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(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 30, 2004 -    "Always leave yourself a way out." Chuck Yeager   NEXT 2004 CLINICS SCHEDULED - SAT APRIL 3, DURHAM NC, SAT APRIL 10, PHILADELPHIA, SAT APRIL 17, PROVIDENCE 2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Although he played in the 1930s and 1940s, he is still considered to be one of the greatest NFL centers of all time. It is important to note that he never knew anything but the single-wing snap - never had the luxury of making the T-formation snap - and for much of his career he played both ways. He came from Burlington, Washington, north of Seattle on Puget Sound, and when he was in high school he wanted more than anything to go to the University of Washington - and row on the crew. But an older brother who was playing at Washington State told the WSU coach about him, and one thing led to another and he wound up in Pullman, where he went on to become the most honored player in Cougar football history. He was an All-American on WSU's 1930 team, which lost only to Alabama in the 1931 Rose Bowl (the last Rose Bowl the Cougars would play in until 1997). His #7 is one of only two numbers retired by Washington State. (The other is the #14 of Jack Thompson, the famed "Throwin' Samoan.") Following his senior season, back before there was such a thing as a draft, he signed a contract with the Providence Steam Rollers calling for $125 a game. But while in Spokane to watch a WSU-Gonzaga basketball game, he ran into New York Giants' coach Ray Flaherty, who was coaching Gonzaga in the off-season, and when he told Flaherty he'd signed with Providence, Flaherty told him that was too bad - that a Giants' contract for $150 a game was in the mail. Flaherty suggested he go to the postmaster in Pullman and have him telegraph the postmaster in Providence to intercept the letter and return it. When the local postmaster refused to cooperate, he sent a telegram on his own, and sure enough, the contract was returned, the enevelope opened, and he was free to sign with the Giants. Arriving in New York at the same time as long-time Giants' coach Steve Owen, he fit right in at center and linebacker as the Giants became one of the dominant team of the 1930s. Iron man? There were only 25 men on a squad then, and players stayed in the game, hurt or not. In 15 seasons of pro football, going both ways, he never missed a game, and was taken out of a game only once, on Pearl Harbor Day (1941) when he suffered a broken nose and a concussion against the Brooklyn Dodgers. He was big for the time - 6-3, 225 - and fast. For eight straight years, from 1933 through 1940, he was the All-NFL center, and in 1938 he won the Joe Carr Trophy as the NFL Player of the Year. Read that again. Carefully. A center was once the NFL player of the year. Not even Chuck Bednarik managed that. He tried to retire after the 1942 season, taking a job teaching and coaching at Union College in Schenectady, New York, but when wartime callups reduced his squad to 18 players, he reluctantly had to recommend to the president of the university that the program be dropped. In New York, Owen was also having war-induced personnel problems. He happened to read the news about Union, and called him to persuade him to come out of retirement. Finally, they worked out an unusual agreement - his center would put in his usual work week at Union College, where he was a full-time physical education instructor, then take a Friday night train to New York, where he would practice on Saturday, play on Sunday, and catch a Sunday night train back to Schenectady. For three years, as the "Sunday center," he followed that weekend-only routine, playing 60 minutes a game. Finally, he retired for good after the 1945 season. He then launched a coaching career, first with the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football League, and then with the New York Football Yankees and Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League. From 1951 through 1966 he was on the staff at USC, and from 1966 until his retirement in 1974, he served as supervisor of officials for the NFL's American Football Conference. He was a charter member of both the College Football Hall of Fame (1954) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (1963). In 1994, he was named to the all-time all-NFL team at center and to the all-time NFL two-way team. In 1999 he was named to the Walter Camp all-time college football team, and in that same year he was also named one of football's 100 greatest 100 players by The Sporting News. Dave Anderson of the New York Times once set out to pick the top 25 players ever to perform for New York pro football teams, and listed at least two players at every position. Except for center. There, he named only one. "Compared to him," Anderson wrote, "no other candidates exist." *********** When we moved West in 1975, our son, Ed, was going into his sophomore year of high school. He was 3,000 miles from home and he didn't know a soul. Although he had played freshman football back in Williamsport, Maryland, where we'd been living, he was a little light for high