My Big Day Finally Arrives: Step 100

A week before our first game the sophomore football team traveled to a field behind the famous Greek Orthodox Church designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and just to the east and north of Milwaukee Lutheran High School whose sophomores were about to scrimmage with us. Their coach got together with Coach Gunderson and took his second team defense to scrimmage our second team offense. So, we remained where we were and scrimmaged against their first team defense on the portion of the field nearest the school.

Nothing memorable happened on offense. I don’t even recall if I had a chance to carry the ball. However, when we switched to our first team defense and everybody was able to play his own position their coach came over to watch while Coach Gunderson watched the second teams play. Of course, this is when my big moment came. One of our linemen hit their running back and the ball came loose. I dove from my outside linebacker position to the bottom of the pile forming around the ball and recovered the fumble.

On the ride back to school the bus was filled with chatter about my defensive play, but it would be of little consequence in another week.

During the week that followed drills became more intense, and we even had a short scrimmage with some of the second string varsity players. Nemovitz, who had been on the team as a freshman but had missed the first month of practice due to some injuries, started taking handoffs from Wiemeri. He was not as big as Ariana or myself and he fumbled easily when hit, but he had the one thing we both lacked, speed.

After our final practice Coach Gunderson gathered us all together to tell us that despite the fact the Rufus King sophomore team had been city champions the past three years they were no better than us. Then, he added his little equalizer by telling us they put on their jockstraps the same way we did, one leg at a time. We trotted back to the locker room pumped up and filled with confidence.

When they first got off the bus they didn’t look that tough, but when they came down to the field and stood near Cox, our tallest player, there was little doubt they held a size advantage. Still, we knew if we played together as a team we could defeat them. On the first play from scrimmage Wiemeri called my number. I went off tackle and kept my legs pumping before someone got my feet and another hit me across my midsection. As I returned to the huddle it looked like I might have picked up a couple yards.

Next, Ariana went up the middle but only went another couple yards. Wiemeri called my number on a cross buck over the other side. Determined to keep my legs pumping until I picked up the first down I was met by a swarm of tacklers as I made it to the line of scrimmage.

After we punted, on their first play from scrimmage they ran a sweep in my direction. There were four or five huge monsters charging in my direction and I had no idea I was backpedaling until we were all in the end zone.

Coach Gunderson had a few choice words for me, and I heard some parents commenting on the inappropriate terms, but that was the last thing I heard. A few plays later Nemovitz went off tackle, headed for the sideline and made it into their end zone. I may have offered a halfhearted cheer.

We never scored again. They scored five or six more times using the sweep effectively on both sides. Nemovitz, Ariana, and Wiemeri took turns getting hit and fumbling. King’s uniforms never got dirty, and I just held back the tears.

High School Football Practice Builds Character: Step 92

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.