Posted on 10/14/2021 7:05:29 AM PDT by fugazi
Today's front page features an interesting story about the Detroit Lions hurting so badly for talent that they signed the equipment manager.
Steve Belichick may have been handing out towels in October but back in January he scored the winning touchdown for Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio) as they defeated Arizona State University in the 1941 Sun Bowl. His coach was Bill Edwards, who is now the Lions’ skipper. Belichick reportedly told Edwards that he could do better than the guys on the Lions roster and Edwards took him up on it.
In six games this year he rushes for two touchdowns, returns a punt for a third, and intercepts a pass before joining the Navy in 1942. Although Belichick already graduated college and played in the NFL, he plays for the No. 1 ranked Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets during the 1942 college football season. He serves as an armed guard officer with an amphibious task force in the Pacific Theater.
Edwards and Brown also joined the Navy during the war. Edwards attended high school (Massillion, Ohio) with Harry Stuhldreher, one of Notre Dame’s “Four Horsemen,” and the legendary Paul Brown, who was his roommate during college. Belechick's playing days are over after the war, but he becomes a United States Naval Academy institution, spending 33 years as a member of the coaching staff.
[...] Football fans probably noticed the name; Steve Belichick is the father of six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick, and grandfather to Brian and Steve -- also coaches for the New England Patriots. Bill Belechick is actually named after Edwards, who is his godfather.
One of his teammates on the 1941 Lions is Byron "Whizzer" White,
(Excerpt) Read more at untothebreach.net ...
We have a town around here that has well over 30,000 people and they often struggle to have enough players for a team. Times have changed.
Maybe they should try that again..................couldn’t hurt.....................
Was he also dispensing high quality H2O???
You need 11 men on offense and 11 men on defense so ideally, without backups, 22 minimum and even that assumes one of them can kick. No modern school would go to war with just 13 players. A 13 man team means everyone played both sides of the ball and playing a whole season means nobody got seriously injured.
Waterboy reminds me of the time that the Raiders were whipping the Seahawks and their waterboy wasn’t paying attention so Howie Long goes over and steals water from Seattle.
My high school team had about 60 kids, but most of the playing was done by the same 11 guys.
“White grew up in Wellington, Colo., population 350. There were only 13 players on the high school football squad, but they played a full season.”
In Montana we have Class C football in HS. It’s six man teams and good fun.
Montana State University in Bozeman has a very competitive skiing program and, many years ago even had a ski jump. A college student from Norway attended MSU for the alpine ski program.
One day an errant football came his way while he was jogging past the practice field and he was asked to toss the ball back. Instead he kicked it and that was the beginning of Jan Stenerud’s career...
I saw just the other day that he played at MSU and that he was a skiier. I figured there was a story in there somehow, and now I know!
An equipment manager, huh? Is that where Belichick learned to underinflate footballs?... :-)
The Lions needs help, not sure what can help them!! Goff might help them, but I don't think it is the Quarterback...
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