Alumni Profiles

Jennifer Mills' doctor wanted to know if she was being physically abused. Mills, a 1986 UNH graduate, laughed. There's one and only one reason for her bruises—she loves to play tackle football.

Manchester Freedom's Jenna Mills '86.

Mills is now in her fifth season with the Manchester Freedom, one of 30 franchise teams in the Independent Women's Football League. Three other UNH women—Mary Beth Cragan '92, Michelle Austin '93 and Michelle Wapelhorst '05—have also played with the team, helping them improve to a 4-3-1 record last year and receive an invitation to host the championship in August. Naturally, the team is hoping to play as well as host.

Also hoping for a league championship is the only men's professional football team in the state, the Manchester Wolves. Donald Winterton '72 and Steve Grzywacz '77 are two of the co-owners of the Arena Football-2 franchise; Mike Wells '02, a former UNH football player, is a starting lineman who joined when the team—formerly the Mohegan Wolves—moved to Manchester last year.

Wolves player Mike Wells '02, center and below, and co-owners Steve Grzywacz '77, left, and Don Winterton '72.

"It's an addiction," says Wells, who was a key player on Salem (N.H.) High School's undefeated state-championship team in 1995. "It's just a rush to be out there playing, making a big hit or big play and hearing the crowd roar. It gets hold of you. It's a huge part of my life."

Like Mills and her 37 Freedom teammates, Wells must balance a rigorous January-through-June practice and play schedule with the rest of life. For Wells, that includes a job as a supervisor for Amoskeag Beverages and a family (wife, Lisa Marcoux '01 and their baby boy, Austin). But at 26, Wells isn't ready to leave the gridiron quite yet. "My big goal is to go out a winner. I'd love to win one last championship."

Arena football, played indoors on fields the size of ice hockey rinks, is "more intense, faster-paced and more violent" than NFL football, says Wells, because players can get hit into the boards or flipped into the stands.

"Manchester was hungry for football," says Winterton, now retired from business and a parallel, 28-year career refereeing basketball. "It's kind of like 'American Idol' for football," he says. "There are very few avenues available for play after college football."

Of course, for the Freedom players there were no formal avenues of play at all, and their coaches have to devote considerable time teaching the fundamentals—plays, strategies, NFL rules, how to tackle and even how to suit up.

At 5'4" and 120 pounds, Mills counts on her speed to avoid ending up on the bottom of pile-ups. But she never hesitates to tackle. "I love the physicalness of the game, even being hit hard... Actually, I've injured myself more in competitive mountain biking than in football."

Austin, who brings her two small children to games to watch her play, says, "We're all doing this so that one day, girls will get the opportunity to play football just like boys."