'It made us better': How football helped Washington heal from devastating 2013 tornado

PEORIA — A decade ago, Washington saw a battle between an EF-4 tornado and the healing force that is sports and the Panthers beloved football team.

That team rose from the wreckage of a tornado and lifted friends, parents and players with it, a high school team carrying a community on its shoulders to a playoff game that brought normalcy for a moment and started the recovery process.

"I remember meeting at the Panther Plex," quarterback Colton Marshall said. "We all assumed we were going to play. It never crossed our minds that we wouldn't play. We were determined to move on.

"It was amazing, to see how people responded to us after the tornado. That support was incredible, and it carried over to the rest of the sports programs, too. It changed everything in Washington, it made us better."

Timeline: Washington football provided strength through inspiration

The 10th anniversary of the devastating tornado that wrecked Washington's property, but not its spirit, arrives on Nov. 17. It's a day none of them — from players to coaches to administrators, fans and first responders and neighborhood residents — will ever forget.

"I couldn't believe what I was seeing," said longtime Washington coach Darrell Crouch, for whom the 2023 season will be his last before retirement. "We knew where some of our kids lived and we tried to go out and help.

"But when we got out there into the neighborhoods it didn't look like anything. Walking through that, it was unbelievable. I could see straight through subdivisions and out through Rt. 24. There were no streets, no nothing. Just the world mangled.

"It looked like we had been bombed."

No time to waste

Crouch's wife, Kathleen, immediately organized a donations collection point at the football building. She screened and handled calls from national media wanting to talk to the coach.

Crouch went searching for his quarterback, Colton Marshall. When he got to Marshall's house, the quarterback's helmet was propped on a pile of debris. There was nothing that looked like a home.

"It was just gone," Crouch said. "And yet they were talking about being back in there for Colton's graduation. They just had their lives, their house destroyed, and they were vowing to rebuild in time to hold his graduation party at their house.

"And they did."

From the archives: Washington tornado most powerful to hit Illinois in November since 1885

The coach keeps a poster made from a picture of that helmet and debris — which hung on a wall in the Panther Plex. He has a jersey signed by Robbie Gould when the Chicago Bears arrived in Washington to help with cleanup efforts. Those items, and the things he saw, are his keepsakes.

EF-4 and 34.5 miles of hell

On Sunday morning, Nov. 17, 2013, the tornado hit Washington at 11:06 a.m. National Weather Service records note it was measured as an EF-4, with top winds of 190 mph. It ripped a half-mile wide path of destruction 34.5 miles long through Tazewell and Woodford counties before continuing.

Six days after the tornado, the unbeaten Washington team was scheduled to play in the Illinois High School Association state semifinals at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin.

"Once (Washington athletic director) Herb Knoblauch was with me and we got to town, we met at the high school that Sunday afternoon," Crouch said. "We were determined to play the game because our kids earned that right and because it would be good for the town."

But they had players without homes. Some were missing equipment. They had nowhere to practice. Nowhere to watch film.

Eureka College coach Kurt Barth set up his facility so Crouch and his coaching staff could watch film and game plan there. Illinois State University opened its facility for practices. Food arrived every day from other schools around the Peoria area.

"We had just beaten U-High (41-7) in the quarterfinals," Crouch said. "And they came to ISU to feed us lunch when we practiced there. So many good things, human character things, came from those days."

A quarterback among the chaos

Colton Marshall was a senior quarterback and leader of the team in 2013. He was at work when the tornado hit.

"I tried to get hold of my family, but no cell service," he said. "The windows on my car were blown out and it wouldn't start. Later on, I found a 2-by-4 had embedded in my engine."

Marshall hitched a ride until he couldn't get any further and then ran the mile from LaHood Park to his parents' house on Hampton Road.

"When I first made it to my parents' house, it was hard to tell where stuff used to be," he said. "There were firefighters out in the street. I yelled for my family, couldn't find them. I had no idea where they were. Then I saw my dad throwing bricks from the stairwell of the basement to clear a path to climb up."

