached at the US Naval Academy, Bowie State University, and the US Marine Corps Interservice Football.  Many of the other assistant coaches had backgrounds with those same teams and were recruited by Jamie and Coach Messick for obvious reasons.  You can see why Coach King had a lot of proving to do to guys like that, but he prevailed and became a great coach.

COACHING STAFF

Once, I can’t remember why (maybe injuries, job conflicts, or both), but we reached the end of our quarterback staff on game day.  Jamie somewhat reluctantly stepped in and, although not a great runner, he was an excellent passer.  He did a respectable job of both well enough that day, but mostly he simply led the team to victory on the playing field from the field instead of the bench.  That was the spirit of the Generals,  “Do what has to be done!”

Needless to say we also had a lot of great players.  The coaching staff recruited many of them, and some volunteered by just walking out on our field.  They came in large numbers and had a hard time making the team. 

                 QUARTERBACKS                                       RUNNING BACKS

                 DEFENSIVE BACKS                                  

At one time the local paper, The Free Lance Star, ran a picture of our offensive front and called them “The Biggest Line in Football.  Averaging almost 325 pounds per man.”   

DEFENSIVE LINE

OFFENSIVE LINE

LINEBACKERS & KICKERS

Of course, The General’s offense consisted of passing on almost every play.  Good passing quarterbacks like Mark Ryhanych and an arsenal of great receivers like David Hughes, and Bernard Ellis, along with that formidable line, made it look easy.  In one lineup we featured seven receivers.  Passing was our game, and it was very exciting to watch.

QUARTERBACKS MARK RYHANYCH & BERNARD ELLIS

CLICK HERE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF PLAYERS

Coach King had a good friend at the local TV station.  His name was Mike Neville.  Mike arranged for announcing at all our local games and took video of the games for replay on television.  I still have copies of most of the videos and play them occasionally.  My favorite, an interview Mike did on TV with Head Coach Jamie King is below.

THE FREDERICKSBURG GENERAL’S 1995 CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON VIDEOS

The Road to the Championship Part 1

The Road to the Championship Part 2

This helped enormously with getting the support of the business community and the fans we needed to survive because the expense of playing fields, uniforms, liability insurance, etc. was great.  We also published a catalog of sports memorabilia like T-shirts, caps, cups, etc., for sale.  The staff and players were our models.  It was pretty professional looking even though we did it all ourselves.

With Jamie and his wife, Denise, it was a family affair.  Denise was the team Secretary/Treasurer and ran the ticket booth, concession stand and helped in any way she could.  Raynor helped her on game days. 

          DENISE WOLFE, TREASURER              RAYNOR JAMES, CO-FOUNDER

We had some big name sports personalities to help draw the crowd.  Uppermost was Mark Mosley.  Mark had played many years for the Washington Redskins as their great kicker.  He was the 1982 MVP of the NFL.  One season, Mark was the highest scorer for the Redskins kicking field goals and extra points.  Mark seldom missed, and his fans flocked to see him play again.  He was fearless even at an advanced age for a football player.  He kicked off for us as well as kicking many field goals and extra points.  Sometimes Mark kicked a field goal just a crowd pleaser because the Generals were already way ahead in the game.  Sometimes his kicking was a game saver.  I remember asking Mark what he would do if after one of his kickoffs, one of these big runners made it through all the defenders except him.  He just laughed and said he didn’t think it would happen to the General’s defenders, but one day it did.  I held my breath as I watched him take that kid down.  It was like the kid hit a brick wall that reached down and tied his shoelaces together so he couldn’t continue to run.  It was then that I realized the difference between a real professional player and our semi-pro guys, who were good, don’t misunderstand me.

KICKER MARK MOSELEY

Another sports celebrity that helped us by signing autographs and mingling with the crowd was National Champion swimmer Jeff Rouse.   Jeff has won six major international titles and Olympic medals in two of the Olympic games, silver in 1992 and gold in 1996.  Jeff was considered the best in the world at his specialty, and here he was in Fredericksburg, his hometown, taking part in local sports events.

JEFF ROUSE, OLYMPIC SWIMMER

The Generals were fortunate to have the services of Bill Rechin, a nationally syndicated cartoonist, to help provide promotional material.  Bill made his home near Fredericksburg.  Bill’s cartoon was “Crock,” and it appeared in newspapers all over the country.  Bill designed our very colorful logo that depicted General Washington in a boat with lots of football players crossing the river at Trenton during the Revolutionary War.  This appeared on shirts and all kinds of promotional “stuff.”

 BILL RECHIN'S FREDERICKSBURG GENERALS LOGO

The professional and business community in Fredericksburg really supported our team.  Our team physician was Dr. Andre’ Eglevsky who is an orthopedic surgeon.  Dr. Gary Schulz served as Team Chiropractor.  Dr. Adam Wyatt was Team Dentist.  Dr. David Terrill was Team Orthodontist.  And several others pitched in at various times during the duration of The Generals. 

One real standout on our staff was Angela Buttery who was our Trainer.  Angela had a BA in sports medicine from Ohio University.  She had already served as head trainer with several teams and worked tirelessly to keep our player in good shape to play.

ANGELA BUTTERY, HEAD TRAINER

All in all, the stars seemed to align just right for the Fredericksburg Generals for just two short years.  The team won 22 straight games and won two national semi-pro championships.  It was a short run, but it was glorious!  We didn’t make any money, but we surely had some good times!

HAL JAMES, OWNER & PRESIDENT

Modeling Generals gear

Hal James

Past Fredericksburg Generals Owner and President