school ball, and he chose instead to go out for cross country. There, he came under the protective wing of a coach named John Eagle, who for the next six years would coach one or more of our kids in cross country or track. Scarcely a day would go by that Ed didn't have a "Mister Eagle" story - one day it might be the pep talk he gave them - "hurry back." The next, it might be Mr. Eagle, sending the team out on a run through the neighborhood after telling them that he would be joining them shortly, then whizzing by them in his car, laughing and waving. That, I would learn, was John Eagle, always doing something to keep the kids "up." He could work their asses off and make them laugh about it. I'll never forget the day a senior member of the cross-country team, a guy named Dave Coatney, stopped by the house to pick up Ed to take him to practice. When I thanked Dave, he said, "Oh, that's okay - Ed's my buddy." Now, Dave Coatney was quite a kid - went on to run track at Washington, and a good student, too. Today he's probably a doctor. I know Ed respected him. As a coach myself, I thought, "Wow - if that's the kind of atmosphere that coach is fostering, that's where I want my kids to be." When our girls got into high school, he was with them through all the ups and downs. He made track a team sport, which is not an easy thing to do, and he made everything about it a positive experience. He could coach the bandits and he could coach the Ivy-leaguers, and they all loved him. He kept an eye on our girls as if they were his own. That was John Eagle. He never let us down. Years later, I spent two years assisting his son, Jon, by then a very good high school football coach. "Big John" had retired from teaching and had begun devoting full-time to his Christmas tree farm in the hills back behind LaCenter, Washington, but he never missed a game. There he'd sit, high up in the stands with his lovely wife, Cathy, as proud as a dad could be. John Eagle died last Friday at 69. John Eagle was the coach that every dad and mom would want their kids to have. *********** Look out, Pac-10. Look out, BCS. The University of Washington, having learned the hard way that throwing millions at a football coach does not assure success on the gridiron, has decided instead to try throwing its millions in another direction - at a university president. Don't laugh. Husky Nation has made a very, uh, "generous" offer to Mark Emmert, currently chancellor of LSU. What's that got to do with football? Well, consider - Emmert, a Tacoma native and UW grad, was the man in charge at LSU when Nick Saban was hired, and we all know what Saban did. Coincidence? I think not. Just one problem - the sucker isn't going to come cheap. Emmert has been making $490,000 a year at LSU, with numerous goodies thrown in, including a $100,000 interest-free loan and another $400,000 which becomes his if he stays to the end of his contract in 2007. At Washington, he will replace an interim president who has been making $340,000, standing in for a guy who was making $295,000 until he left when it was discovered he'd been screwing around with a fellow administrator - female, I think. (Just in case you were inclined to feel sorry for that guy, don't - he landed at Rutgers, where he's now making $525,000.) Can it be possible - a university president being paid more than the football coach? If Washington can come up with the money to hire this guy, he will be making more than head football coach Keith Gilbertson. Of course, if Washington should lose the lawsuit being brought by Rick Neuheisel, both Emmert and Gilbertson could be asked to pitch in. *********** All due credit to Tennessee's women's team and all that, but Baylor really got shafted. Tied 69-all, a Tennesee girl missed a wide-open layup with only seconds remaining, and in the battle for the rebound, a Baylor player was called for a foul with under a second left. Problem is, both a Baylor player and a Tennessee player were contending for a loose ball, and, although perhaps a foul could have been called either way, it really shouldn't have been called at all. Overtime was the only fair way to decide it, but the officials though otherwise, and the Tennessee player sank 'em both. Tennessee moves on. Baylor goes home. Said one of the studio analysts, "This is a travesty. This is an embarrassment to the women's game." Couldn't agree more. *********** Watching Oklahoma State beat St. Joseph's, I noted the "OSU" on their jerseys. Hmmm. Oregon State also goes by OSU. Guess they'll have to duke it out over who has the rights to the initials. Sorry, Ohio State - with all those jerks on NFL Monday Night games who make it such a point to say they're from "THE Ohio State University," you are welcome to the rights to TOSU. *********** Army's new head coach Bobby Ross was asked to name the most glaring difference between his offensive system and the one run at Army last year. His (very diplomatic) answer follows. (The italics are mine.) "We'll run a two-back offense. We'll run what we call a right and left set, then we'll run a slot set. In addition to that, we'll use just about every variation to a one-back set, including three wideouts with