The 2015 Battle of the Creek wasn’t just another game in history for Northgate football, but also a night of wonder. Many of those who returned for this special alumni night bridged 40 years of football to share a moment under the Friday night lights.

The first group of young men to grace Northgate’s football team took the field with a sense of determination and an absolute thrill for the game. These same men returned to Northgate on Sept. 18 with the same strength of character they had forty years prior.

Roger Leonard, who coached varsity football at Northgate from 1974 to 1986, came to the long-planned 40th football reunion with a joyous attitude.

“I’m so proud of them [the returning players], I really am,” Leonard said after the event. “We’ve had so much success over the years and it’s because of the athletes. We always had a  supportive administration and such good counselors to help us out.”

Lee Orr, who played as both an offensive and defensive lineman for Northgate from 1974 through 1978, worked c closely with Athletic Director Steve Chappell for two years to make this reunion a reality. Orr saw his hard work pay off. Dozens of alumni representing 40 years worth of Northgate’s football players and coaches came together at the place it all began.

These alumni will always share one thing in common: no matter the paths they have taken, football will always be one of their first loves. And although their freshman year dreams of going professional or playing in college didn’t come true, the things they learned on the field have translated into their everyday lives and aided them in becoming the people they are today.

A few of Northgate’s original football players made time to talk before the reunion about the past.

Jim Orr, the younger brother of Lee Orr, was one of the two varsity football captains in 1979. He expressed not only a love for football, but also the years he spent at Northgate in addition to the life lessons that came from the discipline you gain playing a sport.

“There are a lot of similarities to teamwork in an office and on the field,” Jim Orr said. “I swam and there was also a lot of teamwork there during meets and practices. You were just taught to keep your head down and swim but on the football field everything was about teamwork which comes over being in an office.”

Jim Flemings, the varsity captain from 1978, returned for the alumni visit and reminisced on his past. “Man, I tell you! For starters I would just go out there and say, ‘Let’s do this thing!’ I would be on top of the world if I could go play on the football field again. I’d end up hurt but I would be so darned happy, yelling my head off, and fired up to hit somebody again. It would make my day,” Flemings exclaimed.

The Orr brothers were dedicated both on and off the football field.

“I feel like I gave my heart out my senior year,” said Jim Orr. “My senior year was the most fun being able to play both ways. Being on the field twice as much. My junior year was also fun, but I only played one way and we won, but we won more when I was a senior, and well, winning is fun!”

Lee Orr, alongside Tom Fenner who was captain in 1978, helped to create the Eric Griffin Memorial Award their freshman year in 1974.

This award was created out of respect of those who knew Eric Griffin. The award is made up of three parts: the purchase of a tree and plaque to be planted on Northgate’s campus, a large trophy to be displayed at school with the recipients names engraved on the trophy, and a smaller trophy to be awarded on a yearly basis to a graduating senior who best displays the qualities Eric Griffin had forty years ago when he attended Northgate.

Friendliness, honesty, humility, athletic ability, academic excellence, sense of humor, courage and leadership were all qualities shown by Eric Griffin and qualities that recipients of his honorary award, which is still handed out every spring at the senior awards ceremony.

Cherishing a dear friend and fellow football player from forty years ago remains “a great history and proud tradition to this day at Northgate High School. It was to honor our great friend who passed away, way-way too young in life,” Jim Orr said.

Heavy on the minds of the alumni football players was the loss of their classmate, Griffin.

“Eric was just a sweetheart of a guy and you would hear that from just about everyone,” added Jim Flemings. His comments echoed those of others about what a great guy he was and the absolute shock after his untimely death.

Being a Bronco isn’t simply about what people do in school or sports. It’s about showcasing charisma as well as fears, and some of the visiting alumni shared that. Jim Orr, the younger of the Orr brothers, expressed some hesitation before the September reunion.

“I haven’t thought too much about the reunion, but having had a stroke and going to the reunion in a wheelchair I have some concerns,” he said. “How I’ll be able to get around – guard railings and such- and mostly how people will perceive me. They look at me like I’m an old man in a wheelchair even though I don’t feel old. But my older brother (Lee Orr) has volunteered to push me around in my wheelchair all night.”

From one generation of Broncos to the next, there will always be a proud legacy, as was proven by the Northgate victory at the Battle of the Creek. Northgate won against Los Lomas with a close score of 41-35, claiming the Creek once more.