Win, or Else Read online

CHAPTER 2

  I’LL TELL ‘EM, COACH

  Every football player faces the first day of practice with mixed emotions. It is the beginning of a hard grind of practice sessions which are physically and mentally tiring. It also marks the beginning of a new opportunity, which is even greater when the team is the popular choice to be the new league champions.

  The schedule called for all of the boys to report between nine and eleven o’clock to be issued their equipment. Actual practice would begin at two o’clock.

  Long before nine o’clock most of the players had arrived. Among the first in the line were Tim and Tom Brown. They teased and joked with the others present about their evening practice sessions. The joking was received very coldly by those who had been conditioning themselves so faithfully.

  When the Browns began talking about the football season with its obstacles and prospects, the fellows became more interested. Soon all were talking about the chances of winning. Tim and Tom did not minimize the part they expected to play this year.

  “All we need is a line that can hold the other teams,” offered Tom, “We’ll do the rest.”

  When the boys were issued their uniforms they claimed a locker and stored their equipment. One of the new additions in the locker room, noticed by all, was the signs placed all around the room. When one came into the locker room, he read:

  “HE CAN WHO THINKS HE CAN”

  On another wall were several philosophical slogans. One read:

  “IT TAKES A COOL HEAD

  TO WIN A HOT GAME”

  Another warned:

  “IT IS THE HEEL

  WHO DOESN’T TOE THE LINE”

  And still another stated:

  “OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

  BUT IT DOESN’T BREAK DOWN THE DOOR”

  Pasted on the mirror where all of the boys could see it every time they paused to see themselves, which was often for some, the coach had placed a typed slogan which read:

  “YOU ARE NOW LOOKING AT THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON

  IN ALL THE WORLD!

  MAKE HIM A PERSON THE WORLD WILL BE PROUD OF.”

  Each boy looked around the room as he came in with his football gear. Most of them read the signs out loud. Some had comments; others just read them and went on. All were being subjected to Coach Andrew’s ideas and philosophy pertaining to the game of football.

  Hot weather and early football practices seem to go together like hot dogs and mustard. The sun was very hot for the first day of practice this year. At noon the thermometer on the bank downtown indicated it was 85 degrees. Riding past the building, the boys commented on how hot it would be on the field in the afternoon.

  Also riding past the building in another car were the Brown twins. When they saw how hot it was, they decided to wait until the next morning to report for their first practice.

  “I think we can do as well on the golf course as they will do on the field, don’t you, Tim,” said Tom, who was usually the first to suggest contrary behavior.

  “Guess so,” replied Tim, “Boy, it’ll be hot out there today. I bet he’ll work their tails off too.”

  After lunch the twins told their mother they were going to football practice. They put their football shoes into their car which already contained their golf clubs. Soon they were on the golf course hitting the little round ball with such concentration that they completely forgot football practice.

  Smitty was the first to ask about the missing teammates. Everyone was dressed and on the field early. It wouldn’t have been surprising if someone was late, but when two o’clock came and Coach Andrews called the fellows together Smitty stopped near Augie Bent and said, “I wonder what Coach will do when he finds the twins aren’t here.”

  “We’ll soon know,” replied Augie nodding to the coach.

  “Let’s check the roll first,” said Mr. Andrews and he began to call off the names of the boys who had been issued equipment.

  “Tim Brown,” called the coach in alphabetical order without looking up from his clipboard.

  No answer.

  “Tom Brown”

  Again no answer.

  Mr. Andrews paused, looked around at the silent boys, then simply said, “I guess they don’t need the practice,” and he continued calling names.

  When roll-call was over, the coach laid out the general plan for practice sessions. “We’ll begin by taking two laps around the field. That means around the back stops,” he said, pointing to the baseball backstops which were in opposite corners of the field, “and around the flag poles on the other corners. When you finish that we’ll have calisthenics and then two more laps. After that we’ll take a short break right here. O.K., let’s go! Two laps and I want to see the backs leading the way!”

  Laps around the big practice field were just a little less than half a mile. Two laps were nearly a mile. The boys soon spread out in a long line. The faster and better conditioned fellows stepped out ahead, while the bigger boys and stragglers brought up the rear of the line.

  Wayne was one of the first to complete his two laps. When he came in Coach Andrews said, “Wayne, I want you to lead them in the exercises today. I’ll tell you what to do.”

  “O.K., Coach” said the eager senior as he assumed his position facing the place where the team would line up.

  “Three lines facing Cain,” called Andrews, as the boys came back to the place from where they began, “Hurry up there! Let’s go!”

  Most of the boys had worked up a good sweat by running, but they all dripped with perspiration by the time they completed their exercises.

  “Start with side-straddle-hops,” ordered the coach, “A good warm-up drill.”

  “Alright gang, let’s go! One-two, one-two, one-two”, called Cain as he started jumping and swinging his arms up from his side to slap them together over his head.

  “Next, we’ll do some trunk-twisters to loosen up the muscles around your middle. Like this, arms out. On one, swing way around facing the left. Keep the arms parallel to the ground and go as far around as you can. On two, bring them back to the starting position and stop. On three, to the right, and four, back. Stretch those muscles good.”