a tight end and a back; four wideouts and a back; two tight ends, two wideouts and a back. There will be a lot of multiplicity to our program. But we'll try to run pretty much the same plays from the various formations. We'll try and put pressure on defenses through our formation variation and the movement that we have in our offense. A lot of that is going to be geared to what our quarterbacks can handle and what they are going to be capable of doing. But there will be a much stronger commitment on our part to the running game, much stronger. We weren't very successful last year running the ball. Probably a part of that was that we didn't run a lot. All systems are good, they've just got to work. I'm not saying that in criticism of the (previous) system, I'm really not, because it was a good system, it was a very sound system. But our system will have a real strong commitment to the running game for a lot of reasons, but three in particular. I want to eat up more clock time. I want clock time to be a very important part of our offensive strategy because that ties into the second-most important part of strategy and that is to keep our defense off the field. Thirdly, I want our club to have the overall toughness that a strong running game develops. I think we're going to put some real special emphasis to that in the spring. I want a tough football team. I don't believe the game can be played without it. I think a good, strong running game contributes to that." *********** Darrell Mudra (who succeeded Bill Peterson at FSU) is a legend at the University of Nothern Iowa. Brad Knight, Holstein, Iowa *********** Hi Coach, Not that it really matters, but this is the way I've always felt about Bobby Knight: The way he treated his players is not the way I would like to be treated, but I understand that his job involves getting a group of college students to do things that they would not do if it were left up to themselves and I'm willing to give him a little leeway when it comes to how he gets that job done. What I did have a problem with was the way Bobby Knight treated his co-workers, secretaries, administrators, etc. There is not one other workplace in America where you could throw a flower pot at a coworker and not be disciplined for it. If I did that, I'd be fired and rightfully so. I'm sure that's true of most people in their places of employment. Have a good weekend, Steve Tobey, Malden, Massachusetts *********** You can be on the other side of the globe and still follow March Madness... Dad, Just finished watching St.Joes beat Wake &endash; boy Nelson is really good, isn't he? And when they needed the big FT's, West put 'em away. Has anyone made any comparison to Loyola Marymount? Two stars (Gathers, Kimble) and a decent supporting cast at a small Catholic school? I guess the death of Gathers probably made the LMU situation a bit different. I suppose if Gathers had lived and the team was favored in the NCAA's then it would be a better comparison. Other observations... 1- Jeez, Billy Packer is starting to age, isn't he? 2- I mentioned Turiaf and the kid from Pacific hailing from Martinique &endash; but Pitt's Krauser's got a Caribbean connection and Gordon from U Conn was born in Jamaica. 3 &endash; As I've been saying all along, Oklahoma State is a really nice ball club. Nothing spectacular, but well-coached, good defense, Lucas at point guard and some kids who can get it done. 4 &endash; The "flopping" is getting out of hand. I'm in favor of 6 fouls or cutting down on that crap. Anstett told me that Turiaf had two fouls in the first 3 minutes against Nevada and both were questionable. It's not so bad on the fast breaks, but it's when the big guys try to turn and the defender flops &endash; the kind of stuff they've been trying against Shaq for years. 5 - The only problem with upsets is they often lead to poor performances in the next round &endash; hello, Vanderbilt. That's it for now &endash; I'm pretty pleased with my pool so far &endash; but I need Duke and Texas to win tomorrow!   *********** Hey Coach, You inspired me through your emails to go to the CFL Web site and discover Dick Thornton again...saw him play at Dyche Stadium for Northwestern while home from leave from USMC. His play got me interested in the CFL, which in the 50s and 60s was on TV a lot. I was shocked when he turned down the Cardinals and went to Canada. Glad you were able to touch bases. Well if I had the time i would take up the cause for Thornton & Pop Ivy to be admitted to the CFL Hall. Lesser players are in!! Can you imagine - Ivy won three Grey Cups--in a row!!! Hard to do today in any league...well not being from Canada, I would not have much influence. It's sad because Pop Ivy passed away recently. Keep up the good work, keep that web site going, it is wonderful. I too loved Harry Agannis, what an athlete and I remember levi jackson...loved those bios... Another one who comes to mind is Vic Janowicz, the only Heisman winner besides Bo Jackson to play both baseball and football, with Pittsburgh Pirates and Wash. Redskins. I don't know what he did off the field, what kind of character he had but of course his football career was cut short