My daughter. How can you not vote for your own kid? 10 years of fastpitch, toiling on the mound. Mone of this 5 days off between starts-just give her the ball and GTF off the field. She played with poise, passion, and a hunger for the game. I will never forget the jubilation of the wins, and the crushing despair of the defeats.
Dick Butkus - Gayle Sayers - Dan Hampton Roberto Duran / Esteban DeJesus Olympian flag waving George Foreman Kenny Norton Mantle - Maris - Berra Aparicio - Nellie Fox - Sherm Lollar (had to hit homers or would never getto first) Johhny Unitas - Raymond Berry Minnie Minoso Hank Sauer Dick the Bruiser Eddie Arcaro Captain Ahab Charles "the hammer" Martel
Stevelyn, I don't know either but one of the defensive ends for the Dolphins of that era, three or four Super Bowl rings later, Vern DenHerder (I want to say, # 87 at the time but am not sure) is a friend of mine. Have heard some interesting stories.
We occasionally hunt pheasants or coyotes together. In '67, his senior year in high school here, the team he was a center on won the state basketball tournament.
He lives in the same community as I, his home town, and still does some farming.
George, when I was in high school, we would to to Buena Vista basketball games. They were played in St. Mary's gym at that time. The seating was quite limited. In a game against Central, we wound up sitting next to the Central players on the bench. Vern fouled out and was, naturally, displeased. He took the end seat on the bench and we kept shoving our friend next to him so that he would bump into Vern. Being the decent sort that he is, he just ignored our foolishness. I also saw him in that state tournament at Vets'. If all NFL players were of his caliber, it would be a better world.
John, he is a salt-of-the -earth type, conservative, and by nature, a farmer, the post-NFL occupation he took up after his football days but enabled because he was shrewd in handling his income of those football days even if in those days the money was relatively pedestrian.
As to the OP, he was not a world class athlete, but a good one, with size to match. These were the days before steroids and aggressive weight-lifting programs. As he told me once, "now QBs (Newton) are about as big as I was as a defensive end then---about 6' 6", and 250 at that time.
We grew up in nearby communities, arch rivals in everything. They had their first football season in '66, when we were opposing juniors in HS. If you can believe it he was returning kick-offs at that time. I drilled him in the first play of the game that year as we kicked off to them. I don't think he got to step-one on the return.
He was later a steady part of the No-Name defense for the Dolphin's perfect season team
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much" Teddy Roosevelt
1. Johnny Unitas 2. Rick Flair 3. Nolan Ryan 4. Terry Bradshaw 5. Ted Williams 6. Dusty Rhodes 7. Walter Payton 8. Jack Lambert 9. Concrete Charlie Bednarik 10. Marvin Hagler
"The number one problem with America is, a whole lot of people need shot, and nobody is shooting them." -Master Chief Hershel Davis
Jim Thorpe, Johnny Weismuller. Jack Lalanne, the dude who walked the tightrope across the Grand Canyon, the lady who, aged 64, swam from Cuba to Florida in 2 days. The guy who set the record bicycling from NYC to Frisco, 8 days. 20 mph, 20 hours per day. Man, talk about grueling.