Jackson — For some members of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity at Hillsdale College, their fondest college memory has nothing to do with classes, parties, or girls. It was a flag football game they played in 1984 against inmates at Jackson’s Southern Michigan Prison—a game that was totally unsanctioned in every way.
“Nobody at the college knew about it, none of our parents knew about it, and we got in a bunch of trouble when they found out. And it was probably the greatest memory I have of my four years at Hillsdale College,” said Bob Graczyk, one of the ATOs who played in the game.
Jackson Prison has a long history when it comes to organized sports, and for many years in the 1960s and ’70s, the prison football team played fully organized tackle games against outside teams—including the JV team at Hillsdale College.
Future NFL kicker Chester Marcol was among the players who participated in those games as a student, which were chronicled in the 2023 student documentary, “The Prison Games.”
The prison disbanded its tackle football team in the late 1970s, but the inmates continued to field a flag-football team in the 1980s that would occasionally play outside teams. That’s how the 1984 game against the Hillsdale College ATOs came to be.
“An alumni who was a few years older than us had some connection at the prison and he knew we had a great flag-football team at ATO,” said Al Maxwell, a New Jersey native who was in his senior year at Hillsdale. “Somehow he arranged it so we could go there and play the prison team.”
Flag football was a huge thing at Hillsdale back then—every dorm and fraternity had a team —and the ATOs hadn’t lost a game in three years.
“We had some great athletes, so we were pretty full of ourselves leading up to that Jackson Prison game,” Maxwell said.
On the day of the game, a gray October Saturday in 1984, just after the Detroit Tigers won the World Series, the ATOs piled in a bunch of cars for the 30-mile trip from Hillsdale to Jackson.
When it hit them what was happening—a bunch of college kids ages 19 to 21 going behind the walls of Michigan’s toughest prison to play a football game against hardened criminals —the cockiness wore off and reality set in.
“It got real quiet once we saw the prison, how big it was and how big those walls were,” Maxwell said. “All of a sudden, we realize we’re not playing the Delt Sigs or the TKE House. We’re playing men.”
Things got even more somber when the prison staff took them through security and into a small room, where they told the frat boys what they could and couldn’t do once the game started.
“The warden said that if anything bad happens during the game, a fight or something, don’t run away,” said Sam Ferrari, an ATO who served as the team manager during the game. “Just lay down, because the guys in the towers up there all have guns and they won’t be able to tell who’s a prisoner and who’s not. The snipers will shoot you.”
OK, then.
When the game started, though, there was nothing but good, clean football.
“There was a little bit of pushing and shoving at the beginning, but then it just became two teams playing football,” Graczyk said. “For two hours or so, we were able to forget about tests and all that college stuff, and they were able to forget about whatever they were dealing with. It was just football.”
The ATOs ended up winning the game handily (nobody remembers the final score) and after it was over, both teams posed for a photo together. A prison staffer took the picture and sent a copy to the ATO house.
“I had copies of that picture made for everyone,” Ferrari said. “It was the only picture we got from the game. We all still take that picture out from time to time and just smile at the memories.”
But the memories weren’t so pleasant once they got back to Hillsdale College. One thing they had neglected to do before playing the game was tell anyone what was all happening. Nobody at the college knew about it, and none of the guys had told their parents.
When word leaked out a few days later, the shit hit the fan. Dean Robert Hendee summoned Maxwell to his office.
“Dean Hendee was a ‘dear friend’ who I had many meetings with during my years,” Maxwell said with a laugh. “He was not pleased. He said something to the effect that our parents sent us to Hillsdale College and expected them to take care of us and keep us safe, and here we are going to a prison to play a football game.”
Dean Hendee told Maxwell in no uncertain terms that this would not be happening again. Maxwell and the other ATOs got a similar response when their parents found out.
“I remember my dad looking at me, and he goes, ‘It sounds like you had a team of all-star poor decision-makers,’” Maxwell said.
“My parents didn’t say anything,” Graczyk said. “They just shook their heads.”
The Hillsdale College ATOs from the early 1980s have frequent reunions, and every time they get together, the Jackson Prison game comes up.
“That picture circulates among us, and to see the smiles on everyone’s faces, the inmates and all of us, it just goes to show you what a great afternoon it was,” Graczyk said. “And whatever the consequences were with the college, I think if they had told us we couldn’t do it, we still would have done it.”
Buddy Moorehouse teaches documentary filmmaking at Hillsdale College.
