I believe he grew up in the Shidler area and then played college football somewhere and as I recall (note my hesitancy as I have never been able to confirm) he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. I know he had a giant scar on his knee from surgery and what I always understood was that the scar was what kept him from playing professional football. Anyway, we were lucky and blessed to have him in Shidler.
It was the start of my junior year and I had been hauling hay all summer for Paul Jones, Don Kelsey and the Mullendore Ranch (read the book about the Mullendore murder and yes we all knew E.C.). In fact if anyone of you know Boog Williams or Kenny Kelsey you can get some good stories from them. Anyway, back to the story. It was at the end of the summer and Paul Jones wanted me to keep working until the last minute so he promised to fly me home for football practice (the Mullendore Ranch was near Copan, Ok). There are a couple of things you should know about that trip. First, Paul Jones was very ornery and he tried to scare the crap out of me while flying. Second, it was my first airplane ride. He made me carry a bucket in case I tossed my cookies up in his plane. He actually would have deserved it but that is another story.
Well he flew me home and I went straight to football practice. I was in the best shape of my life. The coach had been told that I was a lineman but when he saw me, he immediately moved me to fullback where I worked with Harold (Chuckles) Codding. Harold had multiple knee surgeries and wore two knee braces and he was still faster than I was. So I got to play fullback and defensive end for my junior and senior year. What I loved about Coach was he would make us work exceptionally hard and he would just laugh at us, especially when Steve Chrisco tossed his chunks while running in the hot summer of Oklahoma. It was funny that I was really not a fast runner but in the beginning of summer practice I was one of the fastest because I showed up in such good shape while most of the other guys needed to get in shape. The sad thing was after a few weeks they could almost all out run me. I honestly don't know why he let me play the position except that I would sacrifice my entire body to take out the opposing players for Harold. I loved counting my bruises. OK, back to Coach.
He was tough as nails and pushed us hard everyday and he loved defense but he had a giant heart as well. He never hesitated to punish us for the least little thing but you could depend on him to stand up for you. You had to respect him but he was a great friend to all of us. Once we went to an OSU football game and he told us where he would be before the game and during the game and that we should stay out of trouble and not go trying to drink beer. Then he told us again where he would be and that he would not be looking for us. We knew what that meant and I hope I don't get in trouble for this but we did get a hold of some beer and the fact is I did not like beer, but I enjoyed the mystery and risk of getting in a bar while being under age and drinking a few and then sneaking a few beers into the game. I am not going to tell on AJ or Rick or Jim or Steve or any of the other guys but we had a good time until Monday rolled around.
ON Monday Coach said he smelled beer on us and decided that we deserved to run a lot to get it out of our systems. I don't believe for a minute that he smelled beer but he, just like always, laughed and made us work harder than ever. I think everyone truly loves discipline and structure so that you know what to expect and you have hope of what you might gain. I personally loved it and loved Coach.
So what do you learn in the Osage?
- What you lack in one area you can make up in another, like speed for sacrificing your body
- Someone that loves you cares enough to discipline you and sometimes they laugh at you
- Now that I think about it, isn't that what Jesus does, He allows us to go through trials so that we might become more righteous
Well, thanks for listening,
gary
gary@mylifelegacy.co
yes, I do have another email address.....
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