Goosin' on the Moose

Although nobody is exactly positive when the tradition began, the Moose Gooser has been signaling touchdowns with a bang. The Gooser is a large cannon that sits in the back of a truck in the home team's end zone, just waiting to fire off a round, which means more points are put on the board for the mighty Moose.

Mike Schwartz has been firing off rounds for the Moose for the last 10 years. He hasn't missed a home game during his tenure, and he has made several road trips with the cannon.

Before Schwartz, the history gets a little cloudier, although both he and longtime Palmer athletic director Mike Janecek agreed that the history of the Moose Gooser goes back about 15 years.

Schwartz and Janecek believe the three men who started the moose goosing tradition were Mike Whitlach, Joe Chmiel and Jose DesGranges.

"I believe those were the guys who decided to get it going and built the Moose Gooser," Schwartz said. "But that's only a guess."

Schwartz inherited the cannon 10 years ago, mostly because he had sons going through Palmer High School, and the rest of the guys' sons had graduated.

"They didn't have any more kids and their attentions turned to other things," Janecek said. "But the Moose Gooser hasn't missed a beat. People would be upset if it missed a beat, too."

During the early years of the Moose Gooser, it had even more responsibilities than just football.

"The first year we hosted the state track meet, we wheeled it and were going to fire it off every time a new state record was set," Janecek said. "That year we were banging it and banging it. I think we set five new records, and we fired that baby every time."

The Moose Gooser fires blank .12 gauge shotgun rounds that Schwartz loads himself. It has undergone some renovations during those 15 years -- Palmer has had a successful football squad for many of those years, and touchdowns take a toll on the Moose Gooser.

There is some antique farm equipment on it, as well as some work that was done by the Palmer High School shop class. It seems everything Palmer is represented in the gooser.

While the Moose Gooser isn't exactly an opponent's best friend, there are some ground rules Schwartz follows when firing up the cannon.

"Only during dead ball situations," he said. "And only after touchdowns, field goals and extra points."

On the opposite side, some people complain about the presence of a cannon at a high school event. Schwartz said that is nonsense.

"How do they start a cross-country race? Yell 'ready, set, go?' No, they fire off a gun," Schwartz said. "C'mon. This is a tradition and it isn't hurting anyone."

Part of the charm of the Moose Gooser is its annoyance to the other team. It has been kicked out of stadiums and fields across Alaska. It has let people from Fairbanks to Homer know the Moose are in the end zone again. Some schools have been receptive to the gooser, but others have flat-out refused to let the boosters bring it.

"Soldotna and Skyview were good sports about it, but they won't let us bring it anymore. Wasilla used to let us come over there, but that stopped about five or six years ago," Schwartz said.

Janecek thinks he knows the reason the attitudes have changed around the state.

"We started thumpin' them and they wouldn't let us in anymore," Janecek said.

Colony actually tried to broker a deal with Janecek when he was the athletics director at Palmer, but he had to refuse.

"They told us they would let the Moose Gooser in if we would let a horse in to run around our field when they scored," Janecek said. "Now we couldn't have that going on at Machetanz Field," he said with a chuckle.

One of the larger battles the Palmer High team had to fight came at the state championship tournament held in Anchorage. They wanted to bring the Moose Gooser into Anchorage, but the Anchorage School District would not allow it.

"But you know what? They let the Service High School band play a crescendo during the game, when the Colony High quarterback was trying to call signals," Schwartz said. "But they wouldn't let us fire the cannon, in the parking lot, during a dead ball."

Janecek said he, too, saw that allowing the band to play and disrupt the Colony quarterback was not fair, and he wanted to find out why. He also wanted to know why the Gooser couldn't be fired in the parking lot -- away from the field -- during dead ball situations.

"That was a huge fight with Anchorage. It was one they weren't going to let me win no matter how much I yelled," Janecek said. "They didn't want the gooser fired up."

Moose fans can take heart in the fact the Gooser isn't going anywhere soon. Schwartz has plenty of history behind him, and plans to be part of history to come.

He has one daughter and four sons, all of whom went to Palmer High School at one point. There is Judy, Class of 89; Alex, Class of 91; David, Class of 92; Tim, Class of 95; and Steve, Matanuska Christian School Class of 2000. All played sports at Palmer High School, and Steve only had to give up football after he was diagnosed with a tumor in his leg.

His family is all grown up now, but still, the Moose Gooser is a part of their tradition. When they can be at the game, the boys can be found helping Schwartz fire the cannon for every score their alma mater can put up on the board.

The Palmer tradition even extends to Schwartz' wife, Karen. She is a 1963 graduate of Palmer High School.

At last Friday's Potato Bowl, Schwartz had to fire off several shots in a 21-0 Palmer victory. Every time the Moose Gooser blasts and smoke rises from the end of the cannon, Schwartz smiles. It's all part of his game day routine, just like getting taped up or doing jumping jacks are for the players.

Schwartz couldn't think of a better way to spend a Palmer High School home game.

"I'll be doing this until they throw dirt on my face and lock the door on me," Schwartz said proudly.