For years, the Branson Pirates have saved memories from the gridiron thanks to some special ladies on the sidelines.
“I’ve been doing it since 1986 and I started because I felt like there was a need for additional support for the Branson Pirates. We were kind of at a low place that year so I did what I could to support the team.” said Kathy Sankey, who has helped capture memories for the team for 32 years.
Sankey says there was one Friday night in particular that sparked the idea.
“One homecoming there were 10 people in the bleachers. So that really inspired me to do something.” said Sankey.
Wuanetta Howard started taking pictures of the team back in 2010 after 16 years as a cheerleading coach.
Howards youngest son is a coach for the team and needed her help.
“That was about the time he developed the website and he puts a lot of pictures on. And he asked me if I would do that and I said sure why not.” said Howard.
Since Howard was a kindergarten teacher, she often sees former students of hers on the team.
“When they walk up to you and say do you remember me? I was in your kindergarten class, and I’m a senior now. It is like… yeah… they change a lot.” said Howard.
Howard and Sankey were already friends before being the team’s photographers and have been through a lot.
“We go to church together, we bonded together, we have cried together. Kathy and I are both breast cancer survivors, so we have been through that experience together.” said Howard.
And they say taking pictures of the team is all about holding on to memories.
“Our pictures are free, we take them, we put them on the website and anybody can take them. There are a lot of families that probably can’t afford to get pictures of their kids. But they can pull these off the website and have remembering snapshots of their kids.” said Howard.
“A lot of these guys are not going to go beyond high school football, and they get the memory of that tremendous catch, or that solo tackle, or making that field goal.” said Sankey.
The ladies say they’d like to continue taking pictures every Friday night as long as they are able to.
