The 39th Kansas Shrine Bowl all-star football game is July 28 at Emporia State’s Welch Stadium.
Iola High’s Jerrik Sigg and Crest High’s Jayden Bowen were selected in January to the East squad. Teams are chosen by Kansas media.
Sigg, the first Iola High player to be selected for the East squad since 1989, has decided not to participate because of his commitment to summer baseball.
Kyler Thompson played in the 2010 Shrine Bowl as a replacement player picked by the East squad head coach. When players selected have to decline for whatever reason, there are alternate player lists for each team.
“It was a very difficult decision for me. I’m on the Iola American Legion baseball team and we will be playing league and zone tournaments the next two weeks,” Sigg said.
“I’m very honored to have been selected to play in the Shrine Bowl. I know what it means to play in it and what the game is all about.”
Sigg said he talked things over with his family about his decision not to play in the football game. Sigg, who is Iola High’s single-season rushing leader and Southeast Kansas League scoring leader for 2011, has signed to play baseball at Allen Community College.
BOWEN WILL REPORT to the East Squad training camp in Emporia Friday. Rossville’s Steve Buhler is the East head coach.
Bowen is a 6-2, 220-pound offensive lineman who played center for Crest. He also played linebacker for the Lancers.
Bowen played in the Kansas-Nebraska Eight-Man All-Star game in June. He is going to Pittsburg State this fall and is on the football team.
Tickets and additional information are available at www.kansasshrinebowl.com or by calling 800-530-5524. Kickoff is 7 p.m.
The West Squad training camp is in Salina with head coach Brian Hill of Garden City.
At both camps, Shrine units are active in providing food and volunteer services for the players and coaches.
For the first 37 years of its existence, the Kansas Shrine Bowl sent hundreds of Kansas football players to St. Louis in order for the players to see first-hand the facilities at the St. Louis Shriners Hospital for Children, and to meet the young patients that have benefited from the game they are playing.
