High school football has been an institution in metro Detroit since the day the assembly line changed America. From the game's inception at the prep level in the early 1900s to the annual Thanksgiving Day games that would make or break a school's season, prep football has been a rite of passage for players, parents, coaches, and fans alike in Detroit since after World War II. Detroit's high schools were massed and assembled from the immigrant pockets that carved out city and suburban landscapes. The one constant in all these cultural melting pots was high school football. For parents and neighbors of the marching bands, cheerleaders, and players, football season in the golden age of high school sports was an all-community event. Towns shuttered and time stopped for nine Fridays in the fall.