Wilson Scores With Six

Dallas photographer Laura Wilson--AKA as the football mom for brothers Luke, Owen and Andrew (yes, those Wilsons)--trekked around Texas documenting the sport on its smallest scale: six-man football. The six-man tradition, a faster and higher scoring adaptation of the 11-man lineup, emerged from the Great Depression, when many smaller schools...

By Jayme Rutledge

February 17, 2011

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Dallas photographer Laura Wilson--AKA as the football mom for brothers Luke, Owen and Andrew (yes, those Wilsons)--trekked around Texas documenting the sport on its smallest scale: six-man football. The six-man tradition, a faster and higher scoring adaptation of the 11-man lineup, emerged from the Great Depression, when many smaller schools couldn't field a full 11-man team. For the better part of the '90s, Wilson prowled tiny towns searching for scenes of Texana--capturing the gridiron, muddy victory and homecoming queens in stark black and white. Wilson pared down thousands of shots for her coffee table book, Grit and Glory: Six Man Football, also the name of the corresponding photography exhibit on the campus of Southern Methodist University. The free exhibit is open through April 23 at the Meadows Museum, 5900 Bishop Blvd. Museum hours are 10 a.m to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Call 214-768-2516 or visit meadowsmuseumdallas.org.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Feb. 11. Continues through April 23, 2011

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