Chicago Bears Honor 2 Women As Top Coaches After Historic Meeting

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears have recognized two South Side high school football coaches as the team’s annual Coaches of the Week. That might not seem out of the ordinary, but in this case, it is considering the recipients of the honor.

While the Bears award the Coach of the Week honors every week, the award that was handed out on Thursday takes on historical significance after Fenger High School’s Jouscelyn Mayfield and DuSable High School’s Konesha Rhea were recognized a week after the two coached against one another in a Chicago Public League football matchup.

According to the Illinois High School Association, Mayfield and Rhea are believed to be the first two women to coach a boys high coach varsity football team to face one another in the United States.

As part of the honor, the Bears will donate $2,000 to both high school football programs, the team said Thursday.

In the game played at Gately Stadium on Sept. 15, Fenger beat DuSable 50-0, but the score was almost inconsequential considering the bigger picture.

“It was a horrible loss,” Rhea told reporters after last week’s game. “But it’s a win for the sport, a win for girls and women looking to coach football.”

Mayfield, who is from Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood, took over the Fenger program beginning this season after she was recommended for the job by her players. Mayfield previously worked at the school as a security officer and coached her son’s youth football team until Fenger decided to reinstate its program after being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mayfield told reporters that last week’s historic game didn’t really sink in until she was on the field for the national anthem and she saw Rhea on the opposing sideline. Knowing the match-up was the first of its kind, Mayfield said the reality then hit her.

“I was saying, ‘Wow it’s me,’” Mayfield said. “God picked me and put me in His favor.”

She added: “It’s an honor. “(Rhea) is a legend. Me? I’m just me, but she’s the one that broke down those barriers.”

Rhea, who lives in suburban Harvey, has worked at DuSable since 2013 when she joined the school’s football program as its defensive coordinator. She became the first Black woman to coach a CPS program when she took over the DuSable program. Rhea also played semi-pro football for the Chicago Force as a backup defensive tackle for two years.

Her players say that it is sometimes difficult to explain just how much Rhea brings to the program.

"I feel like she brings a special bond to us," DuSable defensive end and tight end Michael Jemison told the Chicago Sun-Times after last week's game. "You might call it a motherly bond but to me, it's a kind of special bond that can't be explained.

He added: "She can be sweet sometimes ...Sometimes she can be harsh. But sometimes, we might need it — to be disciplined. But overall, she's nice."