To some, football is merely a game. For the Arnett family, it is a way of life. It all started with Jack Arnett getting involved on the original Board of Directors for the La Porte Pop Warner Association when it was first established. After serving time on the Board of Directors, Jack Arnett went into administration at the league level and served as the President of the Northern Indiana Pop Warner League for 20 years. Finishing off his strong resume in Pop Warner, Jack Arnett has been the Regional Director for Mid America Pop Warner which includes 11 states across the Midwest.
In addition to Jack Arnett’s long involvement, his son, Derrick Arnett, has described himself as being involved in Pop Warner since he was born. Derrick Arnett began getting heavily involved in Pop Warner after coaching at the middle school level for a number of years. First starting as an administrator on his father’s staff, Derrick Arnett followed his father as he climbed the ranks and eventually moved up to the regional division helping coaches build teams and compete in the Midwest.
“Most of us get in these positions because of our family, and some of us stay. Well, it’s come back around for me because it’s become a family thing with us. My youngest son has been involved in Pop Warner for about 25 years as a football commissioner. Now he’s coaching and I have a grandson playing Pop Warner, and that’s kind of cool, you know, the family tie. And actually, their team won a national championship this year,” said Jack Arnett. “So, from a personal note, that’s a really big deal in the Arnett family because we’ve pretty much built our lives around Pop Warner for almost 50 years.”
In the past four years, Derrick Arnett’s teams have gone on to win four state championships, two regional championships, and two national championships.
“Our team that I have been coaching since I started at Portage, we have won a state championship the last four years, we’ve won regional championships the last two years, and national championships the last two years,” said Derrick Arnett. “We weren’t able to play for a state championship prior to [the last four years] because the kids were too young, but they played in bowl games the first couple of years and won those bowl games. Those teams went undefeated, even at the younger ages.”
These accomplishments on their own are achieved by very few, but it is even more impressive to see these teams compete and win at a high level. After winning the 10U championship, the Portage Pop Warner team was anointed as the first Division One Pop Warner team in the Region, allowing these young men to compete at the highest level available nationally in Pop Warner. Even more special is that the national championship teams have traveled to Florida to compete in the national playoffs. This incredibly exciting opportunity to travel across the country is something that very few football players get to experience, even at the collegiate level.
It's always nice to win but winning isn’t everything. For young athletes, winning seems like everything in the moment. However, the lessons and life skills learned will develop these young athletes into outstanding men, husbands, and fathers. Derrick Arnett has learned these lessons personally and has seen these lessons learned on the gridiron.
“I know what football did for me as a businessman in the community. It gave me, personally, the work ethic I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else,” Derrick Arnett said. “This year, when we went down to Florida, we knew the type of team that we had, and we hadn’t really seen much adversity. And when we got to the national championship game, one of my big things that I always talk to kids about before we go out to play, regardless of who we’re lining up against, is we’re just fortunate to be playing football. This is a game. Bad things are going to happen. We can get scored on, we can lose the game, but ultimately, it’s just a football game. There’s much more to life than this. But, if bad things happen today in this football game, we can’t shut down. We need to overcome that because that’s part of life.”
Overcoming adversity and bad things is exactly what the team accomplished that day in Florida. To start the game, Portage fell behind 12 points in the blink of an eye. It would have been easy for anyone or any team to lose hope and give the game up, but not this team. For the rest of the game, Portage rifled off 36 unanswered points that lead them to become national champions. These types of games specifically teach valuable lessons about overcoming adversity especially when the chips are down.
Championship games will be forever memories for the players and coaches involved, but Derrick is right, it’s just a game. Eventually, every athlete will hang up their cleats and retire their jersey. What matters most is what they’ve learned and how they’ve developed as a person. Pop Warner and coaches like Derrick Arnett develop their players for the next stages of life and create relationships that will last a lifetime. Derrick Arnett has seen these relationships with his players continue to grow into something more than just coaching.
“Actually, one of the young men that I coached started a business locally and now he cuts hair for a living here locally. Now, all these years later, I’m taking my son to a kid that I coached 20 something years ago. That to me is what it’s about. The wins and losses are great, the trophies and the plaques, all of those things are fun, but getting to see these kids get steered in the right direction and then continuing down that path in life, doing something with themselves, and ultimately seeing them become good family men, that’s what it’s about,” said Derrick Arnett. “I cannot wait to see what this group we’ve been working with for the last handful of years becomes later in life.”
Jack Arnett has also seen firsthand what Pop Warner can do for the development and growth of young athletes. For the national championship, Derrick Arnett brought in a media company to conduct interviews with the players before the game. In addition to questions about football, the players were also asked life questions. One athlete, both of which Derrick and Jack have helped out personally due to at-home issues, talked about being inspired by one of his coaches to become a firefighter.
“That is a really cool thing when a young man like that sets some kind of goal in his life and can see a role model. And this young man felt so moved by that coach that he wanted to follow in his footsteps. What’s more gratifying than that?” said Jack Arnett.
In addition to developing goals and teaching life lessons, Pop Warner also sets young athletes up for success academically. Pop Warner is the only football league in the area that sets an academic requirement for its athletes, this means that in order to be successful on the field, players must also be successful in the classroom.
“Pop Warner definitely sets themselves apart by having a minimum requirement in the classroom for these children to be able to participate. Not only do they have a minimum requirement, they actually acknowledge and have a banquet along with scholarships and gifts for the kids that excel in the classroom. To me, when I think about Pop Warner, that’s what I think about, is the fact that they go out of their way to put school first and put academics first,” said Derrick Arnett. “We get kids from everywhere. We get kids that have both parents at home, we have kids that don’t have both parents at home, and kids that might need a little extra help for different reasons. So we’re, as coaches and administrators, we’re in the schools, we’re in the classrooms with the parents, making sure these kids are doing right, making sure they have the minimum requirements available, and then also taking the extra time to make sure that the kids get acknowledged for doing the extra work in the classroom.”
As much as Pop Warner can do for the athletes, it can also do so much for the coaches involved. Football is a family, and as much as the players depend on the coaches, Derrick Arnett has also depended on his players to help him in his life.
“[Pop Warner] has kept me from being some places I shouldn’t. I’m a recovering alcoholic and I’m going on 11 years sober. If it wasn’t for these kids and their families … They give me something to look forward to. As much as people might say I’m doing a lot for these kids, they’ve probably done more for me,” said Derrick Arnett. “If it wasn’t for these kids, I might not be here.”
Football is unlike any other sport. You need everyone on the field and on the team to be successful. Through the trials and tribulations, lifelong friendships are created. As much as the Arnett family is a football family themselves, they also have the football family that they’ve developed over the past 45 years.
“It’s a family thing with us. Beyond my blood relatives, we’ve got dozens and dozens of extended Pop Warner family that are part of my family. We spend our holidays with them, we spend our social time with them, it’s a great family and we all love and like each other and spend a lot of time together. It’s a lifestyle for us,” said Jack Arnett.
Football is more than a game to the Arnett family. The Arnett’s eat, sleep, and breathe football. Through their dedication to Pop Warner and young athletes, the Region will forever have two constants: championship football teams and outstanding young men.