|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Jan 18, 2024 16:11:26 GMT -6
In the light of some other threads and it is the off season, I thought it might be fun for everyone to throw out what the game was like for them while they still played the game.
I graduated HS in 1987 and while I was a 3 starter at MLB, being 5'11" 170 lbs and aware enough to realize the NFL wasn't in my future I never tried to walk on anywhere. I started tackle football in 1st grade and played every year until I was told I couldn't play the game anymore.
Here a couple things that was football in that day and age, at least for me:
- half time everyone got a 6 1/2 oz Coke from the local bottling plant for 'refreshment', of course everyone had to put the glass bottles back into the rack to redeem the deposit
--- Gator-Aid was just becoming a thing, but is wasn't the soft drink it is today, it was water lemon/lime flavor and salt... yeah it tasted like that, so you drank it like taking medicine
- shimmel shirt: your undershirt, your practice jersey was a shimmel or 1/2 jersey/shirt
- laundry.... we had pins to put our wash on (think giant safety pin) and by the end of the season everyone had a giant hole in their undershirt near the collar/tag, on your undershorts by the waistband, and your socks b/c you had to push the point of the pin through the fabric in order to get everything on the wash pin
--- and all that cloth was 100% sweat soaking cotton
--- and everyone wore a jock strap
- all the coaches chewed tobacco.... and most of the players, some while they played
- 3 weeks of 3-a-days to start the season ... you had to 'get in shape'
- 3 hour practices with lots of team
--- 'thud' period ..... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
- blocking: I moonlighted as a TE and I can remember between my Soph and Jr years the Fed changed the rule allowing you to extend your arms to block, I.E. no more 'flipper' blocking
--- in youth league I also vividly remember my coach teaching everyone how to block, "Grab the numbers on your shirt, stick out your elbows, and plow them out of the way" (rural area)
- in our equipment room, we still had a size 10 square toed, high top kicking shoe
--- Soph year our kicker could not fit into it, so he had a shoe string tied into a loop that he would run to the sideline (starting FB) and grab the string for XPs and loop it around his toe cleat and then behind his heel to bend his toes backwards so he could basically kick the football with the ball/pad of his foot
--- also, my best friend was the 1st soccer style kicker our school had our Jr & Sr year
- salt tablets to 'replace your sweat' and getting water was drinking out of a hose pipe during break.... yes hose pipe attacked to spigot yes break, singular .... 1 hose pipe ... waiting in line.... it's 95 degrees and 95 percent humidity and you've been practicing for 90 minutes straight ....
- summer weight room was when the HC would unlock the door before he got on the tractor to cut the fields, most kids didn't lift but were 'country boy' strong b/c they worked all summer doing manual labor
--- and the weight room was a small shed that had a 'universal weight' system built inside
That's probably enough for now.
*** I'm sure many here have read the Bear Bryant books about football 'back in the day', another great one is Art Donovan's book Fatso, check it out.
|
|
|
|
Post by CS on Jan 18, 2024 16:19:31 GMT -6
Love and miss shimels. I had huge pads. Team camps and 7 on 7 s weren’t a thing. We ran the wing t deleware style and nobody gave a fuk if we threw the ball on our team.
|
|
|
|
Post by s73 on Jan 18, 2024 16:49:20 GMT -6
Senior year was 88. Missed jr season from a fractured vertebrae in 2 a days when I was blocking for XP. Massive dude came off the edge and somehow his knee met my L5. More on that later.
Senior 2 a days was a drought during 2 a days. Ground was hard and dusty all season.
No team camps. We lifted all summer and did conditioning.
Had the half jerseys and our game jerseys were not even a 10th the quality of our current practice jerseys. Had to remember to cut my fingernails every couple of days b/c the holes in the mesh were so big if you got a fingernail caught in one you would get a chunk of your finger nail torn off.
Had the old school flesh colored Jpads for my hands (no idea why, I played defensive line, you woulda thought somebody would have told me to take them off).
