Memory Lane: My parents courtship, and a Football Life

Virginia Poly-technical Institute 1954 

When he got off the bus at VPI (Virginia Poly-technical Institute, now known as Virginia Tech) he heard the sounds of football practice off in the distance...

My father was a high school All

Football 1950's Style

American tight end from Toccoa, Ga.  His hope had been to play just down the road at the state college--The University of Georgia.  As luck had it that year, the Bulldogs recruited the entire Athens High offense, including a guy named Fran Tarkington, that had defeated Toccoa in the state finals.  

Uncle John: Dr. John P. Bond
All American UGA 1933
Still holds record/longest punt

It left Daddy out in the cold.  Needless to say, he wasn't happy about it; our uncle John Bond was an All American at Georgia, and had fought hard to get his nephew in as well--to no avail...So, it was with some heartbreak that he took the scholarship and went to Blacksburg, Virginia instead.  

I must have had him tell me this story

Momma and Daddy, Lake Burton Ga
1954, headed into the future

dozens of times; so absorbed by the love of the game as I was, not to mention the normal curiosity a child has for the details of his parent's courtship...

"They took the top half off of a mountain up there," he told me.  "I couldn't see the fields from where I got off the bus, but I could hear the coach's whistles, and someone screaming "HIT! HIT! HIT!" from were I stood.  Could hear it even over the sounds of the bus idling.

"They had us go change into issued pads and I got a helmet..."  He chuckled at this, shaking his head.  "I had never worn a face bar, and the one they gave me didn't have one either, and my dang ole head was so big that the helmet sorta rode high; left my jaws and face exposed.  But, those were days when we just played, even if you lost your helmet on a play, you kept going.  You may have seen some old, black and white film of guys running hell-bent-for-leather down the field, bareheaded--you get the idea.

"They put me in against a Senior and on the first play, that ole boy come up with his fist and knocked out my bridge, and three more of my front teeth!" Daddy told me.  "I came over to the coach, blood running down my chin, and asked if I might get one of those new face bars..."

"I thought you Georgia boys was supposed to be tough, Herndon...you gonna get back in there and establish your presence?  Or, do we need to hold the bus soes you can go home to Momma?"

"What'd you do?" I remember asking.

Daddy shrugged and said: "I just ran back out there.  On the next play, I punched that fella back, broke is nose, we both bled like stuck pigs the rest of the day."

Freshman Cadet Herndon

He played five years at VPI, always waiting for a call from UGa to say they had a spot opening up for him so he could transfer.  Back then, freshmen did not play on varsity--freshman team only--then he was red-shirted for

Gobbler Mascot

his sophomore season.  By his junior year, he was starting for the Gobblers (yeah, I know, they call 'em Hokies now) at tight end, opposite the great split end Caroll Dale, who he roomed with.

By then, VPI had gone co-ed, and had terminated their military cadet program, for which my father was grateful.  He grew three inches between freshman and sophomore years...

"I'd pull the bed covers up at night, and they'd be at my knees by morning..." He used to joke about that last growth spurt that ended up with him listed as 
6'3" in the game programs. More than anything else, he was happy he didn't have to wear that scratchy wool cadet uniform anymore.

Twice every year, around mid October and around Spring

Daddy was NOT about to loose,
his trips to see Momma meant
a lot to him...

Break, the school athletic program put on a Greased Pig contest with a two hundred dollar cash prize.  Daddy won it nine times in a row, and used the money to hitch-hike down to Rock Hill, S.C. so he could see our mother, his high school sweet heart, who was attending Winthrop Collage as a fine arts major.

Caroll Dale kept calling Daddy'
"We got a new coach, Herndon..."

Their courtship continued through Daddy's last year at VPI. By that time, he had changed his major to pre-med and had a lot of credits to make up, which also allowed for his last year of eligibility.   He and Caroll Dale were both drafted by the Packers in 1957, Caroll went on up to Green Bay, but my father, who was now married and expecting a baby, didn't see how the 1200.00 a

Hartwell, Ga. Herndon Drug
Store was on the corner
downtown...

year salary would pay for much, and was waiting for UGa to accept him in med school.  So, he took a job coaching down in Hartwell, Ga., about fifteen miles from his hometown and another place where the name Herndon was well known.

The Hartwell Football Field is called
Herndon Stadium, to this day...

His Uncle Walt Herndon ran the Rexall Pharmacy in town, and the football field was, and is to this day, called Herndon Field.  

I wrote this blog because so many of you had been commenting on facebook about the picture of my parents shown above, with them standing in swim suits at Lake Burton.  As many of you know, Daddy passed away from a brain tumor in 1973; Momma followed just a couple of years ago.

Just before Momma passed, I got the chance to take The Fabulous Feathermaye down the neat little highway that leads down from I-85 to Hartwell, and show her around that pretty little town.  It's a spotless little place; not even a spec of litter could be seen along the highway.  I took her to eat and the waitress kept asking if she wanted more "Sweet Tea".   Lord, I miss that part of the country...

Writing this blog now, makes me wonder: Have any of you gone down memory lane lately?  What sort of experiences would you care to share?  Feel free to impart yours, good or bad, below...