Wilson: New Site Details Warriors’ History
A nostalgic treasure trove awaits Salamanca Warriors football fans at a new website started by alumnus Aaron Hill.
At www.salamancawarriors.com, fans can find old game stories, game tape and links to features on Salamanca alumni. Hill, a former SHS varsity football assistant coach and current USA Football regional manager, said the idea came to him after seeing how well his fellow alumni received classic game tape and highlights.
Booster D.J. Whitmore started a Facebook group years ago.
“It was an outlet for us to share information about alumni, game updates and share pictures of the alumni events,” Hill said. “It was a great way for us to stay connected and it really evolved into an outlet for us to share stories and videos of our playing days and a lot of alumni were appreciative of some of the old video that we were posting. It was video they hadn’t seen in a long time."
“It was really well-received so I essentially started to compile a lot of the old games and highlight tapes. We snapped photos and obviously share Salamanca Press game stories and ultimately just decided over the course of the last year or two that it was a concept I thought we could really take to the next level with a website.”
SALAMANCA WARRIORS - YOUTUBE CHANNEL (Click)
Hill’s passion for compiling SHS football history dates back to his high school years.
“When I was a senior, I worked on a project in media class,” Hill said, “and Paul Mager, who filmed a lot of the games for George Whitcher and his staff, helped me find some of the old highlight tapes and we actually created a mega Salamanca Warriors highlight reel to play on the local school channel in preparation for our championship game vs. Eden at Ralph Wilson Stadium.
“I actually saved that film and I’ve added to it. I coached along the way so I had access to some of the film through those years. Anything I've come across from some of the alumni that reached out has been added to the website. So it’s just been a process over the course of the last 10 or 15 plus years.”
Reading his archives of Salamanca Press stories dating back to 1999 and the 2001 book “Salamanca Football: Foundation-Tradition-Pride” by John Rychcik and David Edstrom has given Hill plenty of material for more historical posts.
“I’d like to keep sharing the Salamanca Press schedule and result stories, game stories from current football seasons, but there’s also an opportunity for us to share a lot of the old Press stories,” he said.
Hill plans to update the site as often as possible, expecting interest to increase as the 2017 season approaches.
Coach Paul Haley and the Salamanca Gridiron Club booster group pledged to cover any fees for hosting the site.
(Sports editor Sam Wilson may be contacted at samwilsonsp@gmail.com)
http://www.salamancapress.com/sports/wilson-new-site-details-warriors-history/article_0074f518-d768-11e6-b44f-afff7e8d617f.html