Water only, no other beverages.
Saturday VCR film sessions.
Back to the beginning, the reason why I bring up the injury. NEVER EVER EVER saw a trainer at a practice.
Fractured my vertebrae, had to walk in & find the trainer by myself LOL.
In this particular instance he was not in the training room, so I leaned against the training table and waited for him to show up.
I wouldn't trade any of it.
|
|
|
|
Post by carookie on Jan 18, 2024 16:59:14 GMT -6
I think a lot of this may be regional too.
I played my last HS game in 1997 here in Southern California, some has changed but not as much as many believe.
-Pads were definitely bulkier back then, but its not as if teams today are running around in the pads you see in the NFL that look nearly non existent.
- We played teams that ran power-I we played a lot of teams that ran spread. You see more spread now, but not a great amount more, we play teams that still run everything. But a lot fewer fullbacks being used.
-I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that.
- Summers back then were longer (mid June through Labor Day), now summers are shorter (back to school early August). That being written, kids now put in as much work in shorter time. We did two weeks of two-a-days right before school started, other than that we were about 8 hours a week throughout the summer. A mix of weights and 7-on-7. Kids now are 20+ hours a week throughout the summer. I laugh when my old HS buddies complain about kids today being lazy.
- Sidelines today have tablets & flatscreen TVs to review what happened the previous series, we had a coach with a portable whiteboard. Only the QB got to take home opponents films, we got to watch them once on Mondays and then practice for that.
-I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that.
- We didn't have any organized student sections with its own dedicated speaker system to play music (separate from the actual PA system). At least I don't think we did.
-We did lots of static stretches before games and practices. I also never played a game on turf.
-I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that.
-I'm sure I'll think of some more
|
|
|
|
Post by irishdog on Jan 18, 2024 17:24:21 GMT -6
Played high school ball in CA from 66-70. Watch Remember the Titans and you'll get a pretty good picture of what it was like for me (but without the racial thing).
Long sleeve cotton practice jerseys and pants. Cleats. Jock. Girdle. Suspension helmet. Dick Butkus face guard. Also had laundry pins.
Water only in practices (either from an irrigation hose or the sprinkler) ONLY when the coach told you to get water.
7 man Crowther sled you blocked with your shoulders blocking it over, and over, and over, and over with the coach riding it until the coach got tired.
Salt tablets (found out the hard way they should be taken with water).
Three hour practices. Full gear. Run stadiums on Monday. Bull in the Ring on Tuesday. Oklahoma drill on Wednesday. Tackled EVERY day.
Almost all of the coaches were ex-military.
The best part was Friday. Wore team sport coat and tie to school. Attended school rally for the FOOTBALL TEAM EVERY Friday. Loaded buses immediately after school for pre-game team steak dinner at Happy Steak (NY strip, baked potato, salad, and a dessert). Return to school to get game uniform (short sleeved and buttoned at the crotch). Watched first half of JV game (they played before the varsity game). Went back to locker room as a TEAM, got dressed, relaxed, and then...GAME TIME!
|
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Jan 18, 2024 17:58:27 GMT -6
-I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. nice way to put it!!! I'm convinced that my horrible tinnitus today was caused by those 'bell ringers' |
|
|
|
Post by hlb2 on Jan 18, 2024 18:10:44 GMT -6
94' graduate, played in central FL in a very rural area (swamp, cow pastures and orange groves baby). Played guard, center and LB in the 50 defense with a little bit of NT my senior year. 3 year starter. Senior year we had the 1st winning record at that school in over 20 years. Good times. Was fortunate enough to be picked up by an NAIA school in Kentucky as a guard. Played there 3 years before career was cut short due to neck injury, then GA'd after that. Wore huge pads because I wasn't very big and wanted to look bigger. Wore the cowboy collar and a mirror visor (not allowed today). Wore Neumann gloves too, even as an OL. I hated the big bulky OL gloves. When you were as sh!tty as I was, you needed to hold, but those old open jerseys everyone wore would tear your fingernails up (as someone already mentioned).
