The Underdogs

Twelve-year-old Will Tyler shows his gift for speed as he runs more than half the length of his local community football field, the ball tucked under his bent arm. A few steps from the end zone, his foot goes into a hole in the field’s surface, and he takes a hard fall. He feels grateful that he was not injured and that no one was around to see this embarrassing tumble. He is aggravated, though, by the poor condition of Shea Stadium’s field. It would have ruined that touchdown in an actual game.

Will reflects on his father’s high school knee injury, which destroyed his football future. Will then worries about his own football program: His struggling town, Forbes, has no budget for youth football this year. If Forbes cancels its sports program, Will won’t have a football season—or the opportunity to win the West River Football League tournament, a contest his team came painfully close to winning just the previous year.

Forbes used to have a sports shoe factory. Many community members worked there, including Will’s father, Joe Tyler. But sneakers like the Forbes Flyer, a football shoe, could not compete with those sold by companies such as Nike.