Alumna Has Fond Memories of the Gridiron

BY DARRYL GANGLOFF

“JV FOOTBALL WAS, and remains, the most fun and amazing athletic team experience in my life to date,” reminisced Elisabeth “Barbs” Bilar ’93, who played one season on the Hotchkiss JV football team during her senior year. A casual conversation with some male athletes as an upper mid “catalyzed a sort of dare” to join the football team. “Never one to back away from a dare, I showed up at JV tryouts in September and gave it my all,” she said. Katie Brickley ’94 joined Bilar on the team for the first few weeks.

Bilar started as left offensive guard for the first game of the season. “This was well before social media, so no one on the opposing team had any idea there was a girl in the game,” she said. She recalls “the rush and excitement of trotting out to the line, crouching down, eyes on the turf” and surprising her opponents with her voice. “It afforded me a perfect window to plow through the confused pause. Coach started me in almost all the rest of the games after that.”

The JV team had rotating senior captains, and Bilar filled that role for the final game of the season. “I distinctly remember having to call out the pregame warm-up exercise counts as captain, and every single head on the opposing team swiveling my way when they heard a conspicuously female voice.”

Bilar played four years of varsity ice hockey at Hotchkiss, as well as stints on the field hockey and lacrosse teams. She has fond memories of her time with the Bearcats on the football field. “The goal was to have fun learning and playing the game,” she said. “It was the camaraderie and team spirit that made it memorable.” H