2 a days in HS were hell in the FL heat. My dad owned a construction company and I'd work between practices cleaning up job sites and delivering material to various jobs throughout the area. On the days I was lucky not to have to work we'd go to someone's house that had a pool and swim. Well, we wouldn't actually swim, we'd just sit in the cool water dreading the next practice. Things were wild where I went to school, we'd go fire hunting at night after practice (hunting deer with a spotlight) or hog hunting with dogs and get up the next day and do it all over again. Ah to be young again! Then again...maybe not.
That transitioned into 3 a days in college, hours of film (which I loved) and opponent breakdown. The school I went to was very rural so it fit with my rural upbringing. I got educated real quick, fast and in a hurry about being the small fish in a big pond. Got my ducks in a row as a sophomore and was able to start 8 games. Made 3 starts as a junior before my injury. I saw the writing on the wall though, my body just would not let me continue to play the game at that level. So I got into coaching. Loved every minute of it. 18 hour days, the grind, I loved it as a 20 year old. The $400 every two week stipend and getting married killed that though. But, it fired up my love for coaching, so there is that.
Like some have said, I would not trade a dam minute of it for nothing!
Edit: My one claim to fame is that during my time as a starter in both HS and college I blocked for a thousand yard rusher every year. I always though that was pretty neat. Anyhoo...
|
|
|
|
Post by CS on Jan 18, 2024 18:37:49 GMT -6
I think a lot of this may be regional too. I played my last HS game in 1997 here in Southern California, some has changed but not as much as many believe. -Pads were definitely bulkier back then, but its not as if teams today are running around in the pads you see in the NFL that look nearly non existent. - We played teams that ran power-I we played a lot of teams that ran spread. You see more spread now, but not a great amount more, we play teams that still run everything. But a lot fewer fullbacks being used. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. - Summers back then were longer (mid June through Labor Day), now summers are shorter (back to school early August). That being written, kids now put in as much work in shorter time. We did two weeks of two-a-days right before school started, other than that we were about 8 hours a week throughout the summer. A mix of weights and 7-on-7. Kids now are 20+ hours a week throughout the summer. I laugh when my old HS buddies complain about kids today being lazy. - Sidelines today have tablets & flatscreen TVs to review what happened the previous series, we had a coach with a portable whiteboard. Only the QB got to take home opponents films, we got to watch them once on Mondays and then practice for that. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. - We didn't have any organized student sections with its own dedicated speaker system to play music (separate from the actual PA system). At least I don't think we did. -We did lots of static stretches before games and practices. I also never played a game on turf. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. -I'm sure I'll think of some more Yeah man I had plenty of concussions. Just kept playing. |
|
|
|
Post by fantom on Jan 18, 2024 22:30:18 GMT -6
Pennsylvania 1967-70.
Out off-seasons were nothing compared with what happens today. The first two years, at a small school, the off-season consisted of a couple of meetings and some pamphlets suggesting ways to get in shape. Then it was "See you in August". When we entered a merger we had an actual off-season program but it was about 90 minutes of weights, agilities, and running three days a week. Guys who played basketball or baseball just didn't have off-season workouts.
Actual practice was a different story. Two long practices and about the first 45 minutes were ball-busting for the sake of ball-busting. The idea was to work us into shape since there was no formal off-season program. We had one water break when were allowed to get one drink each from a ladle. Run over, get your drink, run right back. We got salt pills, too.
The gear was heavy, hot, and uncomfortable. The Riddell suspension helmet (I still have one) tended to slide down when we did the butt-blocking that we were taught. Every lineman from then has a scar on the bridge of his nose from getting slammed with that hat. Since hand blocking wasn't legal yet defensive players were taught forearm shivers so a lot of guys wore forearm pads. I didn't because they were hot.