because of an auto accident. I got his autograph at the all star football game at Soldiers Field.. at another time I saw the College All Stars defeat the Eagles with Eddie Le Baron at quarterback and Charlie Choo Choo Justice at half back. Those two passed and ran up and down the field and shocked the Eagles...whatta game. We ran the veer at Camp Pendleton--had a great All American--Frank Mc Phee of Princeton, i didnt play much with only 3 years of high school experience.. Greasy Neale was the coach at Recruit Depot--San Diego. He had some great Notre Dame players--they would beat the crap out of you..pound you on top of the head..pull your jersey out...Neale would be on the sidelines laughing his head off. Met him after a game at Wrigley Field years later and we chatted for a few minutes while he waited for the team bus. Well thats all I have for you today--it's back to the mortgage business.Take care coach. Bob Dudley, San Clemente, California Bob Dudley, San Clemente, California (Yes, I've heard from Dick Thornton. For a brief while, in 1975, we lived in parallel universes, he with the Hawaiians and I with the Portland Thunder of the World Football League. Interesting you mention Pop Ivy and Greasy Neale. They have both been subjects of my "Look at Our Legacy" feature, Pop Ivy in June 2003 and Greasy Neale in Jan 2002. Both very interesting people. Also Charlie Justice in October 2001. I'm surprised that Pop Ivy is not in the CFL Hall of Fame, which, by the way, is a joke. I visited there one Sunday - drove there from Buffalo - and it was closed. On a Sunday! HW) *********** Between cable and satellite dish, I would guess I can pull in a couple hundred TV channels, most of them totally useless and of no interest to me. Now, they can bounce those stupid signals off satellites 20,000 miles in the sky and arrange for me to receive them, but we are still waiting for the technology that lets us watch the NCAA games of our choice, or zap back and forth between them. Want to watch Duke-Illinois? Texas-Xavier? Sorry - you live in the West, so we're going to bring you Kansas-UAB and Georgia Tech-Nevada. Oh, don't worry. We'll switch over to the games you want to see - just enough to tease you. Thanks a lot. In terms of game selection, and CBS' jumping around from game to game, we are locked in time, somewhere back in the 1970s, when there were three major networks and you took what they gave you, and if you didn't like it - tough darts.   *********** Anybody else watch LSU's women beat Georgia? What a story - the interim coach takes the Tigers to their first-ever Final Four. I'm talking about Pokey Chatman, the very attractive and personable assistant who's been filling in while head coach Sue Gunter suffers through what has to be the worst case of bronchitis I've ever heard of. (I suspect there's something more. Sue is a tough bird - I met her back in the 80s when I spent some time interning in the athletic department at LSU - but damn, she sure did smoke a lot.) Certainly, I hope that Sue can recover and coach the Tigers in the Final Four in New Orleans. And I hope that LSU AD Skip Bertman - whom I also got to know back when he was one of the best college baseball coaches in the country - does something to make sure that Pokey Chatman doesn't leave Baton Rouge.   *********** Memphis Grizzlies' coach Hubie Brown is definitely old school. There is no one alive who has ever known him to take any sh-- off anybody.   So when a New York fan starting getting on his player Shane Battier, Brown walked over to the guy and set him straight. "You should hope to Christ that you have a son like this in your life," he told the fan. *********** Anybody looking for an assistant coach/teacher? Here's a young man who comes highly recommended... Coach, This semester I have had the pleasure of having a student teacher that will make one heck of teacher and coach. Jared is a dandy. Not only is he quality in the class room, but he is a quality football coach. I have attached his cover letter to this Email to give you an idea as to his background. Anything you come across as the clinic season progresses, please Email. I'd hire him immediately, but we are facing RIF's. Coach Kaz Mark Kaczmarek, Football Coach, United Township High School, 1275 Avenue of the Cities, East Moline, IL 61244-4100 To Whom It May Concern, Hello, my name is Jared Van Acker and I'm a senior finishing up my education at Western Illinois University where I'm majoring in History- Sec. Education with a minor in Art. I'm writing this letter to inquire about an assistant football coaching job and a Social Studies teaching position. Let me first give you a little background on myself. I graduated from J.D Darnall H.S (Geneseo) in 1999 where I played all four years of football as an offensive guard and middle linebacker. Under Coach Diericx, we won the conference championship both years and eventually went deep into the playoffs before bowing out to eventual state champions Providence Catholic in 98' and Chatam- Glenwood in double-OT in 99'. After receiving many postseason honors I was recruited by many colleges around the area. I eventually accepted a football scholarship to play