Mavericks Celebrate Homecoming

The original founders of the Clawson Mavericks Football and Cheer organization were honored in a special homecoming event Saturday evening. Ken and Darrin Eads, Ken and Sherry Zeiter, George and Willie Shrum, Stan Zelinski and Sue Magill (representing her late husband John) were on hand between games. Each original member was honored to be remembered.

Zeiter, who was the first president of the organization, started a three-generation run as his son Rick and grandsons Ricky and Jackson have all played.

“It’s wonderful,” Zeiter said. “But the biggest problem I’ve got is that was 40 years ago and its hard to remember everyone who was a part of everything.”

Before 1971, Clawson and Troy had one team but decided to separate into different teams and the Mavericks were born.

Ken Eads, the Mavericks first ever vice-president, coached for 10 years with a record of 41-18-1. He participated in three Super Bowls before retiring in 1984. His son Kip and grandson Carson make the Eads another three-generation Maverick family.

“It’s great. We were really pleased,” Eads said. “A lot of times people forget. I had to write down all of the teams we had because I knew come this day I would never remember who had won what or even who had played.”

To help preserve the memories, Eads has framed pictures of each of his teams with records and coaches.

“It’s nice to go back and look at that and say, ‘hey, that really did happen’.”

The original Maverick had perfect recall of his teams’ successes.

“After being co-champions with Madison Heights the league decided to have a Super Bowl,” Eads explained. “And we played in the first, second and third Super Bowl and we won the 1980 Super Bowl.”

George Shrum, acting president in 1983, was happy to attend the event. His wife Willie was secretary and candy chairman from 1979-1983.

“This makes me feel proud to be associated with the Mavericks,” he said. “This is a well run organization.”

The original Mavericks remembered working together to build a successful football organization.

“As secretary I used to ‘clean’ the minutes up so they wouldn’t look so bad,” Willie added with a laugh. “They look like we had very nice, clean, even meetings with no discussions.”

Eads enjoyed coaching and the opportunity to connect with many players.

“We had so many boys who only had one parent. It was important to me to be a father or man figure in their lives,” he said.

Looking back on the success and the discussions, each board member came to the same conclusion about their participation.

“I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat,” Eads said.