Now back to football... About every Friday, my Uncle Paul would come to school in the early afternoon and ask the teacher if he could take his son, (my cousin) Dwain, to Jackson to watch the football game. The teacher (my Mom) usually said, "fine" and away they went to Jackson to watch the football game. Back then, the football games were played in the afternoon, because there were no field lights until much later. I got to wondering about this game of football and thought it might be fun to go along with my Uncle and my Cousin to see this game of football and at the same time get out of school early on Friday afternoons during the Fall football season. After coaxing my Mother to let me go, I had to ask my Uncle if I could go along. He said if it was o.k. with the teacher it was o.k. with him. Arriving at the game down at the Albertus Football Field was exciting, because there were a lot of people there and they were laughing and shouting for their favorite team. Frankly, I didn't understand the game, but I did enjoy seeing all those people at the game, plus sometimes getting a treat of popcorn or an Ice Cream cone from Uncle Paul, before we went home. I continued to go to the football games until the season was over. After that it was school as usual.
My next football experience came about when I was in 7th grade in the Jackson Jr. High School. The football played at Jr. High level was 6 man football, compared to 11 man football today. I played an end position and got injured on the first play and never played again in Jr. High.
Once I was in Sr. High School the chance to play came up again. The Head Coach was Louie Swearingen and he knew the game and how to win to perfection. I now knew the game, but there were other players that were better than me so I didn't get much playing time. However; the experience was very educational and to this day, football is one of my favorite sports, next to wrestling of course.