  “O.K.,” added Cain, “one-two-three-four, one-two-three-four,” he counted while they all did the drill.

  The next fifteen minutes were spent exercising. The trunk-twisters were followed by squat jumps, pushups, leg lifts, and various other “tortures”. These were followed by two more laps, running under the sun, which by this time had thermometers registering over 90 degrees.

  When the runners finally dragged themselves around to the starting location, they found Coaches Andrews and Miller standing on the raised pitcher’s mound of the baseball diamond.

  “Some of you look tired,” Andrews dryly joked.

  Most of the boys were too tired to think it funny. Smitty was the only one to answer. He said, “I’m pooped,” and he collapsed.

  “I know it’s hot out here, but this is the best weather there is for conditioning.” Coach Andrews spoke the truth from his viewpoint, but many of the boys listening would have liked to try doing their conditioning in cooler weather.

  “You fellows all know the school policy on training. I hope you will be tired enough to get to bed early, but tired or not, ten o’clock is the deadline.”

  ‘Does that mean weekends too, Coach?” asked Augie Bent.

  “No, you can have until eleven on Friday and Saturday nights, but remember, this is your team. You cannot do your best unless you are in the best possible condition. That means eat properly and get enough sleep. If you are caught out after hours, you will have to be dropped from the squad. If you aren’t caught, you are still cheating yourself, cheating your teammates, and cheating your school.”

  “One more thing,” he added, “we will not have any smoking or drinking. If we go anywhere in this league, we do it because we are in better shape than the other teams.

  “Now you
have had a good break, we’ll divide up. The backs stay with me. The linemen go with Mr. Miller.”

  Mr. Miller took off calling out, “Over here gang. We’ll start on the sled.”

  Wayne Cain bounced up at the order and started to follow Mr. Miller. After a few steps he paused, looked back at some stragglers who were just pushing themselves up from the ground, and shouted, “You heard him, let’s go.” At the command from their fellow player, they moved more quickly and followed him to the other end of the field.

  “What do we have for backs?” asked the coach as he huddled with his ball carriers.

  “Tim is the quarterback and Tom is left halfback,” volunteered Smitty. He was going to say more but was cut off.

  “Smitty,” began coach coldly, “If they are part of this team why aren’t they here? You can tell them that if they expect to play on this team, they had better report for practice tomorrow and not miss another one all year. We have some good sophomores who will play before I’ll play anyone who skips practice. Will you tell them?”

  “I’ll tell ‘em Coach,” replied Smitty meekly, realizing too late that the remark was meant not only for him but also for the others present.

  The rest of the practice was routine drills on skills learned in previous years but in constant need of review. They worked on their stance, start, hand off and receiving the ball, carrying the ball, pivots and stiff arm. Two more laps around the field and the first practice was over.

  The benches in the locker room, out of the hot sun, were a welcome sight to the boys as they came in tired and breathless from the practice field. No one had enough ambition to participate in any horseplay. Most of the boys had to drag themselves through the process of undressing, showering, and dressing in their street clothes.

  While they were dressing, Smitty told Wayne what Coach had said about the Brown twins. “Do you think he means it?”

  “Sure he means it, and why shouldn’t he?” put in the little guard. “How would you handle guys like them if you were Coach?”

  “They’re good ballplayers. I’d let ‘em play,” he quickly replied.

  “That’s a good reason for you not bein’ coach then,” came back the reply. “I think we’d better tell ‘em and get ‘em out to practice or we’ll be playin’ with sophomores and end up like a couple of years ago.”

  Mr. Brown asked his boys how football practice went when he saw them at dinner that evening.

  “Fine,” said Tom, but he didn’t elaborate.

  “Wasn’t it hot out there?”

  “Sure,” replied Tim, “but we’re in good shape. It didn’t bother us much.”

  When the phone rang, Tom hurried to answer. “Yeah,”

  It was Smitty, and he told him what the coach had said.

  “Oh,” Tom said, “Don’t worry about that. O.K., we’ll see you in the morning,” and he hung up.

  “Who was that,” asked his brother.

  “Smitty, he said I left my shirt on the bench, and he put it in his locker,” Tom lied.

  Several more phone calls that evening interrupted the Browns. Each time one of the twins answered and made up a story about it. Their lies were not discovered by their folks. They also got the message, loud and clear, that they were expected at practice.

  Tom and Tim liked the glory which they received from sports and decided the time had come to go to work. They reported for the morning practice on Tuesday and made the afternoon practice as well.

  Walking on the golf course was much different from running with football pads on. That first day was real torture for the twins. A few of their teammates felt sorry for them in their misery, but most of their “friends” felt it served them right for the earlier remarks made by the twins.

  “No use getting’ sweated up before you have to. Right, Tom?” asked Augie Bent of the exhausted newcomer.

  “I feel great. How ‘bout you, Tom?” asked Tiny Small.

  Whisk was blunter when he told the team, “Hey, gang look at our heroes now. You’d never think those guys could be all-conference. Just look at ‘em.”

  “Knock it off, fellows,” barked Wayne Cain. “Save your energy for football.”

