Ryan Brennecke/Bulletin Photo

From The Bulletin:

This is a job for them, even if they don’t get paid. They go virtually unnoticed during football games, but these four men don’t care. They maintain high professionalism for what most would perceive as a tedious task — yet there is no place they would rather be on a Friday night.

“We’ve got the best seat in the house,” says Delano Miller. “We get to walk right there along the sideline and hear the (visiting team’s) coaches talk. It’s a job. You do it for yourself.”

Adds William Patt: “It’s about the love of the game for me.”

Miller (better known as “Satch”), Patt (aka “Hobo”), Ellison David Sr. (known as “Alley”) and Gerald Sampson (nicknamed “Chickenhawk”) have worked the down and distance markers — or chain gang — together at Madras High for decades. The four Madras High grads are seasoned veterans, former White Buffaloes players who are students of football, frequently picking up schemes, techniques and nuances of the sport while working the chains. Satch is the longest-tenured of the crew, now in his 44th year, though Chickenhawk (41 years), Hobo (32) and Alley (30) have also each logged quite a few miles patrolling the sideline.

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