BLEEDING BLUE AND GOLD
No doubt things have changed since I was a kid.
I’ve been thinking about the stretched out shorts and worn out T-shirts they issued us in high school athletics. I’m pretty sure the state has a policy on these types of things today that no longer permits public schools to force student athletes to wear such atrocities.
Does anyone else remember the big diaper pin contraption they gave us to clip these rags to so guys like Mike Korth and Derric Whorton could wash them when needed?
I’m pretty sure with an old school process like that, Tide could not get those stains out. If those T-shirts were ever white you would have never known.
Do they even wear athletic supporters anymore? And to think we wore these things after they had been worn by others. (Wow, things have changed!) This is obviously before we knew about germs. I guess it brought us closer together as a team, knowing you were wearing some upper classman’s jockstrap from the year before?!
I think a lot about what it meant to be a Tiger back in the day and how it shaped our lives.
Coach Fred Johnson was still around part of our time when we were in high school and, of course, he won us a state championship in 1976.
I think he and Coach Lew Simmonds had to share a headset, imagine how many state championships he would have won if he had today’s budget.
With Coach Johnson leading, you always felt like every year was going to be another state championship year. Fred Johnson had that kind of confidence and it was contagious. We all wanted to be the best Rockdale Tiger we could be.
Coach Johnson was hard to like but he was easy to respect. You had to appreciate what he was attempting to do and the program he was building.
Back in the 1980s, the KC Hall had dances on Saturday night and I remember Coach Johnson telling us to not even be seen at a table with any alcohol sitting on it.
Can you imagine that in 2024?
Being above reproach was a thing if you were a Rockdale Tiger. I guess character and integrity meant something when Ronald Reagan was in office. Obviously it was a “yes sir, no sir” environment. Very strict.
This guy was so tough one year while playing JV (aka being a tackling dummy for varsity) Gilbert Garza and Tony Pope lit me up and busted my chin wide open. Coach Charlie Spano, who was pretty tough himself, told Coach Johnson I needed to go and get some stitches.
Coach Johnson told him to put a butterfly bandage on it and to send me back to practice. Yikes!
Consistency mattered. We all had to dress the same even during the off-season. One day fellow Tiger David Davis was wearing some blue shorts he had brought from home and he was told to go back into the field house and change. Told you it was a culture of discipline.
I was talking to our Mayor Ward Roddam about this topic and he shared with me that, “It was an honor to play in front of our home crowd and I felt like in some small way I was representing our town.”
He went on to say, “I loved the challenges that our coaches presented us with. I’m a firm believer that the discipline and leadership I was taught while playing football as a Rockdale Tiger directly correlates to my adult life.”
I’d say there is a lot of truth in that statement.
Former Tiger and current Tiger Coach Pete Heintze, whose dad Scott was a big time Tiger a million years ago, told me, “Being a Tiger is special. As a kid growing up all I wanted was to wear the Blue & Gold and be a Tiger. I considered it and still do consider it a privilege, something that Tiger athletes should take pride in.”
You can’t disagree with that! Being a Tiger is special, it’s why we bleed Blue & Gold. —ka— So I saw on social media our County Judge Bill Whitmire and his wife Melissa were playing pickleball on a recent trip to Houston. (By the way, “Happy Anniversary!”) Word on the street is the judge could turn pro. I used to play a lot of tennis and when pickleball started trending everyone would say, “Are you playing pickleball?”
Listen, I am not a fan. I think it’s a made up game like yard darts. But I like the judge a lot so I’m going to give him a shout out and let everyone know you can play pickleball right here in the Rock or you can drive to Cameron which has invested pretty heavily in the game.
If you don’t know, pickleball is a paddle game and you can play singles or doubles. I think the ball you hit is a lot like a wiffle ball. Its history goes back to 1965 and the state of Washington, where it was invented. If tennis and ping pong got married and had a baby they would name it pickleball.
It’s played on a smaller court than a tennis court and really seems to be a good sport for senior adults who still have some get up and go but are somewhat limited in their mobility.
I talked to Justin down at city hall and you can borrow the net and all the equipment you need to play from the city at no cost and without any deposit for the day. The city court is at Moultry Park behind the old Aycock School. —ka— I don’t know if this is true but I read on X last week that only 5 percent of high school athletes make it to their summer workouts every time there is an opportunity.
Also, only 5 percent of high school athletes play at the college level.
Do you think there is a connection? Just saying.
Alright, sports fans, those are your sports fun facts for the week.
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