Scrappy Baltimore City school launches football program on a wing and a prayer

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BALTIMORE (Map, News) - One of the nation’s oldest — and poorest — high schools, Baltimore’s St. Frances Academy, will kick off a full-fledged football program this fall, its 180th anniversary year.

“Overall we’re a school that struggles — day-to-day, week-to-week,” said Tom Nealis, the Catholic high school’s director of advancement. “And we’re dealing with tough kids — like those in [HBO’s ‘Hard Times at Douglass High’]; we just run our school differently.”

Part of that difference, it appears, is relying heavily on divine inspiration and prayer. The academy’s president, Sister John Francis, of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, signaled program permission only a month ago, citing gang conditions and “seeing a lot of things just come together” as her reasons.

“The boys go to the gangs because they need a family [surrogate],” the religious, whose order ministers to inner city poor populations, said, “and I think football would be a natural draw for them. They would belong to something, and that will really help our kids stay focused.”

A Ravens and Maryland football fan, Sister John Francis even thinks her fledgling Panthers, which, as an independent entry this year, will have an ad hoc schedule, may surprise.

She’s enlisted former St. Mary’s football coach Mike Clay and seven assistants to whip her boys into shape. So far, some 40 have shown up.

“Our contract wasn’t renewed at St. Mary’s,” said Clay, who last coached the Annapolis school’s MIAA B Conference championship team, “and five days later I got a phone call from St. Frances Academy, saying the school was interested in a football program.”

“God works in funny ways,” Clay added. “I guess our mission down there was complete and this school really is an opportunity. The coaches all understand what we’re trying to do and the impact it’s going to have not just on the football field, but in the community.”

Clay, a former Southside Academy football coach and site superintendent with DPR Construction, will — along with his seven assistants — not charge for his services to the 320-student school, which funds 60 percent of its budget through contributions.

“I think as a first-year team we’re going to be a little more successful than most think,” said Jeffrey Baker, 17, a St. Frances 12th grader. “Coach Clay has a lot of knowledge about the game, and it looks like he really wants to push this team to succeed.”

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