I didn't make it to my high school reunion Saturday night.
It's been 40 years since I roamed the halls of Oxford Area High School.
I was reminded of just how long it was by a photo that was posted on an old classmate's Facebook page. He didn't make it either, and I guess he was reminiscing about the way we were.
I couldn't believe it when I saw the photo on Facebook.
It's the exact same photo that has been hanging in my son's room since the day he was born.
It shows his father sitting cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by a very special group of friends.
Meet the Oxford High football team of 1970. That's me, No. 12, in the front row.
This was not just any football team. It was the first team in OAHS history.
Yes, we took our lumps.
The truth is we weren't very good. Actually, in our first two years, we had a couple of guys who could really play, one in particular. Chuck Peterson could play for anybody.
When his class graduated, that left us a little on the lean side.
We were small and inexperienced. How small? In my senior year, I was the starting quarterback. If you had soaked me even with all my equipment on, I would have been hard pressed to top 120 pounds. (I haven't gotten a lot bigger in the four decades since).
We went 0-10 my senior year. I can only take credit for four of the losses, however, courtesy of a broken collarbone, which I guess matched the wrecked shoulder that ended my junior year.
I tell people all the time that I very likely learned more from that group of guys, and about life, than I did in any classroom. Before the season, we would go to a camp in Downingtown for a week. It was the first time I had ever been away from home.
There's a bond among those guys that remains today.
This year the Oxford Hornets are off to a 5-0 start. They beat rival Octorara in a barn-burner Friday night.
I hope they appreciate the efforts of a bunch of ragtag guys who went before them, laying the foundation for what the program is today.
I will be forever grateful for the opportunities I got at Oxford High, and being part of that football program. I'm guessing I likely would not have been able to make many other high school football teams, let alone the first one.
Every time I look at that photo, a flood of memories comes back.
Funny, despite suffering two serious injuries and going 0-10 in our senior year, I wouldn't trade them for the world.
Comments