Semi-pro team to play at GMP
ALTON — Kinney Myles has been in the football team ownership business for more than 20 years and he’s always on the lookout for ways to help his team. A tryout for his Central Illinois Cougars semi-pro team sent him back in the direction of Alton’s Gordon Moore Park and eventually led to a decision for his team to play its 2021 season on the new artificial turf field there.
“I had contacted Alton last season about the possibility of our team playing there, before the turf was put in,” said Myles, who’s owned the Cougars since 1998. “But they said the fields would be torn up because they were installing artificial turf. I had put that in the back of my mind. We were having a tryout there and one of my coaches called me and said he saw artificial turf. I remembered about it and called back and from there, we worked it out.”
The Cougars and the city of Alton are expected to officially announce the agreement at 3 p.m. Friday.
“I’m excited about it,” Myles said. “The mayor (Brandt Walker) is excited about it too and he has said he’ll do everything he could to make it work.”
Myles has used Carlinville as his base of activities and said if all goes well this season, the operation could move to Alton. For now, it will be games only at Moore Park.
The Central Illinois Cougars line up during a 2019 game. The semi-pro football team will play its home games this year at on the artificial turf field at Gordon Moore Park.
The Central Illinois Cougars line up during a 2019 game. The semi-pro football team will play its home games this year at on the artificial turf field at Gordon Moore Park.
Photo: Central Ill. Cougars
The Central Illinois Cougars line up during a 2019 game. The semi-pro football team will play its home games this year at on the artificial turf field at Gordon Moore Park.
The Central Illinois Cougars line up during a 2019 game. The semi-pro football team will play its home games this year at on the artificial turf field at Gordon Moore Park.
Photo: Central Ill. Cougars
“The Cougars will play five home games on Field 3 at Gordon Moore Park,” Alton Parks and Recreation director Mike Haynes said. “It’s something we have wanted to emphasize, that the turf field can be used for a variety of sports and activities.”
Field 4 is a full-size soccer field, while Field 3 is marked for both football and soccer.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, there were no games to be played on the two artificial turf fields, or anywhere else for that matter. However, there have been soccer and football practices on them.
The Central Illinois Cougars have played home games at various sites since their formation in 1998, but this is the first time the team will play home games on artificial turf.
“We have played most of our games in smaller communities around Central Illinois,” Myles said. “I had been wanting to get to a larger city.”
Myles, the owner as well as head coach, said the team is “my baby.”
“I created it and paid for it,” he said. “We get players from a variety of sources. Some players are college players who didn’t move on some are just out of high school
“The only age requirement is that they be at least 18. I’d say the oldest is probably around 30.”
Myles added that there is no age limit and that the team is still holding tryouts for the coming season.
The Cougars will play this season in the Hidden Gemz League, a branch of the Hidden Gemz Sports Scouting service. It describes it self as “a brand new developmental league built to provide legit first and second chance opportunities at college football and pro football utilizing the resources, network, expertise and experience of Hidden Gemz Sports Scouting.
Myles’ cousin, former NFL running back Wilbert Montgomery serves as a consultant for the Cougars. His father and Myles’ father are brothers.
The Cougars’ first game will be in late April or early May. Team officials expect the final league schedule to be complete soon.
The Cougars have made it to six league championship finals and have gone 3-3. Their last league championship was om 2019.
A running back during his playing days, Myles played junior College football in Mississippi and went in the former USFL’s draft to the Tampa Bay Bandits. He later played semi-pro football for the now defunct Springfield (Illinois) Buccaneers.
Myles said the Cougars have drawn crowds as large as 400 to 500 for their games. Haynes indicated that more bleachers are on the way to Gordon Moore Park.
“They have been ordered,” Haynes said. “There’s a long lead-in time for big sets of bleachers.”