April 25, 2024

Newton Nite Hawk football to fly again

By Jocelyn Sheets

Gordon Head, left, and Mark Mackerman, right, are owners and players for the new Newton Nite Hawks, a semi-pro football team, which will have its inaugural season this spring. Head and Mackerman decided to build on the former Newton Nite Hawks’ team, which played in Newton during the 1970s. Owners and players of the former team gave the new owners their approval. (Jocelyn Sheets)

From 1974 to 1978, the place to be on a Saturday night was at a Newton Nite Hawks football game at Holland-Paterson Memorial Field or H.A. Lynn Field. The Nite Hawks were a semi-professional football team which called Newton home.

Gordon Head and Mark Mackerman are ready to bring it all back for Newton football fans. A year ago, the two Newton men played for the Capital City Command of Des Moines, which played for the Midwest Football League championship.

“Right after the championship game, we learned the Command was going to fold,” Head said. “Mark and I had been talking about establishing another team here in Newton. We originally met with Jim Foster and Stan Allspach, the two owners and creators of the original Newton Nite Hawks, and presented our business proposal to them.”

Head and Mackerman are the two owners of the new Newton Nite Hawks. Head said Foster reviewed the business proposal and an official go-ahead was granted to the new owners to use the Nite Hawks name.

Head said his father, who was in the Marine Corps in the 1960s and 1970s, then worked for the Rock Island Railroad. He said his dad played on the original Newton Nite Hawk football team in 1978-79 and spoke highly of the team.

“We’ve talked to Jim Foster a great deal in forming our team,” Mackerman said. “We were talking about forming a team and using the Nite Hawks name because of the history that team had with the Newton community.”

Mackerman grew up in Newton. Head is from Des Moines but has lived in Newton for the past year.

“The Nite Hawks have a great legacy and I think it is something magnificent for us to build on,” Head said. “When you are trying to build a team, community involvement is vital. You really can’t do it without the community. We can’t think of a better place to put a football team than here in Newton.”

The 2019 Newton Nite Hawks will play their first home game on May 11. The River City Rampage from St. Louis, Mo., is the home-opener opponent.

Head said conversations are ongoing with the Newton school district to be able to play home games in H.A. Lynn Stadium.

“H.A. Lynn is the ultimate place to play for us because it’s such a beautiful stadium,” Head said. “And just like the Nite Hawks, it is tied to the community.”

The team has had one tryout in December with about 15 players taking part. Head said there were three potential quarterbacks among those already on the team.

“Players have to be 18 to play in the league. We have all skill levels from those who have played in high school, college and at NFL team training camps,” Mackerman said. “We also have guys who didn’t play in high school but want to play now.”

Another Nite Hawks tryout is slated from 3-4:45 p.m. on Jan. 27 at the Newton YMCA. There is a $30 fee to tryout, which covers any future tryouts and a T-shirt.

Head said the new semi-professional football team is registered as a non-profit organization with the state of Iowa and the federal government. He said all investors and sponsors can receive a tax deduction.

The Nite Hawks will play in the Midwest Football League.

Mackerman said a lot of the players who were on the Capital City Command with he and Head are expected to play on the Newton Nite Hawks. Mackerman and Head are linemen.

“With the quality personnel were bringing from the Command plus the local talent — and there’s a lot of it here — we fully expect to have a championship caliber team this season,” Head said. “There’s no reason we shouldn’t make it deep into the playoffs.”

The MFL has teams from Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri. The Nite Hawks will introduce a new team logo, which is a modern version of the former Nite Hawks’ logo, and a complete season schedule soon.

Head said the league has a good crop of competitive teams for the 2019 season.

The original Nite Hawks were founded by James Williams and Jim Foster in 1974. Williams guided the Nite Hawks to the 1975 Chicagoland Football League championship.

They made football history in 1977. Through the entrepreneurial efforts of Jim Foster, the Newton Nite Hawks were chosen to play a five-game football tour in Europe with the Chicago Lions in early June. It was the first time professional teams (pro or semi-pro) had played American football on the European continent.

The Nite Hawks won all five games in Europe.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com