Almost 10 years ago now, I embarked on a project to chronicle the history of high school football in Warren County. The result was the record book that now runs each year in our football preview issue.

It started as a make-work task to stay busy during the slow period around Christmas. It took me about a week to realize what I was really in store for.

Eight months and dozens of trips to the Warren County-Vicksburg Library later, it was finally finished. There were times when I felt like Rainman, spouting off random facts and numbers as they popped into my head. Grainy black and white images of players from the 1940s hid behind my eyelids every time I closed them.

With that in mind, I have the utmost respect — and more than a little sympathy — for Delvan Irwin.

The 1985 St. Aloysius graduate has spent the past year working on a similar project chronicling the history of his alma mater’s football team. It’s a rich history that stretches back more than 100 years. St. Al’s first recorded football game was played in 1912. It has played a full season every year since 1925.

Irwin isn’t just piecing together some highlights or a list of yearly records. He’s writing brief game summaries based on the accounts from old editions of The Vicksburg Post, watching game film, compiling full rosters from dusty team photos and yearbooks, and more.

Eventually, Irwin says, it’ll all be part of a book he’s writing. He’s written around 200,000 words so far, which he estimates is a little more than halfway done. His goal is to cover the first 75 years of St. Al football. He’s missing most of the 1940s and 50s, and needs some help from whoever can provide it.

Irwin is in need of archival footage, yearbooks, newspapers or anything else that can help him fill in those gaps. In addition to writing his book, he has another goal of putting on DVD every St. Al football game ever played. He’s tracked down a number of old films going back to the early 1980s and figures there’s more sitting in attics or boxes somewhere.

So if you have anything Irwin can use, he’d like you to contact him at 601-953-8562, or via email at Delvanirwin@yahoo.com. Irwin’s quest is a labor of love. It’s also one where a little help goes a long way.

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Ernest Bowker is a sports writer for The Vicksburg Post. He can be reached at ernest.bowker@vicksburgpost.com