Tyrone football has a rich history and under the Coach John Franco era the program has been catapulted into statewide recognition year in and year out, and now anyone with Internet access can view and read everything there is to know about Tyrone football\’s history and current information.
Thanks to former player and coach Jason Wilson, his mother Doris Wilson, Kerry Naylor and the photography of Steve and Mary Michaels, the Tyrone football program has an official Web site that is extraordinarily laid out and compliments not only their hard work but the success of the Tyrone football program.
The site is www.tyronegoldeneaglesfootball.com. It is its own entity but the site can also be found on tyronepa.com and pafootballnews.com.
Jason is a 2004 graduate of TAHS and played football on the \’03 team. He graduated from York Technical Institute and he currently works at Penn State University as a telecommunications drafter.
The Web site has just recently been available for viewing, although Jason said it was done the week of the Philipsburg game, but didn\’t get it up until the Indian Valley game. He said the site took a couple of weeks by the time he got the name registered and uploaded.
The reason Jason created the site was mainly because he felt that Tyrone football deserved to have a place on the Internet for not just the people in Tyrone to view, but for anyone, anywhere.
\”I just think it is one thing our program hasn\’t had and a lot of people were interested in it,\” said Jason. \”With the program that we have, you would think it would be something we already had, we\’re one of the top programs around and you see all these other high school football sites, and I thought it would be good to take the time to put one up for us.\”
Jason not only took the time to create the site, his mother Doris and Kerry Naylor put their time into the site as well. In fact, Jason spoke highly of Naylor and his mom\’s efforts.
\”Kerry Naylor I think has the most part in it because he put hundreds of hours going through microfilm at The Daily Herald and researching all the stats and history – I basically retyped what he found on the site,\” said Jason.
Naylor began compiling much of Tyrone’s history back in the summer of 1999, because of the “buzz” everyone was feeling about the upcoming season after losing to United in the playoffs in ‘98. Plus, he also puts together the “Orange and Black” program for the Tyrone games, so doing research on Tyrone’s football history was necessary for Naylor as well as hard, but very enjoyable.
“I think Jason really carries on what I do very well, he’s so meticulous and driven,” said Naylor. “I think the program and town needs someone like Jason doing what he is doing.”
As for his mom, Doris, she helped tremendously with the design and layout of the Web site. Jason also said that Rick Gority, production director of Open Door Visions, was very generous for posting a link to the Web site on tyronepa.com since every Tyrone game can be listened to there, creating easy access to the site for the listeners.
With all the research and designing of the site, Jason said along with the history of the football program, past and present records of all the teams and coaches, and the opponents, there is also an awards page listing all-state players from first to honorable mention voted by the Associated Press, PA Football News and even the United Press International of yesteryear.
Among many other features on the site, the one thing Jason says people won\’t find is a fan forum, which he explained that he wanted to stay away from to avoid any negative comments that come along sometimes with fan forums.
Jason said that each week after the game, he will update the schedule, scores and with permission from The Daily Herald, he posts the newspaper\’s article on the site\’s media page Saturday afternoon, which also includes all the previous articles of every game.
In the near future, Jason hopes to get statistics on the site including game by game stats, along with game photos.
He also hopes to get sponsors for the site\’s sponsor page to help the football boosters out, and help the program as far as raising money for all the players participating now.
\”It\’s $25 for sponsorship and if you get it at this point of the year it will actually last you until June of 2009, since we started the site so late,\” added Jason. \”So if you get it now, it\’ll be on there for a year and a half.\”
Normally, $25 sponsorship gives a sponsor one year and will be accepted from July 1 until July 31 of each year. The business name will be displayed until June of the following year.
Interested sponsors can contact Jason through his email address that is located on the site, as well as for information and feedback.
Jason says that the main thing is that this site creates another great thing for the Tyrone football program, for the fans, for people out of state and for the past and present players who now have a place to go after the game and look at what Tyrone football is all about.
Visit Tyrone football\’s new site at www.tyronegoldeneaglesfootball.com.