Laundering practice clothes was our problem. Take it home Thursday, bring it back Monday. They did dry-clean our game unis, hot-a$$ plastic jerseys (They gave us ours after our senior season. I put mine too close to a radiator and it melted).
After HS I played at a small D.3 and a couple years of semi-pro which definitely was more semi than pro (When money ran out instead of riding a bus to away games they'd get 4 or 5 of us into cars and give us a map and five bucks for gas).
Would I do it again? Former NFL player and long-time college coach Bill Curry said it best. He said that he drams about football a lot. He never dreams that he's coaching but he often dreams about playing football.
|
|
|
|
Post by brophy on Jan 19, 2024 1:41:02 GMT -6
its the "nostalgia thread" - ha, I'll try to make this interesting and meaningful.
I had a family full of men that played football. That was our identity. I was fortunate that regional teams (85 Bears / 85 Hawkeyes) were so dominant at an age (12) where I was most impressionable
Senior HS year of football was '91 in Iowa. Had no idea what I was doing on the line every year I played but I always started and it was every special teams (kickoff,return,PAT), defense and offense. Wing-T and 5-3 that everyone ran. Had a great Oline coach in HS,but still didn't manage to learn anything. I needed football way more than football needed me. Since middle school, i used football just to toughen up for the eventuality of joining the Marines at graduation. It wasn't until the recruiters came that senior year (with campus visits) that I entertained playing further. I knew I wanted no part is 'waiting my turn' in the lineup,so I went straight to JUCO (coincidently the visit where I got the drunkest) and started both years. Interestingly enough,it wasn't until my sophomore year that my coach was an ex '85 Hawkeye that opened my eyes to technique and how the game is played (what formations and positions were!). Could've keep going at a DII, but as stupid people are want to do, I made poor decisions. I took a few years off,got married, went back to a DIII roster, later joined an AFL team...then came to terms with my physical limits.
Football WAS in my existence your way of proving your worth as a man. If you couldn't "cut it" you simply were NOT a man. If you couldn't be respected among the ranks of boys/men that endured the crucible to represent our school, you weren't a person. Lord of the flies, all the way. In retrospect, I don't believe for a minute that was a bad thing.
You opted into football to join the ranks of those before you and be part of that legacy. It wasn't about trying to be the superstar, it was about putting in work to dominate because to fall short on Friday night was to lose your manhood in front of the entire community. You were 'defending' the reputation of your tribe, in a sense. Its the story of heroes.
we didn't have "off-season" programs. We had wrestling and track. We had workouts you grabbed from Muscle & Fitness. We didn't have under armor, track suits,sports drinks....it was un-chic and rough neck and it was voluntary. The only reason you did it was to not let each other down.
While I believe the "GAME" is better now, the sport is not
|
|
|
|
Post by mrjvi on Jan 19, 2024 6:52:01 GMT -6
Played HS football from falls of 1973-76. Lots similiar to the other posts. There never was anything like a trainer. If you got hurt (really hurt), they called your mom and she came and got you. You came back to playing when you felt you could. Coaches would "re-set" your fingers if they got mangled. 2 a days were brutal. I remeber doing hit and rolls (scrambled eggs) until many puked and had to stop. Water was maybe twice during a 3 hour session. Went to the head coaches' camp for 3 days to start the season. Had to run 2 miles to and from the field (pasture) each session. Helmets were suspension. Had meetings on Sundays where most of the guys showed up somewhat drunk. Never understood why the coach never dealt with it. Summer workouts were just conditioning. I was the only one who lifted. They thought I was weird to do it and it was bad for you. Tackling was taught with no regard for spearing. I finally tackled hard the huge RB we had with my head down and it totally rung my bell. They were pleased and said I had finally "arrived". Too many more crazy stories to list here. I head coached at my alma mater for 20 years from 97-2016. My practices looked A LOT different.  One thing I can say is that kids usually played 3 sports. No "specialization" |
|
|
|
Post by jstoss24 on Jan 19, 2024 7:33:37 GMT -6
I was about to join in, and then I realized a lot of you guys were coaching veterans by the time my HS career ended in 2013.
