Fall is Coming!

The calendar rolled over into September the other day. Where did the summer go? My family still has a trip to the beach planned for next week so it will still feel like summer to me for another week. Nonetheless signs of fall are all around me.

Football season has started. I sometimes write about my highschool cheerleader days when I had the privilege of cheering for the WV AAA State Champions. That is an experience of a lifetime that not everyone gets to have. That team, the Bluefield Beavers of Bluefield, WV has a strong football tradition and a part of that tradition is its season opener against its cross-town rivalry the Graham G-men. Graham is the school in Bluefield VA, just across the state line from Bluefield High School. That rivalry is now recognized as one of the great American Rivalries and last week it was livestreamed by a Facebook page of the same name ("Great American Rivalries"). I sat at home and watched it via my computer and so enjoyed seeing my hometown stadium. My team won, btw. 

And not to be out done, Christian Academy of Louisville, where I work has a strong team this year too. Our claim to fame this year is a senior who is the leading contender for KY's "Mr. Football". His name is Milton Wright and he's a kid I have known for years. His sister graduated with my youngest son. She was chaplain of that class. Milton is a great kid. This level of achievement and attention couldn't happen to a nicer person. 

Another sign of fall are the leaves which are already beginning to change. Soo, the world will be ablaze with color and I will need to pull my sweaters and jackets out. 

Welcome Fall!

Life as I Knew It

High School Football and the Age of Innocence: Part II

Play-offs, Here We Come!

The semi-final game pitted my high school, fourth-ranked Bluefield, ainst first-ranked and unbeaten Buchannan–Upshur. The Buck–Ups had a player named Tinker Jackson, reputed to be the top running back in the sate. Our lead scorer’s name was Donnie Jackson. Someone in our fan club had made a huge sign that read, “Our Jackson is better then your Jackson.” The game ended with Bluefield routing Buchannan–Upshur 42-0! Donnie scored three touchdowns in that game. I guess our sign was right.

November 22, 1975 was the coldest ball game I have ever participated in. It would have been bad enough had I been sitting in the stands under a blanket, warming my hands around a cup of hot cocoa; but I was on the field in a cheerleader skirt that barely covered my bloomer clad butt. The layers of shirts under my thick white sweater and the gloves I wore did nothing for my exposed legs that had only a pair of sheer panty hose between them and the frigid air! I think that’s the coldest I have ever been in my life. But it was worth it. We came from behind at the half to claim the title with a 20-7 victory.

That was many years ago and much has happened since. But hidden away in my heart will always be the treasured experience of cheering for the 1975 West Virginia AAA High School Football Champions. Every fall when the leaves look festive, the air feels crisp, and harvest moons hang in the sky like giant pumpkins; America turns attention to its favorite pastime and my mind remembers days gone by, dear friends I have lost, and the glories of high school football in the age of innocence.

Life as I Knew it

With high school football season gearing up, I am reposting something I wrote for another blog last fall. It will run in two parts.

"High School Football in the Age of Innocence" Part One:

On a late August night, the temperature still sweltering and people still sweating even as the sun went down, I stood on the field with my fellow cheerleaders. A harvest moon rose over our heads and our hearts filled with hope as we eagerly awaited the opening game of what should be a great season. We had most of our starting players returning. I was the co-captain of the cheerleaders. The outlook for this season, my senior year, was promising.

It was the fall of 1975–many years ago. Much has happened since that warm August night. Karen, the captain of the cheerleaders, and my close friend, died just three years later in a double murder which is still unsolved. Her death shattered the innocence of the sleepy little mountain town in southern West Virginia where I lived. Other members of that team have passed away as well but we have a few success stories. Donnie, the offensive captain, played football at Wake Forest University. He is now the CFO of an Atlanta-based business. Wayne, a junior that year, also played football at Wake Forest, setting some Atlantic Coast Conference receiving records while there. Joey, the quarterback, is a tenured professor now. I married, moved to Louisville, raised four children and eventually became a writer. Those of my classmates who remain see each other once in a while at class reunions.

Reunion weekend always starts with tickets to the Beaver-Graham game. It is tradition for my high school, the Bluefield Beavers, to start their season playing cross-town rivals, the Graham G-Men. This annual match up in the same stadium we used in 1975 has much the same feel as it did back then. There is still the cracking of helmets, enthusiastic cheerleaders on the sidelines, excited fans, and the hot August night skies still boasts a harvest moon.

Young Again

As I sat in the stands on such an August evening a few years ago, my mind could not help but wander to bygone days and I was once again on the field next to my friend Karen cheering our team on. We lost only one game that year. But our hopes faded as our team dropped into fifth place in the statewide poll. Back then, only the top four teams in the state earned the privilege of moving on to post season play-offs.

However, in the middle of the last game of the season, our luck changed. Over the public address system, the announcer loudly proclaimed that George Washington High School was beating Charleston in their season’s last game. A cheer rang out, first in a low rumble then building to a frenzy as the impact of the news sank in. If George Washington could pull out a win against #4 Charleston, it would change the ratings. Charleston would fall to fifth and we would move up into that much coveted fourth place position, gaining a right to post-season action.

As the second half of both games progressed, forgetting our own game which we were handily winning, we waited with bated breath for each update on the other game, several hours away. Finally, the last announcement came–Charleston lost! Our own win a few moments later was rather anticlimactic. We were flying high just the same because we knew we were headed to the state football play-offs!