I now have a date to go with the memory.
September 26, 1970.
Actually, the faded newspaper clipping was from two days later, Monday, Sept. 28, 1970.
It is an account of one of the more infamous beatdowns in Delco high school football history.
At least it was to me.
I was a sophomore at Oxford High. The year before, we had been part of the first football team in Oxford Area High School history. The next year our coach, Fred Green a proud alum of Chichester High, decided to go back to his old stomping grounds and challenge his old coach, the legendary Tony Apichella, in one of our first forays as a varsity football team.
It did not go well.
We got stomped, 72-3.
And now, thanks to an old friend, I have proof.
Jim Laird is a bit of a sports icon here in Delco, a longtime regional softball official who was instrumental in our longtime "Tournament of Champions" that used to crown the top softball team in the county each year.
What I did not know was that "Boog" - as almost everyone around here calls him, was the quarterback on that Chichester High team.
The clip tells the story of how Joe Miller scored five TDs, including returning the opening kickoff for a score. I don't think he was touched on the play. It was a sign of things to come.
For some reason, Laird is referred to as Butch in the clipping, which notes he only played the first half as the contest quickly got out of hand. Apichella did just about everything he could not to run up the score on us. I can assure it was not easy. The talent gap was that wide.
The clipping also confirms one other memory from that day.
We scored all of three points, on a Chuck Peterson field goal. I should know. I was the holder on that play. And we had to kick it twice, since we were offsides on the first try.
Some people might recoil from such a memory. Not me. I learned a lot of things that day, even if I didn't realize it until years later.
Now, exactly 50 years later, I can look back at it and smile.
Thanks for the memory, Boog.
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