|
|
|
|
Post by bulldogsdc on Jan 19, 2024 8:04:13 GMT -6
I think a lot of this may be regional too. I played my last HS game in 1997 here in Southern California, some has changed but not as much as many believe. -Pads were definitely bulkier back then, but its not as if teams today are running around in the pads you see in the NFL that look nearly non existent. - We played teams that ran power-I we played a lot of teams that ran spread. You see more spread now, but not a great amount more, we play teams that still run everything. But a lot fewer fullbacks being used. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. - Summers back then were longer (mid June through Labor Day), now summers are shorter (back to school early August). That being written, kids now put in as much work in shorter time. We did two weeks of two-a-days right before school started, other than that we were about 8 hours a week throughout the summer. A mix of weights and 7-on-7. Kids now are 20+ hours a week throughout the summer. I laugh when my old HS buddies complain about kids today being lazy. - Sidelines today have tablets & flatscreen TVs to review what happened the previous series, we had a coach with a portable whiteboard. Only the QB got to take home opponents films, we got to watch them once on Mondays and then practice for that. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. - We didn't have any organized student sections with its own dedicated speaker system to play music (separate from the actual PA system). At least I don't think we did. -We did lots of static stretches before games and practices. I also never played a game on turf. -I had NUMEROUS concussions while playing, you got your bell rung and you toughed it out. I think it causes me to forget stuff. Nowadays they don't pull that. -I'm sure I'll think of some more lol... |
|
|
|
Post by bulldogsdc on Jan 19, 2024 8:06:58 GMT -6
94' graduate, played in central FL in a very rural area (swamp, cow pastures and orange groves baby). Played guard, center and LB in the 50 defense with a little bit of NT my senior year. 3 year starter. Senior year we had the 1st winning record at that school in over 20 years. Good times. Was fortunate enough to be picked up by an NAIA school in Kentucky as a guard. Played there 3 years before career was cut short due to neck injury, then GA'd after that. Wore huge pads because I wasn't very big and wanted to look bigger. Wore the cowboy collar and a mirror visor (not allowed today). Wore Neumann gloves too, even as an OL. I hated the big bulky OL gloves. When you were as sh!tty as I was, you needed to hold, but those old open jerseys everyone wore would tear your fingernails up (as someone already mentioned). 2 a days in HS were hell in the FL heat. My dad owned a construction company and I'd work between practices cleaning up job sites and delivering material to various jobs throughout the area. On the days I was lucky not to have to work we'd go to someone's house that had a pool and swim. Well, we wouldn't actually swim, we'd just sit in the cool water dreading the next practice. Things were wild where I went to school, we'd go fire hunting at night after practice (hunting deer with a spotlight) or hog hunting with dogs and get up the next day and do it all over again. Ah to be young again! Then again...maybe not. That transitioned into 3 a days in college, hours of film (which I loved) and opponent breakdown. The school I went to was very rural so it fit with my rural upbringing. I got educated real quick, fast and in a hurry about being the small fish in a big pond. Got my ducks in a row as a sophomore and was able to start 8 games. Made 3 starts as a junior before my injury. I saw the writing on the wall though, my body just would not let me continue to play the game at that level. So I got into coaching. Loved every minute of it. 18 hour days, the grind, I loved it as a 20 year old. The $400 every two week stipend and getting married killed that though. But, it fired up my love for coaching, so there is that. Like some have said, I would not trade a dam minute of it for nothing! Edit: My one claim to fame is that during my time as a starter in both HS and college I blocked for a thousand yard rusher every year. I always though that was pretty neat. Anyhoo... Did you ever line up against the Blue Darters? |
|
|
|
Post by QBCoachDurham on Jan 19, 2024 8:13:32 GMT -6
This is the only existing video that I know of from my playing days.
|
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Jan 19, 2024 8:51:01 GMT -6
This is the only existing video that I know of from my playing days. you from Clinnon or Peekins? |
|
|
|
Post by QBCoachDurham on Jan 19, 2024 8:54:15 GMT -6
QB for Pickens
|
|
|
|
Post by chadavan on Jan 19, 2024 10:22:52 GMT -6
1993: One of our linebackers was knocked silly during a practice. Here's the conversion:
Coach: Do you who you are?