Washington football stays strong: Peoria's top sports story of 2013

The quarterback waded into the debris and carried his 11-year-old sister, Camryn, to safety on his back while holding the family dog, Isis, in his arms.

"Everything I'd known in the blink of the eye was just gone," Marshall said. "I know getting back to normalcy was a huge thing for me. I wanted us to continue doing what we had been. None of us wanted to see it end.

"We were dealing with so much outside football, and inside, too, getting on a bus to go to ISU just to practice. It was hard for guys to focus. But for me, those practices, that game was an escape from what had happened."

Marshall, now a police officer in Murfreesboro, Tenn., where he lives with his wife, Sadie, and their 2-year-old son, says Nov. 17, 2023 will be a big day, too.

"My family and I all text each other every year on that day," Marshall said. "It's a big one on the calendar. But 10 years hits differently, it feels like a big milestone. I'll look back at pictures and re-live some of the cool things."

One of those is a picture from the semifinal game, where he sees his father standing in the grandstand, holding a sign that reads "Touchdown." The words were written on a piece of wreckage from Marshall's bedroom.

Sacred Heart-Griffin 44, Washington 14

It was 9 degrees at kickoff for Washington's semifinal in Springfield on Nov. 23, 2013. Winds were gusting to 21 mph, producing a wind chill of minus-10 degrees.

Sacred Heart-Griffin had worked hard to create a private space for the Panthers to have a team meal — which they also supplied — before the game. A huge sign welcomed the team and the town at the entrance to the field.

"We were playing against guys who weren't Catholic the year before, but were in that season," Crouch quipped two weeks ago at a Hall of Fame ceremony. "They were pretty good."

The Panthers came in on a 12-game win streak but went home with a 44-14 loss and the end of their season. Sacred Heart-Griffin went on to beat Lombard Montini 38-28 for the 5A championship.

"Football was the only normal thing left for us after that tornado hit," said Washington offensive lineman Brogan Brownfield, now 28 and a City of Washington employee. "It was tough when it was over.

"I realize now what a powerful thing it was for the whole community. We had to worry about carrying the whole town. I mean, there were 50 media people in the press conference and the Chicago Bears head coach showed up wearing a Panthers jersey."

Brownfield was deer hunting the morning of the tornado and noticed ominous-looking weather moving in. He headed home and joined his family moments before the tornado hit.

His lasting memory of that first moment emerging from his house: "When I stepped outside, the first thing I saw was a police officer. He was standing in a pile of debris in our front yard. He was just staring, frozen, like he couldn't understand what he was looking at. Stunned."

How will Brownfield mark the 10th anniversary of the Washington tornado?

"I'm going to go deer hunting," he said. "That's what I did the morning the tornado hit."

A Hall of Fame moment

Washington High School staged its annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony in mid-October.

Longtime Washington athletic director Herb Knoblauch, who is retiring at the end of this school year, fought his emotions when talking about the tornado, the football team, and more.

"The basketball tournament …" Knoblauch said. "We were able to do it because we had volunteers come in from schools all over the area. We saw so much (in recovery) through all of our sports, really."

The 2013 football team was inducted during the program. Coaches, staff, and 10 players were on hand for the ceremony. And yes, they talked about that amazing season and the tornado that changed their lives.

Linebacker Mason Chockley was there, as was Brownfield and 2013 Mid-Illini all-conference WR-DB Casey Danley, RB-LB Chris Friend, OL-DL Nathan Baker and others, plus nine coaches and staff members. They celebrated, took pictures together, and took their place in Washington's Hall of Fame, a team that perhaps deserved induction for more than just football.

"Looking back at it, I can only imagine the relief people felt seeing us play that game," said Danley, now a salesman in St. Louis. "What our friends and neighbors went through, this football team helped heal that.

"I think about it every year on this date. I flash back to everything that happened, walking out of the church and seeing the neighborhood destroyed. I can see the faces, hear the voices.

"You don't forget something like that. Not ever."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 2013 Washington tornado anniversary: Football team helped city heal