The Beavers Hoax: A Hilarious Tale From a ‘High School Football Team’
What started out as a simple prank in the 1980s still lives on today according to KTHV. The situation began with Band Director Bob Sivlis and the Girl's Basketball Coach Garry Crowder who worked at Jessieville High School in Arkansas.
In addition to their jobs, the two were also responsible for calling in football scores on Friday night to newspapers, but those they spoke to constantly would get Jessieville confused with Jacksonville, and that sprouted a thought in Crowder's mind. He told Sivlis that they could probably call in with anything, and the paper would print.
How Did This Situation Start?
That's when the two came up with a crazy idea: they would create a fictitious team and get a football score from the fake school in the newspapers. It would be Sivlis who would call in the first fake game score, and the two waited for the Arkansas Gazette the next morning. They found their fictitious school and the fake scores were printed in the paper.
Sivlis called in the score claiming that their team had beat the football team from Rayville, Louisiana. It was a tie game, Sivlis would claim, but it wasn't a boring game. Sivlis claimed an amazing feat would happen with one of the players running 94 yards for a touchdown!
The Encyclopedia of Arkansas site says it was often Louisiana schools that the Beavers played and then prevailed against that team.
One of the craziest parts of the story is that Sivlis wanted privacy when he made the fake call so he went to his church for "privacy". He told a big lie while at his own church. During that first call, the person they called started asking questions, and when quizzed about their mascot, he sputtered a bit and then said, "um, the Beavers".
Where Was This High School Supposed to Be?
Crowder lived in Hot Springs Village at the time they started this fun prank, and both men knew there was no high school there, so that's how they came up with the Village Academy.
The two men decided they couldn't have their fictitious Beavers play any local teams, so they always claimed the game was played against an out-of-state school.
Crowder and Sivlas knew their "team" couldn't be a constant winner, so they also reported "losses" for their football team. This whole thing ended up lasting for four years!
“We would get calls from coaches,” Crowder said, “Or Bob would get calls from band directors, and they'd say, ‘Hey, I want to see my name in the paper. Can I score a touchdown for the opponent?'” Some people wanted their name in the paper, claiming they made a touchdown or killed a field goal. Those who knew about the fake team even offered money to the men which they say they did not take.
All Good Pranks Must Come to an End
While this prank lasted four years, it eventually did come to an end. But, not before the people who learned about the prank made shirts, bumpers stickers and there was even a fight song.
Everything ended when an anonymous person from the sports department of the Arkansas Democrat newspaper sent a letter to Robert Yates. It read,
Dear Sports Department. You have a group of people across the state reporting fictitious high school football scores. They call their school Village Academy. There is no school by that name.
Even though the hoax was exposed that didn't stop Crowder and Sivlis from having an end-of-season party at a local pizza joint in Jessieville Arkansas which was very well attended.