middle linebacker at Quincy University, a private Div. II-Catholic university in Quincy, IL. I played three years of football there until chronic knee injuries and eventual surgery ended my football career prematurely. I transferred to Western Illinois University to finish out my academic career where I was recently inducted into Phi Alpha Theta, a national honor society of History. This past fall while I was attending WIU, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime with a volunteer coaching job at the perennial football powerhouse: Carthage, IL. While there I gained a great deal of insight into the art of coaching under Coach Unruh and his staff. We eventually went 13-1 only falling in the state championship game against Gilman-Iroquois West. This experience was a very fun and memorable event in my life which cemented my desire to coach. I'm almost done with my student teaching at United Township H.S in East Moline, IL and I'm on the prowl for a job. Though I may not possess very much coaching experience I believe that I have the knowledge, skills, and demeanor to adapt to any situation placed before me. With that opportunity I believe that I can make a positive impact on your community, school, staff, parents, students, and of course the young men who share the same love of football as you and me. I have been very blessed to have many positive influences on me as a player and a coach. I gained a great model of success under Coach Unruh and now posts a record of 178-32 with four state championships and three state runner-up finishes in 18 years of coaching. I believe that with a strong work ethic and determination that fuels my desire to coach I can be a fundamental part of your football program. I have included a copy of my resume and letters of recommendation. If you are interested you may contact me by phone at (309) 949-2290 or by e-mail at js_vanacker@wiu.edu. Thank you for your time and I hope to hear from you! Sincerely, Jared Van Acker, 234 Wilshire Dr., Colona, Il 61241 *********** Coach, I have been meaning to ask your take on this for a while. At the last school I was at we went around and around on the topic of teaching holding. Obviously we feel that a rule is a rule and holding should not be taught. Dave Nelson addresses it best - "If your coach cannot show you how to advance the ball without holding your opponents, it is fair to assume that he does not understand the basic strategy of the game." However, this leads an antagonist to argue the point of using strategy by breaking the rules. For example, when a receiver is wide open and will score on a deep pass the defender should interfere with the receiver and take the penalty rather than the TD. There are many other examples as you know. When, if ever is it ethical to break the rules for game strategy? In the example above the team is willing to take the penalty for the infraction does that make it good strategy? And if so does it then make holding acceptable if the team is willing to take the penalty when caught? Not to turn this into a Socratic seminar but these issues have come up in conversation and I just wanted to get your take. Have a good one. Sam Knopik, Kansas City I find that as I get nearer to my hoped-for meeting with my Lord and Maker, I grow more upright and ethical. It bothers me to see others break rules, and I am sorely tempted to retaliate in like manner, because in 30-plus years, I have learned some tricks. But if I am going to be true to myself, to my kids, and to the game, I simply can't condone cheating. To me, there is a certain deceptiveness involved in cheating an opponent. That would include holding, or faking an injury, or even pretending to have made a catch that you know you trapped. Ethically, I think I put the intentional pass interference into a separate category. It is not done with an intent to deceive - to gain an advantage without being caught and having to pay a penalty. It is done openly, with full expectation of receiving the penalty that the rules call for. I put it in the category of the team that willingly takes a five-yard delay of game penalty to run the maximum amount of time off the clock, or improve a punter's chances of keeping the punt in play. I think it is taking advantage of a rule, but not breaking it or bending it. The rule itself clearly needs to be rewritten to make the penalty harsher. I would have no problem with changing the rule to give the official the discretion to award a touchdown in that case, just as he can do if someone comes off the bench to tackle a runner who is in the clear. I realize that I may be painting myself into an ethical corner here, because in an analogous situation, I would not condone deliberately running into a punt return man, fully willing to take the penalty in return for injuring or at the least intimidating him. Nor would I condone sending a substitute into a game to start a fight with the opponents' star, knowing they'll both be thrown out, but I'll be swapping a pawn for a rook. *********** Lionel Chalmers of Xavier can really play. But that ugly black thing on his arm - he really ought to spend the money and have it removed. It could be cancerous. What's