  After two practices on Tuesday, the twins were tired enough to have it show at home. Mr. Brown laughed as he asked them how it happened they were in such good shape the first day and so tired the second. “That new coach must have really made you work today.”

  “Leave the boys alone, dear. Can’t you see the poor darlings are tired,” cooed Mrs. Brown and the subject was dropped.

  Under a hot sun and clear sky, the team practiced twice a day for the whole week. With ideal weather conditions the boys quickly became hardened to the running, exercising, and the bumps and bruises from blocking and tackling. The twins, who began their training after the others did, usually trailed the other boys when they took their laps. They scoffed at the eager players for making them look bad, but in spite of themselves and their contrary attitude, even they were showing noticeable improvement.

  Most of the practices of the first week were spent on fundamentals; drills for improving their running, blocking, tackling, passing, and kicking skills.

  Every practice, during the break, the coach would lecture to the boys about training rules, sportsmanship, game strategy and plays they would use. The sessions always took place with the coach on the pitcher’s mound of the baseball field and the players sitting around on the ground.

  One of the sessions produced a good laugh, and a name for the talks. After he had run his laps and was parking his weary body near the coach, Dick Schultz, the second string quarterback, called to his teammates, “Come on children, and gather at the feet of the master for another sermon on the mound.” Thereafter the discussions or talks were called the “sermon on the mound”, even by Coach Andrews.

  By the end of the week, the linemen and backs were put together and began to work as a unit. The line with five veterans was showing signs of strength. Mr. Miller recognized the ability of the seniors and had them in his first unit. Wayne Cain was at right guard with Ken Whisk at right tackle and Jay Roberts at right end, just as they were at the end of last season. Augie Bent and Tiny Small were at left end and tackle respectively. Left guard was being played by Pat Olson and Don Lake was at the center position. Olson and Lake were juniors; big, strong and eager to play. Both coaches smiled a happy smile as they watched the line work. They were confident that they had a line to be proud of.

  The backfield was not doing as well as Mr. Andrews had hoped. He had Tom at quarterback, Tim at left halfback and Smitty at right halfback. Joe Blaine, a junior, was practicing in the fullback position. Each boy seemed to have the ability, but they had not begun to work together yet.

  “We’re going to use the same plays we used all last year,” Mr. Andrews told his team. He had some new ones to introduce later, but he did not want to make the thinking any more difficult than necessary at first. Even though the plays were the same, the backs had trouble running them. They did not seem to execute them as they should. “It’s still early in the year. They’ll get them,” Mr. Andrews confidently said to his assistant.

  Saturday’s practice would consist of a game-type scrimmage. The first string line would play with the second string backfield while the first string backfield would run behind the second string line. This way it would even the teams up better. While planning for the scrimmage, Coach Andrews again wondered why his backfield was not operating properly. He had a feeling the fault lay with the twins. He knew they were not working as hard as they could. He observed them trailing the others while running laps and loafing through calisthenics. He sensed antagonism between them and the other team members.

  If he could have seen them Friday evening, he would have known more about them. They had dates and were out long after the hour they should have been home.

  “What do you think Coach would say if he saw us now?” asked Tom, while they
were going home well after midnight.

  “Nothing,” replied Tim. “He needs us or he won’t have a team. Why don’t you get it through your thick skull and stop worrying!”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right, only - -“

  “Besides,” added Tim, “Dad would fix it up if we did get caught. He wouldn’t stand for Andrews kicking us off, would he?”

  Mr. Brown had been a football player when he was in college and was still very much interested in the game. He gained a lot of pride and satisfaction from seeing his sons play football.

  In their earlier years, the twins had the good fortune of having personal coaching from their experienced father. The last few years, however, Mr. Brown had become so busy with his business and community affairs that the boys were left pretty much to themselves. One of his duties was being a member of the school board. It was this position of authority which the boys thought was their insurance. Coach Andrews wouldn’t dare kick the stars off his team, especially if their father was on the school board.

  “But, he could tell Dad, and then we’d be in trouble with him. Maybe he’d take the car from us,” Tim said, ending the conversation.

  Many of the fans were present on Saturday morning for the intra-squad game. Most were disappointed when they saw how the team was divided because they had hoped to see the Brown boys run.

  It was not surprising to the coaches that the first string line was able to contain the backfield with comparative ease. They knew the line would be good and they were not disappointed.

  When the game was over the first team backfield and the second team line were three touchdowns behind. The real fact was that they hadn’t managed to gain more than about twenty yards in the whole practice.

  “What did you expect,” asked Tim of a fan. “They knew our plays and we couldn’t do anything with that line we had.”

  “Wait ‘till next week, wait ‘till they’re on our side in a real game”, added Tom as he stepped beside Tim.

  “Fellows,” said Coach Andrews as his team gathered in the locker room away from the fans. “We liked some of the things we saw out there today. We also saw some things we didn’t like. The line looked fine. You fellows did some good blocking and good tackling, and there was some good team play on defense; but you backs have a great deal of work cut out for you for next week.

  “No practice this afternoon, Sunday or Labor Day, but be ready to begin again Tuesday right after school. Remember, our first game is next Friday at Samson High. That means only three practices; and boys, we need them.”