Tonight I will step back in time.
50 years to be exact.
They are honoring 50 years of Oxford Night Football tonight. I was a freshman in 1969, the very first year of the fledgling football program at Oxford High. I was maybe 125 pounds soaking wet with all my equipment.
What the hell I was thinking I have no idea.
It did not take long for me to realize that my prowess in those neighborhood pickup games did not exactly translate to real football with pads on.
For one thing, it hurt like hell.
Getting beat up is something I got used to in four years of high school football.
Blew out my right shoulder in my junior year. It's why I can't not throw a ball overhand today.
Busted my collarbone in my senior year. Our quarterback, Chally Hassard, and his family moved back down South before that season. That left - you guess it - me as the quarterback.
It did not go well. We lost our first four or five games with me at the helm.
It didn't change after I got hurt.
We went 0-10 my senior year.
And I wouldn't trade that experience for anything in the world.
I often tell people I learned more by being on that team - from that group of guys - than I ever did in any classroom. That's probably a bit of an overstatement.
But I can tell you one thing. I will never forget those teams. Or that group of guys.
Can't wait for tonight.
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