Page 91 - People & Places In Time

Friday Night Football
played on this field in high school and then following a short minor league stent, returned as the baseball coach for many years. Brad Mills excelled at Exeter before his pro-career and is currently the head coach of the Houston Astros. The Weekly brothers played here before leading College of the Sequoias to a state baseball championship. Marty Weekly also held a long standing, high jump record at Exeter and then captured the state high jump competition while at COS.
Certainly every town has its heroes to celebrate, Exeter doesn’t stand alone; yet every player for a small town like this has the chance to make a great play, set a new high jump record, win a race or match and in that moment be a hero for townspeople to remember for years to come. Even a small triumph can be a big deal, celebrated with a picture in The Exeter Sun. Victories are rehashed and enhanced for the lifetimes of par- ticipants and fans alike; particularly over a few beers and protected by the safety of time. While in high school should I happen to stop in for a haircut downtown on a Saturday following a Friday night game, there was certainly much discussion to be had while waiting or sitting in the barber’s chair. There are friends still living in Exeter who I run into from time to time. Sometimes I think, for them time has not passed; they’ve grown older,
worked and raised families, yet they still live in part, in the 60’s where for that brief pas- sage of time in their lives they competed on the playing fields. This bond with teammates lasts forever, while their stories are long past, they can be remembered and remain good for retelling, sixty years later.
I didn’t play baseball, except for two years with little league P. Time spent by me at this end of the park was limited to watching a ball game when there was nothing else to do. However, as fall approached the outfield was transformed into a practice field for football.
As a young boy I knew it was nearly that time of the year, when temporary wood goal posts were put up and chalk lines at ten yard intervals laid down; the practice field defined.
In late August, school was yet to start, and practice would begin in the cooler evenings beneath the outfield lights. The stuffed leather tackling and blocking dummies piled at the sidelines became an ideal place to sit and watch these bigger, stronger, faster boys learn to play football as a team. I never doubted that I would be standing in their cleated shoes in due time. In the mean time I took in the atmosphere created on the practice field; running in pads and helmets, blocking, tackling, and catching a football, the hitting and grunts in the exertion to become a ‘starter’.
The football field is situated north and south against the packing sheds that run along the railroad tracks and define this east side of Exeter. The view sitting in the stands extends beyond the playing field, past the dirt track over a fence toward the packing
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My dads Block-E letter from 1932 at Exeter High School