There’s an upcoming game I will never forget

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August 24, 2010

THE VIEW FROM HERE

By JIM HARDIN CNHI The Zope Gazette Tue Aug 24, 2010, 07:55 PM CDT

Rockwall County — I remember my first game as a high school football player like it happened just 48 years ago.

That’s using a roundabout journalistic maneuver to tell you that I have no memory of that game because it occurred such a long, long time ago.

I can make some assumptions, however.

I was a freshman member of the Tatum Eagles football team. I was wearing a green and white uniform, probably. There’s a “probably” here because our coach persuaded school officials to allow him to change the school’s predominant athletic color from green to orange. But I believe that major moment in Eagles sports history occurred during my sophomore year, not my freshman year.

Another assumption that probably is accurate — I was one scared little boy.

Scared? Little boy?

How could that be?

Back in those days, we didn’t have middle school or junior high teams. Maybe the larger schools had those teams for the younger players, but Tatum was a poor Class B school. So, our first exposure to organized tackle football was the ninth grade.

That year, the services of every body on this small team were needed. I was thrown into the heat of battle immediately. I was a little boy playing against men.

We went 0-10 that season, but won the first game of my sophomore year.

I got quite a football education that freshman year. One of the biggest lessons I can remember learning is what to do with the football after you score a touchdown.

After scoring my first touchdown, I went to the huddle. Richard Clements, the quarterback, said, “Hardin I believe you need to give the football to the referee.” Yep, I had carried the ball back to the huddle with me. I was a little excited.

And I have another major memory — the first time my name appeared in a newspaper sports story. I even remember the sentence that appeared in the Marshall News-Messenger: “A promising newcomer is little Jimmy Hardin,”

“Little Jimmy Hardin” weighed 130 pounds.

Now that I’m halfway through this column, I’ll negotiate another journalistic maneuver. This one is called, “Make your point.”

I started thinking about my first football game while watching my 11-year-old, sixth-grade grandson get his very first taste of real tackle football on an organized team. He’s a member of the Wylie Preparatory Academy Patriots’ six-man football team.

The Patriots scrimmaged Lucas Christian Academy Saturday morning.

Noah Welch got an adequate amount of playing time, and I thought he did a fine job. I saw improvement in his play as the two-hour scrimmage progressed. And he became more aggressive as the game went on.

I believe Noah will improve with each game, just like I believe I did my freshman year. He’s got good coaching, not just the advice he gets from his dad and I. And he’s smart. And he listens.

Back to the coaching. I watched my grandson, but I also watched these coaches. They coached. And it was an amazing feat. They didn’t holler and scream at the kids unless a raised voice was necessary to get a message across the field. They communicated with the kids and encouraged them.

I don’t know how this little team will fare this season on the scoreboard but I believe they are going to do just fine.

And when Noah Welch and his Patriots teammates suit up and play their first game, I know for sure it’s a game I will never forget.

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