Kid: Yes, Coach
Coach Do you know who I am?
Kid: Yes, Coach
Coach: Good, get back out there!
|
|
|
|
Post by blb on Jan 19, 2024 10:27:01 GMT -6
In addition to things that others from my generation like fantom have mentioned - salt tablets, no water, 3-a-days, Butt or Spear blocking and tackling with Riddell suspension helmets - If you have seen "Remember The Titans" my HS experience was similar to that. Except we didn't go undefeated. Plus my junior year we had a teachers' strike that caused us to miss two weeks of practice and have two games cancelled. Also at that time my state didn't start playing games until two weeks after Labor Day so the season extended into November. Thus we played-practiced in sleet, snow, cold, mud. When boys were men and the girls were glad of it. |
|
|
|
Post by wolverine55 on Jan 19, 2024 10:45:27 GMT -6
I played high school football during the '96 and '97 seasons. I attended a really small high school (115ish) students so we first got to participate in football by joining another school as part of a co-op my junior year. Despite having only two years of experience, I did get to then also play for a D3 school. I will say that looking back now and comparing where I have coached to where I attended high school, we had an insane amount of good athletes for such a small school. Anyway, here's what sticks out to me:
1. As others have mentioned, there wasn't an off-season program other than 2-3 days a week in the weight room. I was projected to be a center immediately so I went out and snapped a football with a teammate after lifting weights. No one else did anything football-related during these weight sessions and this was the whole month of June and most of July.
2. The only football-related activity all summer was we had camp the last week of July Monday-Thursday at our practice field. This was a couple of weeks before practice officially started and was supposed to be the kickoff to the season.
3. We had talent--one school in our co-op won a basketball state title in '97 and then my school won it in '98--but we had a lack of experience. We had 36 players on the team in my junior year...and 21 of us had never played football before that season. It showed as went 0-9. Here's how raw we were: we played an extremely good Wing T team about midseason, and we were shocked that they pulled guards on passing plays!
4. My senior year, we recruited the heck out of the hallways and got our numbers up to 55 or so and we did go 3-6. Again, that lack of experience kind of did us in at times.
5. Backtracking to my junior year, we did Bull-in-the-ring and in my first rep of being in the center I got trucked by our starting fullback who was not new to the game. It was his fourth year of playing. And, that is how I fell in love with the game, lol!!
|
|
|
|
Post by blb on Jan 19, 2024 11:00:18 GMT -6
Couple other things we did BITD:
We started practice with 10-15 minutes of Calisthenics as our Warm-Up.
Every kind of Cals you can think of. Similar to a Boot Camp or at least the Lombardi Packers I imagine.
Jumping Jacks, Toe Touchers, Squat Thrusts ("Burpees"), Pushups-Situps, Leg Lifts, Grass Drills (Down-Ups), etc.
Heck I was gassed before practice even began (there was no such thing as "Pre-Season Conditioning" at that time).
And at the end we ran sprints. Lots and lots of sprints.
Our coaches did not try to disguise them or make them fun.
We ran them for the literal hell of it. "Nobody runs more than we do!"
We ran as an entire team so there was no opportunity to "rest" between them. And if one person "loafed" we repeated it.
|
|
|
|
Post by blb on Jan 19, 2024 11:18:08 GMT -6
Funny story (you guys started this Nostalgia thing):
One day near end of practice during Team I was in at QB and I called the play on "Stutter-Count Three!" which was part of our cadence.
For some reason HC objected to that, threw me out of huddle, and told me to "Start running!" (we had a cinder track around our practice field).
