THE END OF A DREAM

It was the end of a dream, early fall of 1964.


I was new in town, a hillbilly from West Virginia, although I had lived in North Tonawanda, NY, for two years in the 7th and 8th grades. But it was different now, I was a junior at the high school and it seemed that I wasn’t remembered by anyone. West Virginia is a long way north from where I am in Florida now, but to Western New Yorkers, I was a southerner. I wasn’t mistreated as much as I was a novelty.

As with most young boys, I considered myself a Pro Athlete in the making. All I needed was enough time to grow physically, because I already had the raw skill needed to excel.

The first blow came when I decided to try out for football. North Tonawanda was known for its football program, and each year’s highlight was named appropriately, the TNT game. Archrivals they were, Tonawanda and North Tonawanda, sharing a name, but not wanting to share the bragging rights for the best football team.

We had the coaches that seemed to me to come straight from Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame staff - Head Coach, legend GeorgeVetter who had coached there for almost 30 years, Line Coach George Tetter, and Backfield Coach Nick Sebek, Indiana University and the Washington Redskins. Nearly 100 players showed up, and all the equipment was gone before the last of us were to dress out. I was given a leather helmet like the ones used long ago, but I was determined to show I was a football player.

It was the job of the coaches that day to make most of us quit. It wasn’t the rigors of the workout that did it for me. It was a hit that I received from another junior, Dave Brosius. I think he was smaller than me, but all I remember was the ringing in my head and trying to begin breathing again.

It was there that my NFL football dream died. I wasn’t even going to be in the Niagara Football League (NFL).