By the numbers: Wyoming high school football all-decade teams

Over the last couple weeks, I have been sharing Wyoming high school football all-decade teams. They have included two combined teams — the teams of the 1920s and 1930s, and the team of the 1940s and 1950s — and six individual teams, the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, the 2000s and the 2010s.

My plan was to have the teams face each other in NCAA Football 25, but many, many failed attempts to change player names in the game left me frustrated and exasperated. That tournament can’t happen, unfortunately, at least not that way. My apologies. I’m hoping to find an alternative where I can still have some kind of tournament, but I’m still working through those options right now. When, or if, I settle on something, I’ll share it here.

This project was, without a doubt, one of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in conjunction with this site. I invested a significant amount of time in trying to find information about Wyoming’s star football players. I’d estimate that it ended up being close to about 10-15 hours per team, so somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 hours total, at least. I went down numerous rabbit holes. I read hundreds of articles. I perused numerous yearbooks. And I could have spent even MORE time, if I had chosen. To be honest, for me, the researching was probably the most fun part. It’s cool to know that, even after investing 20 years’ worth of research into Wyoming high school sports history, I can still be surprised. But in research like this, you reach a certain point where you have to move forward with something. In the end, I think all 424 players who were chosen deserved a spot on their respective teams, but I could have easily had teams of 80 or 100 players for each decade and still left out some deserving players.

I hope two things come of all this. One, I hope you continue to let me know who you think I’ve overlooked in the process. Already, this has been happening, and I LOVE it and want to encourage it. Those conversations are great, and they help me (and others, too, I’m sure) enrich their knowledge of the people, the game and the state we all love. The second is that I hope you learned a little bit, too, that you explored the bios and got to see the result of all my rabbit-hole searching, that you learned about players that maybe you hadn’t known about before or that had slipped your memory over the years, that you actually clicked (or tapped) on some faces and didn’t just skip over that in your pursuit to look for familiar names.

As I noted before the teams came out, I did consult with several former coaches and journalists prior to posting the teams, and for those who replied, their feedback was invaluable. They made the teams better, more representative of the whole state and more consistent. Thanks to those who helped with that process. Also, coaches, ADs and administrative assistants at several schools were incredibly helpful in helping with obtaining photos for players whose photos I couldn’t find on my own. A big thank you to those folks, as well.

All that said, I thought it would be fun to look at the all-decade teams a bit deeper by examining them across a few different ways — by school, by county, by region and by year. So, here it is, in the spirit of transparency (and maybe some discussion, too, but that’s on y’all), are how the all-decade teams shook out across those different measures:

+++

Selections by school

Natrona: 45
Cheyenne Central: 36
Sheridan: 31
Laramie: 25
Campbell County: 18
Rock Springs: 16
Rawlins: 13
Cody, Lander: 12
Cheyenne East, Powell, Torrington: 11
Star Valley: 10
Buffalo, Evanston: 9
Kelly Walsh, Lusk: 8
Green River, Greybull, Lovell, Riverton, Wheatland, Worland: 7
Douglas, Jackson: 6
Glenrock, Kemmerer, Pinedale, Tongue River: 5
Cokeville, Mountain View, Pine Bluffs, Thermopolis: 4
Basin, Big Horn, Burns, Moorcroft, Shoshoni, Southeast: 3
Big Piney, Guernsey-Sunrise, Midwest, Newcastle, Riverside, Saratoga, Wright: 2
Burlington, Byron, Cowley, Deaver, Dubois, Hanna, Heart Mountain, Lingle, Lyman, Rocky Mountain, St. Mary’s/Seton, Sundance, Ten Sleep, Thunder Basin, Upton: 1

Multiple high schools: 2

Consolidated combinations:
Basin/Riverside: 5
Rocky Mountain/Byron/Cowley/Deaver: 4

+++

Selections by county

Laramie, Natrona: 55
Sheridan: 39
Albany: 25
Big Horn, Park: 24
Fremont, Sweetwater: 23
Campbell: 21
Lincoln: 19
Carbon: 16
Goshen: 15
Uinta: 14
Converse: 11
Johnson, Platte: 9
Niobrara, Washakie: 8
Sublette: 7
Teton: 6
Crook, Hot Springs: 4
Weston: 3
Multiple counties: 2

+++

Selections by region

Northeast (Campbell, Crook, Johnson, Natrona, Sheridan, Weston): 133
Northeast without Casper schools: 80

Southeast (Albany, Converse, Goshen, Laramie, Niobrara, Platte): 123
Southeast without Cheyenne Central/East: 76

Northwest (Big Horn, Fremont, Hot Springs, Park, Washakie): 83

Southwest (Carbon, Lincoln, Sweetwater, Sublette, Teton, Uinta): 85

+++

Selections by year (last year of play, not graduation)

2019: 8
2018: 5
2017: 5
2016: 6
2015: 8
2014: 6
2013: 5
2012: 4
2011: 4
2010: 2
2009: 4
2008: 5
2007: 4
2006: 4
2005: 7
2004: 3
2003: 7
2002: 7
2001: 4
2000: 8
1999: 8
1998: 7
1997: 4
1996: 4
1995: 6
1994: 5
1993: 6
1992: 5
1991: 5
1990: 3
1989: 6
1988: 4
1987: 5
1986: 3
1985: 5
1984: 5
1983: 5
1982: 9
1981: 5
1980: 6
1979: 4
1978: 4
1977: 5
1976: 4
1975: 7
1974: 9
1973: 4
1972: 7
1971: 5
1970: 4
1969: 3
1968: 5
1967: 8
1966: 5
1965: 5
1964: 4
1963: 7
1962: 6
1961: 4
1960: 6
1959: 2
1958: 2
1957: 4
1956: 2
1955: 2
1954: 2
1953: 6
1952: 4
1951: 3
1950: 2
1949: 3
1948: 2
1947: 5
1946: 2
1945: 1
1944: 4
1943: 1
1942: 2
1941: 1
1940: 3
1939: 4
1938: 3
1937: 3
1936: 3
1935: 5
1934: 4
1933: 3
1932: 1
1931: 3
1930: 1
1929: 2
1928: 2
1927: 1
1926: 3
1925: 3
1924: 4
1923: 4
1922: 2
1921: 2

–patrick