In 2001, Shorewood High School, whose varsity football team lost 63 straight games during the 1990s, and Messmer High School, who last had a team in the early 1980s, fielded a joint squad with players from both schools. The effort gained a lot of attention; while the schools are located a mile apart via Capitol Drive, the generally white, affluent Shorewood school and the largely black Messmer campus appear to be worlds apart.

Newspaper reporter and writer Greg Borowski followed the historic merger for the paper that season, writing a lengthy feature article that appeared in November 2001. With more material than an article could do justice, Borowski decided to expand the feature into a book called "First and Long," which was released this March by Badger Books.

Subtitled "A black school, a white school and their season of dreams," the story follows the team's historic 2001 season and the kids and coaches who defined it. For Milwaukeeans and football fans alike, it's a great and thought-provoking read. With prep football starting in a couple weeks, Greg talked with me about the book this Saturday.

OMC: Tell us a little about your background and how it pertains to this story.

GB: I'm a 1985 graduate of Messmer High School. I didn't play football for Messmer, but I was on the track team. In those years, we would often practice at the Shorewood track which ran around the football field. And I remember jogging down to Shorewood and running back and realizing how close they are.

When I saw an article ... about the intended merger of the football program, I looked at that as a great story -- the school's are so different, yet they are so close, just about a mile and a half apart down Capitol Drive. And yet the players and their backgrounds are so different. I really wanted to see how they were going to interact and how they would come together.

OMC: One of the primary themes of the book is race relations. Did the kids on the team come to any personal or collective resolutions there? Or was it transitory?

GB: I think the players who started the season and kept at it and made it through the season really took a lot away from it, and many of them have remained friends, even now, three years past that season. They still stay in touch and get together.

One of the things that appealed to me from the beginning was here you've got two schools that are so close to each other, yet until this happened they really had no reason to encounter each other if it wasn't for the football team. ... Some of the players from Messmer had never even been to Shorewood, not the school, but the city of Shorewood, even though that's about a three-minute drive from Messmer High School.

OMC: One thing that struck me while reading the book was some of the open dissension by the players toward the coaches. Did that surprise you?

GB: I think it was really indicative of the fact that it was a new experiment and everyone was doing this for the first time. A lot of the players, especially on the Messmer side, had never played football before.

And the coaches and the players had some rough moments getting along ... You have players from two schools, and most of the coaches didn't work in either school. ... But I think in the subsequent seasons, that's really settled down. ... There's a great commitment from the players.

OMC: Were some of the moments you covered awkward for you? Or were strictly a fly on the wall?

GB: I tried to approach it as just that, a fly on the wall. ... There were moments when you wanted to go up to a kid and pat him on the back and say 'Hang in there, you're doing great' or say the same to the coach. And there were points that as a reporter I would be aware of some issues that the coaches were having with the players, but I couldn't obviously go up to the kid and say 'Hey, you better get in there and toughen up or you're going to lose your starting job.'

OMC: Talk briefly about some of the team's memorable players, or the story's "characters," if you will.

GB: There were several, and that's part of the reason that I turned [the article] into a book. On the Messmer side, there was Nathan Shorter, who really, really wanted to play football. He was a junior that year and thought about transferring to another school because they didn't have a team. He fought knee injuries throughout the season but would just never quit. To see that commitment was something special to watch.

Then there's Marty Wallner, the smallest kid on the team, in stature. Marty was a sophomore at Shorewood that season, but like Nate he had grown up wanting to play football for Shorewood. His uncle had played and his grandma lived around the block. To just get out there and be able to play, to him was a great thing, and he had a great level of commitment to the season that all the players came to respect.

Drew O'Malley had a pretty severe knee injury right before the final game. He was the starting running back, starting linebacker, the punter, the kicker, kick returner, punt returner. He was emblematic of the team, playing all these spots, playing virtually every down. But he wanted to play so badly, he got a knee brace and played very well in the game. He wouldn't have dreamed of quitting. To me that was one of the themes of the book.

OMC: In addition to everything else, this is also a great football story. What's your most vivid memory, football-wise?

GB: I'd say the second game. They had lost their first game in very resounding fashion [64-0] to Whitefish Bay even though they had gone into that game with very high hopes. And the morning after that game the coaches questioned the commitment level of the players.

The second game was in Lake Mills against Lakeside Lutheran. That game was really in the balance except for a couple plays here and there. Had the calls gone a little differently, they probably would have had a chance to win that game, which would have changed the dynamic of the rest of the season. ... After that you couldn't question their commitment anymore, it was the skills that they were lacking.

OMC: Were the players able to consider the season a success?

GB: After the season ended, I think they looked at it as a failure and a relief to have it over. ... I think in subsequent years, they look back on it and see how far they came from the start of the season to the end of the season, the commitment they showed, the friends that they made, the skills they developed.

OMC: You talk in the book about Milwaukee's status as a segregated city. What are the story's implications for the city itself? Or is this an Anytown, USA story?

GB: I think it has universal applications that could be applied elsewhere, but it carries greater significance because of Milwaukee's status. The players would have never had any reason to get to know that person if they had walked past each other at Summerfest. But when they were put together with a goal of not 'Let's learn about each other,' but the goal was football - the goal was to win a game - they started to identify with each other. The players began to see that the success of the team would come only if they were all going to be successful. ... And they realized that when their opponents lined up against them, they didn't make a lot of distinctions between Shorewood kids and Messmer kids. They're all wearing the same uniform. They're all the same.

OMC: Are you still following the team pretty closely?

GB: Yes, in the second season [2002] I followed them for the epilogue to the book. And then last season I went out and caught most of their games, and I'm going to do the same this year. When you're able to go as a fan, it's a lot more fun sometimes than sitting there and jotting it all down in your notebook.

Borowski will be signing copies of his book at the Barnes & Noble at 2710 S. Green Bay Rd. in Racine this Saturday at 3 p.m. More information about the book and additional appearances can be found at www.firstandlong.com. The book can be purchased at Milwaukee area bookstores.

The 2004 Shorewood football season begins with a home game on Aug. 27 against South Division.