So I did.
Several minutes later he sent the team off the field while I was still running (well, jogging).
I didn't know what to do. He either forgot about me or didn't care.
After a few minutes more when nobody came out to get me I went in.
That probably wouldn't fly today.
|
|
|
|
Post by bignose on Jan 19, 2024 11:41:12 GMT -6
I graduated in 1969, last played in the 1968 season. Brand new High School, we practiced for the first season at a local National Guard parade ground because our fields weren't finished. No locker rooms, no showers.
Hose? You had a hose? We had a water dipper in a 5 gallon galvanized bucket of warm water.
Riddel suspension helmet? Yep, mine had 2 horizontal crossbars. I was a 175 lb. back up center. Every time I snapped the ball my jaw got tatooed. I have the scars to prove it.
My senior year: We are practicing our 2 minute hurry up offense, and for some reason I am in with the starters.
The HC says: "OK you just gained 12 yards on the last play."
So I call for a huddle.
The HC, a classic old school screamer, starts to tear me a new one for calling the huddle.
"But coach, the clock stops to move the chains when you get a first down."
The HC gave me one of those cocked eyed looks, turns his hat sideways and walks away.
That's when I knew that I was gonna be a coach!
|
|
|
|
Post by fantom on Jan 19, 2024 11:50:56 GMT -6
Some of these stories remind me of some things:
After we finished the cals we did a ton of other drills, monkey rolls and such. One of the drills was called Burma Road. Cut blocking was legal and that's what the drill entailed. There was a series of dummies set up on a zig-zag angle about ten yards apart. You'd sprint to the first, cross-body block it with your right side, get up, run, and do it to the next, then the next and the next. Then you got back in line. Like I said, the idea was to work us into shape.
As others mentioned the season started a lot later. Our first game was Sept. 14. Some schools had Thanksgiving games but we didn't so our last regular season game was Nov. 14. There was no state playoff but there were regional playoff games. We were in the Eastern Conference. That game had schools from the Scranton area playing a team from Down Da Line, around Mount Carmel and Pottsville.
That game was the first Saturday in December so we had a couple of weeks with no games. It got cold as hell and snowed about a foot so we didn't practice the first few days, just ran. A LOT. Then it warmed up suddenly and fast so when we did start actual practice it was in a quagmire. Over the weekend the weather got really cold and the ground froze. All of that mud that we'd churned up was now hard and sharp. Tackling and cut blocking on that was lotsa fun.
You know how players today show off how tough they are by playing in short sleeves? We didn't play that. We had gloves and sweatshirts and as much warm clothing on as we could wear and still move.
|
|
|
|
Post by coachdubyah on Jan 19, 2024 12:09:00 GMT -6
I just feel like this needs to be in here.
|
|
|
|
Post by blb on Jan 19, 2024 12:50:29 GMT -6
The great thing about all these "Nostalgia" posts is how many of us became coaches and are still on CoachHuey even if no longer active in the profession.
Salut!
|
|
|
|
Post by bulldogsdc on Jan 19, 2024 12:52:11 GMT -6
If it makes you feel any better there are some places that still coach em hard, run the ball and tackle in practice.
|
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Jan 19, 2024 15:57:09 GMT -6
I just feel like this needs to be in here. it's not /showingposting, but is the Andy Griffen clip? |
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Jan 19, 2024 16:01:08 GMT -6
Hose? You had a hose? We had a water dipper in a 5 gallon galvanized bucket of warm water. No.... we had a hose pipe .... it's a regional thing |
|
|
|
Post by coachwoodall on Jan 19, 2024 16:06:39 GMT -6
I was about to join in, and then I realized a lot of you guys were coaching veterans by the time my HS career ended in 2013. Nope, not meant to be a biggest pecker contest, just what is was like for YOU way back (or near back) when. 2013 was coaching year 20 for me, but there are a bunch things from then that are very different now. Just a cocktail story hour thread for funsies. |
|