that? You say it's a tattoo? You mean the kid paid to have that put on? *********** Texas' Rick Barnes may or may not have cost his team a win by drawing back-to-back technicals - and an ejection - in the closing seconds of the Longhorns' loss to Xavier, but he sure did show a shocking lack of composure for a big-time coach. There he was, game still winnable (although barely) going jaw-to-jaw with the refereee, And wouldn't you know - those suck-a** TV guys immediately started blaming the referee for the ejection. The referee! They said he had a reputation as the kind of guy who doesn't back down. They said he could have avoided the embarrassment of a coach's being ejected in such a big game if he had just turned and walked away from Barnes after the first "T." Excuse me - but isn't that supposed to be the coach's responsibility? (Uh, isn't it also his responsibility to know the officials? To know their styles, their personalities, their quirks? I know good high school coaches keep books on officials, so surely the head coach at the University of Texas, with three or four assistants and a couple of graduate assistants besides, must have known something about the man he was dealing with.) And then, to top it all off, on his way out of the arena, Barnes had the gall to stop and jaw with another official. Afterward, he told an interviewer that he'd have to look at the tapes - to see if he was right. *********** I missed out getting my Coach Wyatt Gold Star when I didn't E-Mail the winning answer, but your mention of Coach Mudra opened up a different path to a story. I was listening to the radio one day, following the Alabama - FSU game. Alabama was on one of their monster Wishbone rolls and FSU was playing as if the game was the last college football game on earth. Late in the game, FSU up 7 - 3. Fourth down, deep in FSU territory. Does FSU punt? No, Mudra calls for an intentional safety. FSU 7, Alabama 5 (Do you know what's coming?). Alabama can't get down into field goal position this time, can they? As Bob the Builder might say, "Yes, we can!" Alabama quietly gets out of town with an 8 - 7 victory. I have never seen such a depressed lot of fans in all of my life. Coach Mudra did indeed appear to be starcrossed at FSU and there are many fans who, to this day, feel that he was "Better Than The Record Indicates". On this day, however, there was just sadness. Charlie Wilson, Seminole, Florida *********** Coach Wyatt: Thank you for putting the Black Lion Award information on your site. It will be a great pleasure to share Major Holleder and the 28th's memory with my team of 3rd graders this year. As a Desert Storm vet(2nd ACR fulda Germany) I have strived to teach the boys the joy of America and the price of freedom. This award will be a perfect tool to recognize that player who emulates Major Holleder's characteristics. Ron Pembleton, Maineville, Ohio *********** Mike Foristiere, of Boise, Idaho, is in the running for a coouple of head coaching jobs. He wrote of a recent visit to his hometown, Fresno: I also was going to tell you that when I was in Fresno a couple of coaching friends who I worked with when I taught and coached in Fresno came by to see me. We talked about the usual things and then they noticed the mini Van I rented to drive to Fresno with. They said there is the problem - I should look for a Soccer coaching job because, "hell - you will look good in that mini-van." Hugh, I can't catch a break even in my home town. *********** Where are all the doomsayers who predicted that all the college basketball stars making early exits to the NBA, not to mention those bypassing college entirely, would kill interest in the college game? As of the weekend, this year's NCAA tournament's TV ratings are up 14 per cent from last year. *********** Anybody catch the NCAA spot showing the young woman who says "there are two sides to me?" There is the softball side - the catcher who we see giving a sign to the pitcher (in front of, I might add, a rather off-putting crotch shot), and then there's the college side - the student who tells us she's preparing for "a career in marine mammal rescue?" Can she be serious? Isn't that what volunteers do? I am utterly shocked to think that, while the Oregon State Police and Washington State Patrol (and doubtless, those of many other states) are understaffed, there is enough loose money floating around out there to entice young people into planning on spending their entire working lives rescuing sea lions? *********** Did you happen to catch Freddie Adu on CBS 60 Minutes Sunday night? He's the 14-year-old who signed a $500,000 contract to play soccer for DC United in the MLS League. (That's "Major League Soccer," an oxymoron if ever there was one.) Freddie seems like an awfully nice kid, well-spoken and good to his mother. He also appeared, from what I could see, to be a decent enough athlete. Probably make a hell of a runner on the freshman football team. Basketball might be out of the question because he's not very tall and he probably doesn't have much experience playing ball with his hands. Ditto baseball. Hockey is out of the question because I doubt that he can skate. But he