- June 14, 2025
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The Booker High flag football team won just one game in its debut season this spring, but it’s already changed at least one life.
Senior Jewel Kerr became the first student in Sarasota County School District history to sign a scholarship to play flag football on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 14 at Booker.
Kerr will play at Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas, a National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics school that added the sport in the 2022-23 school year.
For those who know her best, it isn’t surprising that Kerr became a pioneer in flag football.
Kerr has never been someone to back down from a challenge, whether playing backyard football with the boys in her neighborhood or dancing on two sprained feet when she was 12 years old.
Committing to play flag football at Bethel isn’t something Kerr, a 5-foot-4 wide receiver, even considered until recently.
That’s because Booker didn’t have a flag football program until this season, and Kerr didn’t have any experience in the sport beyond the pickup variety.
Playing the sport at the next level was so off her radar that she had already paid her enrollment fee to Clark Atlanta University before she received her scholarship offer.
However, when offered a full-ride scholarship offer to Bethel, Kerr had to reconsider.
“It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime, first-time opportunity, and I thought about it a lot, prayed about it a lot, and I just decided I didn’t want to pass it up,” she said.
Kerr may have never been noticed if not for a little assistance.
The Tornadoes (1-4) started their season three weeks late and won just one game, a 6-0 victory over Lakewood Ranch Academy Prep.
That’s where James Ward came in.
Ward, a longtime coach in the area and the former athletic director at Riverview High and Booker Middle, played football at Bethel and currently serves on the school’s board of directors.
“I went to a practice at Bethel and I let the coach know, ‘Hey kids from Booker High School do have a program,’ so I gave all of the information to the coach and let them relate,” Ward said.
Though Kerr isn’t as experienced in her sport as most athletes who sign scholarship offers, she has all the fundamentals of a collegiate-level athlete.
Booker flag football assistant coach Carlos Woods lauded her work ethic and leadership at Kerr’s signing ceremony.
“Jewel was one of our team captains,” Woods said. “She never missed a day of practice. She was with us every single day. She gave us 100% in practice and games, and we’re excited about the opportunity that she has at Bethel College with coach (Felicia) Teeter and her staff.”
Kerr shouldn't face too much competition for playing time at Bethel.
The Threshers rostered just 12 players this season, including 10 freshmen, and went 0-11. The program has gone 1-24 since it debuted in 2023, but this opportunity is about more than wins and losses for Kerr.
Kerr plans on majoring in forensic science with the goal of becoming a crime scene investigator one day, and said that her scholarship at Bethel will help "a lot" financially.
In the meantime, Kerr will continue to work at Sarasota Memorial Hospital as a valet driver until she heads up to Bethel College on August 14 to start a new chapter of her life she never saw coming.
“Know what you want and once you figure it out, go get it,” Kerr said when asked about advice to other girls with aspirations to play flag football in college. “Nobody’s in charge of your life but you. So whatever you want, make it happen.”
