SOUTH GATE YOUTH FOOTBALL & CHEERLEADING: HISTORY PAGE
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IT WAS A HUMBLE BEGINNING...
In 1989 a handful of parents came together under the leadership of "Founding Father," HENRY C. GONZALEZ---a former City Mayor and current City Councilman---to bring back a "quality" youth football & cheerleading program into our city. It was a humble beginning!...It took a year of preparation and planning before we could come together to petition for membership in the Orange County Junior All-American Football Conference [OCJAAF]. It was not easy. People were skeptical of who South Gate was and what we represented. Finally, we were given approval for membership pending a year's probation. Thus we became the SOUTH GATE RAMS, fielding 3-teams in 1990: Pee Wee, Jr. Midget & Midget. In order to get our program off and running we charged only $40 for player & cheerleader registration. We had to buy new football uniforms & equipment and we tried a variety of fund-raising campaigns which failed for a number of years to follow. Our cheerleader group could barely field a team of 5-cheerleaders per team, and, we sorely lacked for uniforms [they were handmade for the first few years]. But we pursued, and we believed we could do better with each new year. WHAT WE DID NOT EXPECT...In the beginning, teams from other Chapters feared coming to our home field at South Gate High School, and on ocassion a visiting team would forfeit to us because parents were afraid to send their children into South Gate. Right then we realized we had an image problem, and possibly a problem with educating our member chapters that we were no different then they were. WE HAVE COME A LONG WAY!!!...We will celebrate our 18th season of organized youth football & cheerleading in 2008, and, as members of the OCJAAF. In the past 17-years we have achieved many accolades: league championships, a superbowl winner, chapter spirit awards and many, many cheerleader competition awards. Yet, we are still improving and directing our program in a more competitive and rewarding organization for our player and cheerleader participants. We believe in the ideals of the OCJAAF and we keep our program focused on the children, not the adults. In 2000, we registered over 320 players & cheerleaders. We are proud of this accomplishment as we reach out to the families in our community. It has not been easy! We had to struggle through these tough beginning years to get to where we are today...and we're not finished yet! However, we do want to give thanks and appreciation to the many hard-working and dedicated individuals who make up a "strong & commited" leadership of SGYF. This, in addition to support from our business community, our parents and our high school administration. Without them, we would not be here today!
Playground (from League of Their Own)
