Benton Harbor Hoodlems

(Benton Harbor, MI) The team name was just a gimmick, but things were not looking good for the appropriately-monikered Benton Harbor Hoodlems heading into 2002. The team hadn't won a game, and like the city in which they were based, things started to get depressing. Benton Harbor itself was on the verge of city-wide gang violence, and having a winless football team in town-not just over the course of one year, but the entire history of the PWFFL-didn't lend much to the Benton Harbor attitude.

Then, magically, the Hoodlems nearly cracked the .500 mark in 2002, winning three games in each half of the season and going 6-8. For the first time, the residents of Benton Harbor had something to get behind, as the hometown boys just missed the playoffs with a one-point loss to Green Bay in Week 11. It was quickly dismissed as an aberration, that the Hoodlems would taste playoff glory in 2003�and the city itself would taste some glory of its own.

Then came the offseason. Benton Harbor seemed to slip back into the shadow of its former self, with days of rioting and looting unlike anything seen in the state of Michigan since Detroit in the late 1960s. The Hoodlems-the team, that is-were all but forgotten as police began patrolling the streets and city officials pleaded for peace.

That's when owner Kim stepped in, and rallied the team behind her. It wasn't long before Jeff Garcia, Eric Moulds, Trent Green, and Charlie Garner were leading neighborhood watch programs, collecting canned goods for the needy at local food drives, and cleaning up local parks and turning them into football fields. It began the start of an urban renewal program in Benton Harbor, which has continued into training camp.

What would make it complete is if the Hoodlems could field a winning team again. While there's no question the "Big 4" will be able to step up each week, the supporting cast doesn't seem to have the determination to repeat or top their 2002 performance.

"We were able to turn a bunch of ragtags into something halfway respectable," backup quarterback Charlie Batch told reporters. "But we gave all of ourselves and then some by the end. Is it really worth it again just for six wins?"