Growing up in Wisconsin my friends and I were devoted fans of the only sports franchise in the country where the entire hometown population could fit into Michigan Stadium where the Wolverines routinely beat our Badgers. No other professional sports team is owned by a group of citizens from the community. During my formative years a tough-minded guy from New York named Vincent Lombardi ran the show in Green Bay. The Packers dominated football in the same fashion the Celtics dominated basketball and the Yankees dominated baseball.
So, it was easy for a kid in Wisconsin to imagine himself running a sweep like Hornung, throwing precision passes like Starr, making spectacular catches like Dowler, or stuffing a running back at the line of scrimmage like Nitchke. Long before anyone took a triangular piece of yellow foam rubber with holes cut out to resemble a cross between cheddar and Swiss cheese, placed it on his head, and earned the nickname of “cheese head,” we dreamed of someday wearing the green and gold. In order to fulfill that dream it was necessary for me to first meet the challenge of wearing the red and blue for John Marshall High School.
Despite my lack of speed I felt my quickness, ability to overcome the fear of being hit by a defender, and desire to become an outstanding football player was enough to make me a running back. At the time most high school teams used something known as the T formation. Two running backs, the fullback who lined up a few yards directly behind the quarterback and the halfback who lined up behind the quarterback but in front of the fullback and to either side of the quarterback formed the T. At 5’9” and 140 lbs. soaking wet halfback suited me.
It was also common practice at the time for each player to play both offense and defense. Due to the limited amount of passing, especially on the sophomore team, the defensive lineup consisted of five linemen, four linebackers, and two defensive backs. Again, aware of my lack of speed and lack of size it was easy for me to recognize I fit in the middle as a linebacker.
Practices started with running laps around the track to the south of school in the hot sticky September afternoons. Then, we would push blocking sleds around whether someone was a lineman or a back because Coach Gunderson believed it built strength and character. Finally, the backs would practice taking handoffs from the quarterback, the linemen including ends, known as receivers today, would practice blocking defenders, and everyone practiced wrapping up and tackling. If time remained a pass or two might get thrown between the quarterback and the ends.
After a week or two of practice Coach Tarantino challenged Coach Gunderson to let his freshman team scrimmage our sophomore team. We broke into two distinct squadrons, our best defense against their best offense, and our second team offense against their second team defense. I ended up playing defense, but because coach put some of the linemen on the offensive squad I moved from my usual spot at linebacker to the middle of the line.
Naturally, I was paired off against Rozmarynowski whose overzealous pituitary gland rendered him a mini-mountain of over six feet and right around two hundred pounds. He just kept knocking me to the ground until I finally figured out how to get low enough to leverage his own weight against him, use my quickness to get around him, and actually make a tackle a couple of times on the ball carrier. Coach Gunderson never said anything. He may not have seen my play, but it was one of my proudest moments.
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