Gator Bowl Bound!

In his sophomore year my dad became the starting center for the Maryland Terrapins and by his senior year they had won a Gator Bowl, Orange Bowl and the Sugar Bowl for the National Championship and he talked about it as much as he did his military service, never.

He talked about football a lot and taught me everything he knew about the game he loved and hated, but he never talked about his success. Little things would come up now and then like how mad coach Tatum got when he got married the summer before his Junior year without his permission. He said he was in the dog house for the rest of his career.

He taught me how to long snap for punts and field goals. He said it would make me an invaluable asset to the team and then warned me about there being no glory in it and you would not even be noticed unless you screwed up, so don't screw it up. The best thing he taught me was to listen to your coaches especially when they are screaming in your face, it only means they care about you and the game.

He didn't talk much about himself so I am left to fill in a lot of blanks. Recently, I have uncovered some gems. I knew he was a starting center and the long snapper and he said he really loved playing defense. He said he played "some" linebacker and my mom told me about his interception against Michigan to win the game, but I have found this picture of another interception he had against BU. This means he had at least two interceptions and what did he teach me about; long snapping. About defense he would always just say, "Hit them harder than they hit you!"

I love the "Johnny-on-the-spot" description. It reminds of something else he would say about playing defense, "Just put yourself in front of the play and good things will happen." I think that is a good lesson for life in general. Have the guts to put yourself out in front of what's coming and good things will happen or you will get run over, but at least you'll be in play. This makes me think of another, "It's OK to fail, but never be a failure!" Now, I get it.

This picture blows my mind. His angle is all wrong. It looks to me as though the ball will get past him and the sprinting receiver is home free. Man, I'd love to see footage of this play. Let me see the replay! Looks like the quarterback is getting crushed so the ball might not have much on it, but in the picture it looks like it's a spiral. Either way, somehow my dad comes down with it. Awesome! What a moment. As I write this I am filling with pride for him. By the time I was born he had six fused discs in his back. This guy was kicking butt and taking names and hauling it down. Unbelievable.

Woodbox Wisdom is True

My dad had a bunch of yoisms about the truth. "Ain't it the truth" I think was just a hold over from growing up in the south. "The truth is the truth" was one that always made me think he was an idiot. But the more I think about it the more I appreciate its genius. He once said just because we each have a different view of the truth doesn't mean we are a looking at different places. He'd say just because you can't see it don't make it untrue. He'd say if the truth hurts you'd better listen to it or if the truth hurts it's trying to tell you something important. He'd say if you always tell the truth you'll have a lot less to remember. He'd say lieing to yourself doesn't make you smarter it makes you a lire and a sucker. He'd say follow your heart, it knows the truth before you do. He'd say know your heart and you will know yourself. I think these last few get close to the meaning of this scrap of wood box wisdom.

I think finding a little bit of truth is like playing in the zone. When time has less meaning and the world falls away and you become what you are doing as this truth reveals itself. You become what you were meant to be. When you finally are doing what you were meant to do. Making the perfect shot, hitting the perfect drive, running the distance, soothing someones pain, calming some one's anxiety, healing, loving, being where you were meant to be when you were meant to be there, saying the right thing at the right moment in the right way, being there for the ones you love, being needed, being loved. 

OK I guess I've come off the tracks and ain't it the truth!  

The little yellow sticky said my first big job. Pretty much from here he was always the boss. The guy in charge of huge association conventions, building buildings, writing magazines, giving speeches, speaking for industry, lobbying, traveling around the world, meeting presidents and raising a family. This guy I know. Except for the 215 on 6' 3" "well proportioned" part. My dad was always overweight. I remember him always on the wrong side of 250. It would ketch up to him, trunkle obesity, a big sign of metabolic syndrome would take a big toll on his heart. I digress. This is my dad seven years before I was born. He looks nothing like the loving, jovial, practical joking, self effacing, infuriating Dumb Dumb Daddy-o I grew up with.

I wish I had a chance to play cetch with this guy. I have a faint memory him playing in a men's softball league back in Cleveland when I was little. When I got bigger his sport became keeping from getting hurt by his 500 pounds of sons rolling around in horse play and golf.

I'd really like to play this guy in racket ball.

Wood Box Morale

Morale is what makes a man smile
In the face of death and hell,...

To be strong, to be loyal, to be free.
It is the biggest thing in a man's life, As high as hope, as deep as faith, as unfailing as Love.
It is rooted in religion itself---
The clear and unmistakable sign That man walks with his hand in the hand of God.

The morale at work has been a little low lately...I'm gonna have to work on this.

As a Marine on Foreign Shores - 1946

Now were talking! This is the guy I want to know. Nineteen year old "Marine on Foreign Shores" I don't know what shores. The south pacific was as specific as he ever got about his deployment. He once said that if it wasn't for the bomb he wouldn't have made it back. They were on their way to invade the shores of the Japanese mainland when his armada just stopped. "So don't give me any of this 'No Nukes' crap because without them you wouldn't be here!"

 I was going to post some trade magazine covers with my dad talking with Nixon and Ford, but in one of them a few photocopies fell out that seemed far more interesting. Each of the copies had a sticky note description and it looks like he had put them together for a high school reunion scrap book.

I can't believe this picture. Sitting there with his rifle looking tired. Helmet and rifle with his selves rolled up. I always pictured the end of the war as being quick and easy, Japan surrenders and everyone goes home to start making babies and all is well with the world. This picture is from the year after and he would be there a couple of more before making it to the University of Maryland. His expression tells me he knew there was still a whole lot of work to do. He wasn't home kissing nurses in Time Square.

If I was in this picture and could pull up a stump what would I ask this guy? What would I tell him about his future? If I told him right there that in a few short years he was going to marry a beautiful blond co-ed from a rich family, win the college football national championship and then go on to graduate from law school would he believe it? How could he?

I would tell him in twenty years he was going to have his fourth kid, a son. And this kid is going to ketch himself on fire a lot, collect countless stitches and broken bones and scrapes and bruises and your gonna think he doesn't listen to a word you say, don't, because he's not going to miss a thing and someday he is really going to miss his dumbdumbdaddy-o. A lot. So don't forget to leave him a box full of wisdom.