Gratton dedication ceremony to be held Friday before game

It all started in the Drexel school year in the fall of 1966, when a man had a dream. A dream that became reality, spreading opportunity and memories within the Drexel student body and faculty. Teaching his first year at Drexel in 1965, John Henry Gratton turned a new page his second year as Head Coach Gratton.
John Gratton introduced football to a group of eager young men at Drexel in 1966. Though they only won one game the first season, Coach Gratton stuck with them through thick and thin for eight years until the 1973-74 season when Drexel took second place in the 1A Missouri State Football Championship. It is to be said that the Bobcat spirit was high for Drexel’s first football team. In Drexel’s first year of football they suffered a record of 1 win and 6 losses. However, all was not defeat for the Bobcats as they got a real taste of what the game was about. The team learned that football is a game of quick eyes and fast feet, and some learned the hard way that you don’t run through the opposing players. Many trials and tests of endurance took place during the season, the biggest being the practice sessions. The boys found this a necessity as well as....
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Editor's Note: The dedication ceremony will be held at 6:15 p.m. at the Drexel High School on Friday, October 17, 2008.