An idea to recognize local heroes is among the proudest achievements of new Adel-Desoto-Minburn Tigers head football coach Garrison Carter. Carter comes to Dallas County after a four-year stint as the head football coach of the Washington Demon program in southeast Iowa. While at Washington, Carter founded an annual Heroes Night Football game designed to bring awareness to the community’s local law enforcement, firefighters, emergency personnel, and military members both former and current.

Carter says he first got the idea for the Heroes Night Football game during his last year at Ogden. “My two favorite things in the world are football and America, and there has to be a way to parlay those into one night,” Carter said, “I left Ogden but I kept the vision in line, and we started the Heroes Night here in Washington. To my knowledge, that was the first type of game done (across the state), and now you see these type of games popping up all across Iowa and really all over the Midwest. It’s something that has been so cool to be a part of each season, and I hope it’s something we can continue at ADM.”

Carter enhanced the Heroes night game by creating custom jerseys for the event. Some of the festivities that coincided with the Heroes Night Football game at Washington included the football players being escorted onto the field by a parade of military vehicles, police cars, and fire trucks. The local heroes also joined the Demon football team in a pregame meal, were in the locker room before the game, and stood with the players on the sideline during the game. Coming up on tomorrow’s local sports page, Carter talks about his plans to change the culture of the ADM football program.