passes...(cont.)

In the pre-West Coast offense days there wasn't any running across the middle and catching a short pass, either. Those perfect spiral passes were best when thrown long and caught in full stride, or when you turned and it came down right in your hands at your side.

passes...

i remember always striving for the perfect "spiral"...nothing was cooler than that pass with not a wobble in it....just like Johnny Unitas or the mad bomber Daryl Lamonica...as opposed to the "wounded duck" variety like a Joe Kapp or a Billy Kilmer....

Catches...

The bomb over the tree in the middle of the yard is one catch I remember. The catch that sticks in my mind the most was on the left hand side of the yard beside the fence separating the yard from Old Man Taylor's. I was running toward the driveway, turned to look for the pass. and when I did my heel hit what I think was a brick in the grass that had been buried and was protruding. (Near the old hole where a "wharf rat" had been seen going once in the misty past.) When my heel hit I started falling backwards. The pass was already in the air and I reached up with my right hand, caught the pass with the point of the football hitting me right in the palm of my hand (it was an old brown soft rubber football), and pulled it in as I fell to the ground. Can still remember cradling the football and pulling it in with one arm.

passes...

as i got older....fresh off the pp and k trophy....surprising brother rick and his teammate...steve williams... with the bomb to you OVER the tree in the backyard for a TOUCHDOWN!!!!!

Football too...

The no play when a car was coming sucked if you'd just run a good route. That meant you usually couldn't go to the well with that move again. There was always the chance of hitting sand on smooth concrete which, if you were trying to stop or cut on it, offered the possibility of slipping and busting your head, knee, or elbow (best of all). Thus the need for touch football in the road.

Tackle football in the grass was better, but provided its own hazards. Getting tackled and hitting your knee on a hard, buried root or rock was always a possibility. Of course, you didn't want to get your knees in the dirt anyway because of the chance of grass stains. One of the best pass plays was to the right corner of the house, throwing a low sidearm pass. After getting older, as a receiver you could run a route and slide low on the hill in that corner. The pass would come in low at the crest of the hill, but hit you just about in the chest as you made your slide.

football...

in the street.... down and out to the "sideline"....the curb...toes against it ...stretching out and catching the pass ala unitas to raymond berry....of course NO PLAY! if a car was coming!

Russell Court Redux

Doing an in-bounds pass at the oil drum was especially inventive. You had to stand in about a two foot open space at the right side of the drum. There was wood in front of it that you couldn't stand on, either. Those were court rules.

Not court rules was standing on the window ledge of the clubhouse beneath the basket and jumping up and out to try and dunk the basketball. None of the basketballs were particularly easy to get hands on to dunk. Probably the easiest one was a leather ball worn down to the rubberin spots, and pretty slick except for a couple of rough spots.

russell....

also remembering the right corner at the baseline boundry had a 55 gal oil drum...on it's side...
geez...how did we survive?....indiana kids got nothin' on us!...

Russell Court

The last time I was there, which must have been 30 years ago, that small dirt court seemed like it was the size of a postage stamp. I still don't know how someone didn't fracture his skull running into the chicken coop on the right hand side of the court, or hitting a tree branch chasing a ball out of bounds. After awhile you learned to use one of the branches above the court to gauge your shot if you were taking a long one from the right hand rear corner, and also to use the hill on the left hand side to give you a height advantage if you were driving to that side. As I remember there were a couple of choice spots high on that slat backboard that deadened a shot just enough to fall through the rim if you put the right english on the shot.

basketball...

mrs. russell's house...
dirt court with a wood backboard and rim nailed onto a "clubhouse"that was damaged during a hurricane fallout....hazel i believe.... "clubhouse" that was hq to many wwii battles against the kraut's and the jap's...i learned the fine art of the eddie fogler set shot there...

First post...

This is a blog consisting of random reminiscences and related commentary about growing up in suburban Greensboro, NC. I would love to have an appropriate first post (whatever that might be), but I'm not sure what that might be.

As far as first remembrances go, though, the first thing that comes to mind is watching ACC basketball back when the big games were on usually once or twice a week, and there was always a big one on Saturday afternoons. After what was usually a Carolina win, there was the chance to go outside and try to repeat a Larry Miller up and under, a Walter Davis outside jumper, or to throw your body after the ball like George Karl (that happened much less outdoors).