Howell County’s Turkey Day Rivalry

My childhood memories of Thanksgiving in Willow Springs include downtown parades, fall festivals, and the reason for these festivities - football. For many years I attended the biggest area sports rivalry of the year. On Thanksgiving Day, the Willow Springs and West Plains football teams played each other. The contest was held for over fifty years and played even when it wasn't a conference game. The two teams were long-time, mostly friendly rivals, and this game drew the year's largest crowds. I've heard about the “Turkey Day Game” all my life and view it as an exciting part of our history.

 

Looking at that history, West Plains already had a team when Willow Springs got off to a promising start with an undefeated first season in 1926. In their first encounter with the Zizzers, they tie the game. That would happen a lot in future years. Coach A.C. Spuehler took entirely green teams to association championships in football and basketball that year.

 

Spuehler didn't stay at Willow Springs and was replaced by Coach T.G. Munford. West Plains took advantage of the transition with annual wins against the Bears until 1931, the first year of the Turkey Day event. Though the Zizzers beat Willow Springs, they lost to Mountain Grove, giving Willow Springs its second association win. The Bears, in turn, were defeated by Springfield Senior High School in a regional competition. 

 

The following year, 1932, resulted in a tie. The West Plains Journal wrote, "The Thanksgiving Day football game here fully paid back the large number of spectators which came out to view the clash between the two rivals, Willow Springs and West Plains. The game, which was an exciting one throughout, ended in a scoreless tie. Both West Plains and Willow Springs teams battled hard throughout the game but were unable to score, although both neared the touchdown line several times."

 

The West Plains Journal Gazette indicated the anticipation felt in November 1933, a week before the big game. A section of the paper devoted to school news included an article written by a student. "A short pep assembly was held on Friday morning and another that night in preparation for the great clash of the year, the football battle between two old rivals, Willow Springs and West Plains. In the morning assembly, Coach Garr announced that since there were people in the school who had never been to a football game, he was going to let them in for a dime in order that when they had passed on to the Great Beyond, they would not have to tell St. Peter that they had never seen a football game. The 7 o'clock rally was somewhat smaller than that held before the Mountain Grove game."

 

Mountain Grove was giving both the Bears and the Zizzers fits, and an unfriendly rivalry by both sides developed against the Panthers for spoiling the Howell County fun.

 

The article continued, "There were several loyal Zizzers, however, who, with the aid of the band, could make anything peppy. Some were merely going through the proper motions and some following the crowd for their own idle amusement, but, in spite of these parasites and hypocrites, each succeeding performance was more lively than the preceding one, and I even noticed a few open-mouthed stares."

The result of this contest was described in the Journal, "With the aid of a band, pep squad, and several loyal citizens, Willow Springs managed to hold West Plains to a scoreless tie. That is our third tie, and we are now playing second fiddle to Mountain Grove. The game was well attended with two bands furnishing plenty of lively music. And what a game!"

 

In 1936, the Zizzers held back the Mountain Grove Panthers and, on Thanksgiving Day, defeated the Bears 13 to 12, giving them the South Central Association championship.

 

A letter to the editor in the West Plains Journal just before the 1941 big game, written by Lyle Calton, emphasized in a tongue-in-cheek way what the holiday meant to him, "Every year when November rolls around, we begin to think about that long celebrated holiday, Thanksgiving. To our forefathers, it meant a day of praise to God; to most people today, it means a day of visiting, turkey eating, and a general rest from business. But there is one group in West Plains High School that one of these things will apply, and that is the football players of our school."

 

"To them, Thanksgiving Day means a day of sacrifice. In the morning when the group goes out to shoot quail, these boys have to stay off their feet so that they won't be tired that afternoon in the Turkey Day Football Game. The real test comes when the turkey is set on the table. How good it smells! How good it would taste! No, these boys can't eat any turkey because it might be too heavy on the stomach. There you are; if the players have to make a sacrifice, can't the rest of the student body sacrifice a little and come to the football game at Willow Springs and yell for their Zizzers?"

 

As a side note, earlier that year (1941), the West Plains Journal Gazette published an answer to a question I often pondered: what is a Zizzer? 

 

The Journal stated, "Could it have been possible that at one time West Plains High School called its school paper something besides a 'Zizzerette?' Yes, it is possible. At one time, there was no name for (the West Plains) athletes or paper. The word 'Zizzer,' which means so much, came from a simple expression made by an English teacher during the time that Clyde M. Hill, Head of the Department of Education at Yale, was superintendent of the West Plains school system. This teacher was examining the yearbook which was being published; while doing so, she exclaimed, 'It's a Zizzer!' The word seemed pleasing to the ear, so that yearbook was called 'The Zizzer.' Later, athletic teams were called Zizzers."

 

"After some time had elapsed, the school paper took the name, Zizzerette. Members of girl's teams were also called Zizzerettes. One difficulty in having such a word for a team name is that no one knows what it is or how to symbolize it. It has been pictured as a bee. Also as a bird, but neither symbol has been accepted officially. Although we don't know what it really is, when West Plains High School gets the 'Zizzer Spirit' it really goes toward victory.”

 

In a 1939 article entitled, "Zizzers Play Bears on Thanksgiving Day," a West Plains paper wrote, "(The) West Plains Zizzers have been training hard for their annual Turkey Day clash with Willow Springs in an attempt to even up last year's 14 to 0 defeat. West Plains hasn't beaten the Bears since 1936 when the Zizzers won the conference championship." Despite that hard training, the Zizzers were leading until the last quarter when Willow Springs scored two touchdowns and two points, making the final score 14 to 12. 

 

In 1945, the Zizzers beat the Bears at West Plains on Thanksgiving Day, 19 to 0. The 1950 season was memorable for the Bears, who defeated the Zizzers at Thanksgiving 30 to 6 and finished the year undefeated, and the South Central Association and the Ozark Bowl victors.

 

1951 was again Willow Springs' year, with a 26 to 14 Thanksgiving Day win over West Plains, as described in the Willamizzou under the banner, "We win SCA and Ozark Bowl. With a record of no defeats and only two ties, the Bears won the South Central Association championship for the second consecutive year. This led to their choice for the Ozark Bowl contest in the Southwest Missouri State College stadium to meet El Dorado Springs. Bear fans chartered a special train and took the afternoon off. Arriving in Springfield, the drum corps led the parade of students, townspeople, and wildly honking cars through the Square. That night, the drum corps stood at attention while buglers played 'To the Colors.' The band performed at half-time. To complete a perfect day, the Bears defeated the powerful Bluejays 19 to 9 to retain the trophy they won last year when they defeated Lockwood."

 

A 1954 loss was described in the Willow Springs High School yearbook; thus, "Thanksgiving Day struggled out of its cocoon and emerged as November 26th. With the transformation, the football faction of Willow's Bears folded its tents and silently stole away - to the hardwood, to the study hall. Coach "Speedo" Harmon's Bruins went into hibernation, true, but not without the hackneyed cries of 'Wait 'till next year!' resounding o'er the countryside."

 

It was always a back-and-forth tug-of-war between two evenly matched teams, and the games were a source of hometown pride, which made it fun over the years. The Turkey Day Games faded out in the 1960s, though the rivalry between the Zizzers and Bears continued until West Plains left the South Central Association soon after the 21st century arrived. Congratulations Zizzers and Bears for a successful 2024 season!