1977: Founders Bill Ray and Cliff Pautz decided the GE fellowship football league was too rough to be any fun.  Somebody they knew was getting hauled off the field in a stretcher every week. They begin playing a light 1-hand touch game at Glenn Park with mostly CT guys. The rules evolved out of concern to minimize the injury potential, minimize unnecessary arguments, and to have fun, while still playing a fairly competitive game.

1980: Wayne Schott joined GE and therefore the Friday night game. (Must have been difficult to get good players.)

1982: Bill Ray contacted Waukesha Park and Rec. As soon as he told them he was from GE, we had lights at Buchner Park. We fed quarters into the meter every 20 minutes. This allowed us to play beyond the daylight savings time change. Games were over when we ran out of quarters. On really cold nights, the coin feed didn't work, not even Gary Sima's blowtorch would thaw that baby. So, we went to the bar early.

1983: There was a game this year, with more than a dozen players, that came down to a pretty intense 4th down and long play. As luck would have it, just as the QB let the deep pass fly, the timer shut the lights off.  Unlike when the lights slowly start up,  when they off, it's black, instantly.  Panic set in, as  bodies began to crash into each other everywhere.  Nobody was safe.  Once things settled down, it took a while just to find the ball.  We tried to stuff some more quarters in but it took to long to get the lights going.  Game over.

1984: It's raining golf balls. The drunk guy wants to play. When we say no, he wants to beat up 14 of us. At that point we decided not to even help him standup. Two girls wander onto the field and want to play "touch" football. They weren't that great, so we referred them to the drunk guy. (Very screwy year)

1986: Waukesha Park and Rec. removed the coin meter and charged us by the night, payable at year's end.

1988: Began playing at Banting School. Buchner closed for the season to build an ice rink. Bill had to get into the school to turn on the lights. Banting lasted only two seasons before we switched back to Buchner. Banting had lights only on the west sidelines of the field and they weren't very good. We tended to run our throwing plays towards the lights so that we could see the ball and the running plays to the opposite side of the field in hopes of losing handoff's and reverses in the darkness.

1989: New application for E-mail - it replaces the phone calls and word of mouth method of rounding up player to play on Friday nights.

1990: Back to Buchner.

1991: Expanded to people outside of GE. "Outsiders" started to make regular Friday night appearances. Played well into December. We had to avoid the mounds of ice more than opposing players. (Thank God no twisted ankles or broken bones). A strong Ultrasound contingent of player developed at this time setting the stage for many Ultrasound vs. all takers games in the next several years.

1992: Interest and attendance at Friday games is at all time high. Going to the bar after is also at an all time high. Tried to get everyone to bring a light and a dark colored sweatshirt to help the quarterbacks keep the teams straight.

1993: After a muddy game at Buchner with about 16 different colored sweatshirts, Bill gets a brainstorm and acquires some Gold and Blue pullover mesh jerseys. Al DeMars runs a slant pass and takes the football in the eye. He's not been seen much since. This was the year, that we played a City league team that wanted some practice at Glenn Park. We played by our rules on offense and theirs when they were on offense. They had 2 blockers, a set playbook and lost to us by about 5 to 2. They wouldn't even stop by the bar for a drink afterward.

1994: With Bill Ray temporarily leaving GE, he passed the E-mail list over to Wayne Schott. A number of innovations occur over the next few years designed to improve attendance and keep it  fun. GEFNFL moniker is adopted to help email sorting. Game Summaries became a regular feature. The Edgar Award for outstanding performances even if the results were unsuccessful is born. Actually Al DeMars made it to this Super Bowl.

1995: Outstanding statistical performances began to appear in the game summaries as a way to bring in more players. We start going multigenerational as Bill Ray, Cliff Pautz and Wayne Schott all have sons that started playing. Bill Ray Jr. became a starter -- this was the start of a new wave of young and cocky players (i.e.: Kyle). Wayne Schott missed only one game since Week 7 of the season.

1996: Statman began keeping complete game stats and compiled seasonal totals, this encouraged repeated attendance. Partial season of stats recorded (missing only one game). Bill and Cliff achieve 20 years of playing GEFNFL along with others.

1997: First full season of stats recorded. GEFNFL Home page goes on line within GE's Intranet. Waukesha Park and Rec. moves us to Prairie school for lights and increased revenue from the luxury boxes. This was the year we had the 1st TLP Challenge Game. These are the Technical Leadership Program people -- these guys are new hires on the management program that are fresh out of college. Maturity, a solid game plan, familiarity with other teammates and great chemistry has always won over the more energetic, more in shape but unorganized youngsters in the past and this was no exception. The TLPs had to pay for the lights after losing to us old guys 4 to 2. Our secret weapon was zone defense which produced 6 INTs to their 2. They were good sports and it created a new wave of players for the 1998 & 1999 season.

1998: This was the year we had the 2nd TLP Challenge Game with the TLPs paying for the lights again after losing to us old guys 6 to 4 1/3 (They got a safety). Hugh turnout allowed us to swap 4 players in and out on alternate series. Seems like everyone wanted to play against the TLPs. Again it was the zone defense which produced 7 INTs to their 2. One TLP joined us for beer afterward. The streak of 27 consecutive games by Wayne Schott ends with Week 1, (he deeply regrets missing Week 2) this record stands until 2001. The current consecutive game steak by Wayne Schott started in Week 3 of this season.

2000: Starting to see a few soccer guys joining our game, giving it a little more of an international flavor. Several were learning how to play American football for the first time. They weren't used to using their hands, or throwing a spiral, but man could they kick it out of the end zone. They improved every week.

2003: Finally we got new Blue & Red mesh jerseys for the GEFNFL Warriors; Wayne Schott paid the extra $175 upfront and collected from the players as the season progressed. Most were happy to chip in a little as they used them. The Web finally paid off, by helping me recruit some players from Norlight. The "Guardians of Data" found us on the web and asked if they could play against us. I thought another challenge game, may be in the works, but they only rounded up only a few players for Friday nights, so I suggested they join us, they are regulars, now.