Friday Night Heroes: 100 Years of Driller Football is the first comprehensive history of California's best high school football program of the 1900's, the Bakersfield High School Drillers. The makings of an American football dynasty took shape in 1896 with a first high school football game played amid the rolling farmlands and acres of oil derricks of the San Joaquin Valley of California. The Bakersfield High School Drillers would lead the way in California from the early days of the new phenomenon of high school football, and continue to enthrall fans throughout the 20th century. Author (and former BHS player and coach) Rick Van Horne chronicles each decade of championship seasons, accompanied by engaging stories from on and off the field. The book contains detailed player, team and season records, and profiles of all the players and coaches that made the Drillers great. More than a decade of research, hundreds of interviews and previously unpublished personal diary excerpts contributed to Friday Night Heroes, including the school's role as the training ground for Frank Gifford and other later college and professional football greats.