can play soccer - at the highest level possible in the US. What's this say about soccer, a sport that aspires to be major league, but can only draw more people than an average NBA crowd on those occasions when either (1) the US women's national team or (b) a team from Latin America is playing? What does it say about a sport in which a 14-year-old can play professionally? Set aside 15-year-old Joe Nuxhall, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds in 1944. That was during World War II, with most able-bodied men in the armed forces, and baseball, in its effort to stay alive, was taking any warm body it could find. Soccer may be huge elsewhere in the world (except in places such as Canada, New Zealand and Australia, which favor more rugged forms of football) but those poor benighted countries don't have any other professional sports to speak of. In the US, where soccer has several big-time professional league sports that dwarf it, it doesn't come off very well as it is, and adding a 14-year-old, however gifted, isn't going to help it stand up to the others as a sport to be taken seriously. Can you imagine a 14-year-old playing NHL hockey? NBA basketball? Major League baseball? NFL football? (Joe Nuxhall appeared in only one game in 1944, and lasted just 2/3 of an inning, during which he walked two batters and gave up two hits, and left with an ERA of 67.5. He would return to the majors as a serious prospect eight years later, and go on to win 135 games in a respectable 15-year career.)    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 26, 2004 -    "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last." The Australian   NEXT 2004 CLINICS SCHEDULED - SAT APRIL 3, DURHAM NC, SAT APRIL 10, PHILADELPHIA, SAT APRIL 17, PROVIDENCE 2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Bill Peterson was often ridiculed because sometimes what he said came out far different from what he intended, and that's a legacy both unfortunate and unfair, because he was a bright coach who achieved great things: he helped turn Florida State from an independent weakling into a national powerhouse, he was way out ahead of the pack in his use of a wide-open passing offense, and helped develop and influence many assistant who went on to become fine coaches themselves. In his own words, he wanted to become a coach from the time he was a youngster, and he overcame great obstacles in order to achieve his dream: "I was the oldest in a family of six children. When I was twelve, my father died. My mother had no means of earning a living. Therefore, at the age of twelve, I took over the job of running the farm. I would get up before dawn, milk the cows and do the other chores. "I can recall vividly that at the time, I seriously doubted I would ever get to finish high school. I was convinced that if I did, I would then devote full time to working on the farm and getting the other kids through school. "Each Saturday, I would round up all the available kids and we would choose teams and play football. Saturday night was always a bad night. I would come in from playing, do my chores, and try to get some sleep. Visions of playing and someday coaching football would walk through my mind. I would bite my lip, fight back the tears, and roll my face into the pillow. "Bill Peterson," I would say, "You have no right to think about such things. They are for other people." Finally, I would sleep, but the dreams would fill my youing mind. I'm glad they did. "By the time I graduated from high school, only one thing stood between me and college: money. Needless to say, I did not attract national attention withh my athletic performance. I wasn't big, I wasn't fast, and I had only a fair amount of athletic ability. But I did have one thing which I suppose has been my strongest charcteristic: I was a fighter. "I made a trip to Ohio Northern University and talked to the coach, Harris Lamb. He offered me a work scholarship. I picked up dishes in return for my meals. I joined the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and became houseman. I stoked the furnace and kept the place clean in return for my room. Coach Lamb waived my tuition and I began to play football. "Toward the end of college, a Class B high school in Forestvile, Ohio needed a coach. Ray Baum had been the coach and was a great help in getting me started. His daughters were my biggest boosters in town. Actually, I coached the team during my noon hour while I was still playing at Ohio Northern. I had fourteen boys out for football that first year. There is nothing else I care to remember about that experience except that I had become a coach. It was an anemic start, but my dream was off the ground." His big career break came when he was coaching at Mansfield, Ohio high school, and Mansfield native Paul Dietzel offered him a spot on his staff at LSU. He stayed six years as Dietzel's offensive line coach (the Tigers were running the Delaware Wing-T) and after LSU won the national championship in 1959, he was offered the head coaching job at Florida State, left vacant when Perry Moss left Tallahassee after one year to coach the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. It