The story created a media frenzy in mid-August. In Barrow, Alaska, of all places. Up on the Arctic Circle, on the Arctic Ocean. NBC and ABC were there. So was ESPN. The media was covering the Barrow Whalers football team come from two touchdown scores behind to beat out a rival Seward Alaska team in the final three minutes of the game. Final score Barrow, 18 - Seward, 16.


The crowd of over 3,000, out of a town population of 4,200 Barrow residents, went crazy. Crazy in a joyous, wonderful way. Larry Csonka was there. So was Cathy Parker. . .the Florida woman who had made it all possible. The football team members dove into the Arctic Ocean. The celebration went on and on... .
What's so great about another high school football game? Everything.
Barrow has a large native population of Inupiats; its high school has a dropout rate of 50%, all Inupiats. When Trent Blankenship, the new superintendent of schools arrived in Barrow from Wyoming, he surveyed the community to find out what the district needed to get the students more involved in school, so that they'd stay in school. The #1 response? Football.
Now, how can football be played in Barrow? The town is so far north, grass doesn't grow there, so the team played on a gravel field. Not only that: the team's closest competitor is 500 miles away. Not exactly ideal conditions. The Whalers had only won one of its games last season, but plugged doggedly on. Their story caught the attention of ESPN, and that network aired a documentary on the Barrow Whalers last October.
The documentary took a northern Florida mom, Cathy Parker, by storm. The mother of three sons who play football, and the wife of a high school offensive coordinator/coach, knew she had to do something. "When I watched the ESPN special and saw the problems the community had, and that they had implemented football in hopes to reverse it. . .I knew as a mom with football players that it would work and it was definitely something that would give them hope," Parker said.
How successful was this one-woman, grassroots cause marketer in her efforts? She launched Parker's Project Alaska, seeking donated services and money to raise the $800,000 necessary to install a turf football field in Barrow. Piece by piece, and donation by donation, the money rolled in.
When the Barrow Whalers took the field for their first game of the season, on August 17th, they were playing on their new blue turf. As Alaska's NBC affiliate, KTUU TV put it: "A field of dreams in the far north." Even more improbable: the team's come-from-behind win.
And so, another "miracle on ice." There are hundreds, even thousands of grassroots marketing programs launched, not by companies or professional marketers, but by ordinary citizens who see a need and move to address it.
How many other great stories are out there? We'd love to get your input on this one, or share other inspirational stories you know of. After all: one great idea can lead to another... .