THE AMERICAN FLAG flown at KHS football stadium by the Kingfisher Fire Department will have even more significance this week when Kingfisher and Hennessey teams honor military service men and women and veterans at Freedom Football Night, sponsored by the Warriors for Freedom Foundation. KHS alumni and U.S. Army and National Guard veteran Eli Davis, (inset above with his dad, retired Judge Robert Davis), provided special jerseys for Kingfisher players (see photo).

[Photo at left by Clayton Morse/Miller EMS]

By Michael Swisher

KT&FP Managing Editor

The Kingfisher and Hennessey football teams might be the main attraction this Friday night, but military personnel – past and present – will be the guests of honor.

The annual showdown between the Kingfisher County rivals kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Kingfisher, but this year’s game has added meaning and events will be taking place all week long for what’s dubbed as “Freedom Football Night.”

The special game is part of a program by the Warriors for Freedom Foundation, which was co-founded seven years ago by Brett Dick, uncle of current KHS football player Caleb Dick, and Maj. Ed Pulido, a U.S. Army veteran.

The program allows military veterans to participate – at no cost – in recreational and social events hosted by the foundation.

That includes fishing, golfing, hunting, family outings and more.

“It’s a peer-to-peer support program and we want veterans of all ages to be involved,” Dick said.

Part of the foundation’s outreach is the Freedom Football Night. That started three years ago, but this is the first year for Kingfisher and Hennessey to be involved.

“We’re very grateful Kingfisher has decided to take the leap and be a part of this,” Dick said.

During the game itself, both teams will be wearing special jerseys of their choosing, whether it be a patriotic themed look or camouflage.

Eli Davis, a 1999 KHS graduate who was a member of Kingfisher’s first-ever semifinal team in 1998, purchased the special jerseys for Kingfisher.

Davis is a veteran himself, having served a total of 14 years in the U.S. Army and Oklahoma National Guard, eight years on active duty.

That included four years with the 1st of 179th Infantry and Reconnaissance and Sniper Platoon and the rest with Bravo and Charlie Company 1st of 179th Infantry.

He was deployed three times: Iraq in 2003 and again in 2007-08 and Afghanistan in 2011-12.

Davis has spent six years volunteering with the program as a veteran advocate and said he has committed to sponsor the Freedom Football Night for at least the next five years.

He first met Dick and Pu-lido in 2013 when he was at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICOE) at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md., undergoing treatment for traumatic brain injury suffered from multiple IED and RPG blasts from his Afghanistan deployment.

“I met with them when I returned to Edmond to see how I could volunteer and help,” Davis said. “It was important to me to be involved with a foundation that is focused on the veterans and the needs they face and helping them find the resources they need.”

He spoke at the Kingfisher Lions Club last week to help promote the foundation and the game, noting that 85 percent of monies raised by the foundation go directly to support veterans. Six percent covers administrative expenses and 9 percent go toward more fundraising efforts.

At the game, players for each team will be wearing patches signifying a branch of the military that represents someone in their own family who serves.

“We’re honored to take part in this,” KHS head football coach Jeff Myers said. “Even though we’re all affected by having someone we know serve in the military, I think we sometimes take for granted the sacrifices they make for us so we can do something like play football on Friday nights.

“This is a chance for us to offer up some recognition to them and say ‘thank you.’”

One of those ‘thank you’s’ is providing free admission for all military personnel, whether active duty or veterans.

“Not all schools who take part in this do that,” Dick said. “That was a great thing for Kingfisher to take on and make this experience unique to them.”

Prior to the game, the plan is to have honorary captains that include veterans of each war dating back to World War II if possible.

A medical helicopter will drop the game ball at midfield and a local ROTC group will provide the Presentation of Colors.

Both school bands will combine to play the “Armed Forces Medley.”

All military personnel will be recognized at halftime and that will be followed by fireworks.

“At the end of the day what we’re trying to do is get some recognition for veterans in small towns,” Dick said. “It’s just a ‘thank you’ even if it’s an introduction before a game or at halftime and just to recognize that not only on Kingfisher’s side, but also Hennessey’s side, that we’re all here under one flag, one nation.”

There is a fundraising aspect to Warriors for Freedom.

Shirts were pre-sold as were pop sockets and rubber bracelets.

Those items will also be on sale at a booth at the game itself.

The money raised will go to the foundation, which in turn goes to benefit the programs it has for veterans.

Donations will also be accepted and can be made by visiting www.warriorsforfreedom.org.