Jefferson High football and Homecoming rank among greater Boulder’s most beloved fall traditions, stretching back a century. Yet for an extended period not so long ago, JHS cancelled the football program, leaving students and parents with little to do on fall Friday nights.
The Monitor was unable to nail down certain dates and details, but the story goes that in the mid-1950s, Panther players suffered a rash of head injuries. In response, Dr. Philip Pallister, the respected town physician and head of the school board, who also served two terms as mayor, decided that football was just too risky and halted the program.
Boulder Valley rancher and 1963 JHS grad Paul (Brud) Smith is among those who never saw a single down of football played at Jefferson High in his time there – despite the fact that his father had been a Panther footballer a few decades before. “Some kids thought they’d be better at football than basketball,” he recalled to The Monitor, “so they did miss it.”
