Laura Stevens Aliff still remembers hearing her name announced back in 1977. And she was more than just a little bit excited to be named Bridgeport High School’s “Miss Football.”

 

“It was a big deal and to be honest I was really humbled by it,” said Aliff, backin an interview on the topic in 2013. “You had to be a member of the Pep Club and I really didn’t think I’d get it because after my sophomore year I became a majorette and couldn’t be as involved as I wanted to be with the Pep Club. I think there were people as deserving or more deserving than I was because they were much more involved, but to this day I’m happy that I was selected.”

 

For a long time, perhaps decades, being named Miss Football at Bridgeport High School was a big deal. In fact, at one time, you could also be named Miss Basketball and that, too, was a big deal. Of course, at one time there was a Pep Club at Bridgeport High School.

 

Those traditions, which now retired BHS journalism teacher Alice Rowe said was around for at least a few decades, haven’t been in place for a few decades. Rowe, who was a fixture at the high school since the 1970s (retiring in 2018) and is still the unofficial authority on all things traditional at 515 Johnson Avenue, isn’t sure why it came to an end.

 

“I really don’t know what year it ended, but I’m thinking it was in the latter part of the 1980s when it did,” said Rowe. “I don’t think there was any specific reason for it because I don’t recall it, but I do know it’s not been around for a while.”

 

While the naming of a Miss Football or Miss Basketball certainly isn’t a sporting event, it lent itself to the pomp and circumstance of many formal events held at high school football or basketball games when the action isn’t taking place. According to Rowe, the announcement generally came during the last game of the year.

 

The one most notable was Miss Football, according to Rowe. She said the winner was announced and generally a senior football player or two would present the young lady that was chosen with flowers, a pin and perhaps a charm.

 

“It was something everyone looked forward to. It was an important part of the season; it really was,” Rowe said.

 

Both Rowe and Aliff weren’t certain if it was all of the football players that voted or just the senior football players that voted to determine the winner. They were both certain, however, that the announcement came on Senior Night and you had to be a member of the now defunct pep club to be eligible to be considered.

 

“I think the reason I was voted for it as a member of the Pep Club was because I grew up in a football family and my father (the late and legendary Frank “Doc” Stevens, the former West Virginia University PA announcer who coined the phrase “Let’s Bring on the Mountaineers” among others) and I always talked football,” said Aliff. “I talked football with the players and it was more than being able to talk about the final score.”

 

It was the Pep Club membership, though, that allowed Aliff to be eligible. Rowe said the club was an organized group of girls that handled a lot of the duties the school’s cheerleaders handle today.

 

“Basically, they were the girls who were the fans and they attended as many games as they could. They would decorate the houses of players and decorate the field and the gym,” said Rowe. “They would all sit together in lieu of what today is the cheering section.”

 

There are now generations of students that have never heard of Miss Football, Miss Basketball and wouldn’t even know what a “Pep Club” is. Even on the memory front, it’s a sports tradition that’s fading into the past.

 

“I don’t get asked too much about it anymore. I’ve had a couple of people talk to me about it at class reunions, but I just don’t hear about it,” said Aliff. “I’d like to see the tradition come back and I’d really like to see a return of the Pep Club. Those were great traditions.”

 

As for what actually led to the end of the aforementioned traditions, the ball is now in your court. Please feel free to share thoughts on why they ended, as well as your memories, of Miss Football, Miss Basketball and the Pep Club.

 

Editor's Note: Pictured above, then Laura Stevens stands with senior football players and captains Jack Childers, left, and Don Babuschak, while in the bottom photo Kelly Bollinger gets a double kiss from senior captains Chris Oliverio, left, and Gary Lhotsky. Photos courtesy of BHS Journalism Department and Mrs. Alice Rowe.