The prevailing question of the day when Muskegon’s Big Reds would suit up for football games back in 1927 wasn’t whether they would win, but by how much?

Muskegon, which ranks in the top 10 in the nation in most football wins, has fielded a football team for well over 100 years.  And the 1927 Muskegon team was arguably the greatest team ever in the area and perhaps in the state of Michigan.
The 1927 team, coached by former Hall of Fame inductee C. Leo Redmond, outscored its opponents 445-6.  It averaged 44.5 points while shutting out nine opponents on its 10-game schedule.  The Big Reds’ closest game was an 18-0 blanking of rival Grand Rapids Union.
The scores of Muskegon’s games, in order, were: Muskegon 89, Muskegon Heights; Muskegon 56, Manistee 0; Muskegon 27, Chicago Marshall 0; Muskegon 45, Kenosha (Wis.) 0; Muskegon 40, Grand Rapids South 0; Muskegon 59, Kalamazoo Central 0; Muskegon 32, Benton Harbor 6; Muskegon 18, Grand Rapids Union 0; Muskegon 35, Lansing Central 0; and Muskegon 44, Grand Rapids Central 0.

In 125 years of football, Muskegon High School has produced 18 state championship teams, including 14 unbeaten and untied squads.  Many of those teams played in different decades and all probably could make a claim to being the best team ever.  But, statistically, the 1927 team far outranked the rest.

Members of Muskegon’s 1927 team included Bill McCall, Mart Westerman, John Van Westen, William Ginman, Clifford Bailey, Francis “Bub” Meier, Roy Peterson, Charles DeBaker, Robert Soper, Bernard Caughey, Clifford Ripley, Henry Kreifeldt, George Nevins, Dave Johnson, Russell Damm, William Meeske, George Swartout, Donald Hazard, LeRoy Walcott, Arthur Keillor, Raymond Ackerly, Gus Westerlund, Clair Helmer, Herbert Kent and Raymond Dull.