The League Journal: From the MSHSL to the NFL, fond football memories

Editor's note: This article was initially published in The League Journal, the Minnesota State High School League's weekly newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox at mshsl.org/newsletter.

Kevin Britt began his MSHSL officiating service in 2007. He probably hasn’t had an assignment quite like February 2025 when, as part of the NFL/NFHS Crew of the Year from Minnesota, he officiated the Pro Bowl team and skill challenges for the NFL.

The crew was up close with NFL stars, men you see every week who might seem larger than life in person (at least to me). When some of the best football players in the world heard the men and women blowing the whistles for this postseason event were high school football officials, they got excited.

Why? They started thinking about their days playing high school football.

It was a chance, Britt said, for the pros to tell stories about high school glory days.

Keep that scene in my mind when you watch this video of Pittsburgh Steelers rookie defensive end Yahya Black.

It starts with a question from a Steelers host: “Where did you go to high school?”

The answer, of course: Marshall High School in Marshall, Minn.

Let’s hear some stories, Yahya. Favorite high school football memory?

“I’d say my senior year, the section championship, me and the boys were tired,” said Black, who also participated in basketball and track and field at Marshall. “And then we just broke off for like a 50-yard run. And we just all stood there at the 50 and gave each other a big hug because we knew it was the end of the game.”

Like most of us recalling our glory days, Black’s memory in the video might be a bit fuzzy (the game he references, a 31-20 win over Jordan, was actually a 2019 Section 2AAAA semifinal) but the overarching lessons have stuck.

“Discipline,” Black said when asked what high school football taught him. “I mean, just knowing that I had to be on time to everything and then being smart in the classroom.”

It’s a reminder that education-based activities are the foundation for pro athletes, just as they are for those of us in less-glamourous careers.

Recalling the simplicity of those four years still evokes nostalgia.

Park Center graduate Amani Hooker described it in this CCX Media feature from 2023.

“A lot of games where I was playing with my best friends,” said Hooker, who’s in his seventh season with the Tennessee Titans.

A glance at Pro Football Reference shows 20 former MSHSL student athletes on NFL rosters this week, including Vikings Blake Cashman (Eden Prairie), C.J. Ham (Duluth Denfeld) and Adam Thielen (Detroit Lakes).

They probably aren’t “running to the cornfield and back” in practice or picking a jersey number because “that’s what my high school coach gave me,” as Black described of his time in Marshall. But you can bet they would enjoy telling you all about it.

» Keep reading the full Sept. 30, 2025 edition of The League Journal.