Page 93 - People & Places In Time

a dream I had stood at this same place on this field twenty years before it’s now October 1962 and this is my final game before graduation. One last time, I’m awaiting the kick-off to start the game. I look around to take it in the stands filled with family and friends, the cheer leaders, all yelling in anticipation. My dad is standing on the side line holding the first down marker, coach Jim Stoltz there with the rest of the team on the side line and Doctor Feldmeyer standing by as always, if needed.
Dr. Feldmeyer had taken care of myself and many of my teammates since we were born. He was there for the alumni game, coming into the locker room; older now but there to wish us good luck . . . the last time I would see him.
Who we played in this final game or what the score I don’t recall, it’s all run together by this time? Dinuba, Kingsburg, Orosi, all those fields we played on looked pretty much alike. What stays with you is the special connection and friendships gained in four years together through practices, games, success and defeat. The tiny crowded locker room with the smell of sweat soaked pads and uniforms; the sound of cleats on cement, echoing as we walk down the tunnel. Even the capes we wore on the side line to keep us warm. There was the night I caught a pass on a quick down and out pattern when opposing players hit, swarming over me as we went out of bounds and over my dad holding the down marker too mesmerized to move out of the way. There was the time I dropped a pass and could hear very clearly, my Junior High girlfriend Betty Schelling, from above the crowd noise yelling “butter fingers”.
Spring always seemed to start early, at least the getting back in shape part, fol- lowing the winter hiatus; after football and before track season began, after the holidays begining in January into February.
A photo of me posted with other teamates on the cafeteria window as the starting line-up for that Friday night.