was 1960, and, he later wrote, Florida State was not all that far removed from the days when it was an all-female college. There wasn't a male alumnus over the age of 40, and the program was $50,000 in debt. Doak Campbell Stadium seated 20,000, and the Seminoles were averaging around 16,000 a game. He was permitted to bring in only two of his own assistants, since Moss' staff had been there just year. At first, he wanted to go with a passing game, something he believed in thanks to his early exposure to Paul Brown and Sid Gillman, but finally he gave in to staying with what he knew - the wing-t. Only when he realized during spring practice that he had only one runner and one receiver did he decide to widen the wingback and turn him into a flanker. This meant placing less emphasis on the run and more on the pass, a radical approach at the time. Under Moss, Florida State had gone 4-6, and in Peterson's first year, even against a weak schedule, the Seminoles went 3-6-1, their three wins coming over Richmond, Wake Forest and William and Mary. The Seminoles would go through three more losing seasons, beating the likes of Furman, George Washington and the Citadel, but occasionally picking off a major - Georgia in 1961 and 1962, and Miami in 1963. Meantime, though, the schedule was being upgraded, and the Furmans, the Citadels and the Richmonds were dropped in favor of more powerful opposition. In 1964, he finally won big, achieving a great breakthrough for the former women's college, as Florida State went 9-1-1 and defeated Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl. With a sensational passing game built around quarterback Steve Tensi and receiver Fred Biletnikoff, the Seminoles beat Miami and Florida for the first time ever. To accomodate the growing football fever in Tallahassee, Doak Campbell Stadium's capacity was doubled, to 40,000, yet demand for tickets still grew to the point where by the end of the 1960's, Florida State had to adopt a season ticket priority plan. The Seminoles slipped to 4-5-1 in 1965, but from 1966 through 1970, they went 34-17-1, with three bowl appearances in there, including the famous 17-17 Gator Bowl tie with Penn State when Joe Paterno rashly went for a first down deep in his own territory and wound up handing the Seminoles their chance to tie the game. Peterson left FSU after the 1970 season for Rice, but after only one season (3-7-1) he jumped to the Houston Oilers. Ouch. He went 1-13 in 1972, and after getting off to an 0-5 start in 1973, he was fired. I have been unable to find what he did after that. (Please help if you can.) Among football coaches, he became as famous as Yogi Berra for the strange and twisted way the things he meant to say sometimes came out. Maybe he actually said them, and maybe he didn't. Like Yogi, he couldn't possibly have said everything that's attributed to him, but long after his great coaching career has been forgotten, Web sites are full of bloopers attributed to him: "I want you guys to pair up in groups of three," he once supposedly told his team, "and then line up in a circle." Or, "You guys line up alphabetically by height" Or, "You guys have to run a little more than full speed out there." "Men," he is reputed to have told his Oilers, "I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl!" He was not the fool he is portrayed to be. Not close. Coaches who served under him have won at least three national championships and at least three Super Bowls. Some of those who worked for him at Florida State and went on to become head coaches were John Coatta (who went on to coach at Wisconsin), Don James (Kent State and Washington), Bobby Bowden (West Virginia and Florida State), Vince Gibson (Kansas State) Bill Parcells (Air Force, Jets, Giants, Patriots, Cowboys), Dan Henning (Falcons, Chargers) and Joe Gibbs (Redskins). Bobby Ross (Maryland, Georgia Tech, Chargers, Lions, Army) was on his staff at Rice. Defensive assistants who went on to become outstanding NFL coordinators were Ken Meyer and Larry Pecatiello. According to no less a coach than Don James, he was one of the first college coaches to have academic counselors, and one of the first to have a recruiting coordinator. "We had a plan for everything," James remembered in his autobiography. "I think that's an important part of my coaching style that I got from Bill Peterson. The way to lay out a solid program, how to organize it and how to administer it. "I was at Florida State for seven years, the last six with Bill Peterson, and I could see how this strong organization was improving our team." Correctly identifying Bill Peterson: Bill Nelson- West Burlington, Iowa... John Bothe- Oregon, Illinois... Mark Kaczmarek- East Moline, Illinois... Tom Hinger- Auburndale, Florida... Ron Timson- Umatilla, Florida... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... Pete Porcelli- Lansingburgh, New York... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Alan Goodwin- Warwick, Rhode Island... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois ("I remember my 8th grade football team from Camden, SC took a trip to see a South Carolina football game. The opponent - Florida State. It was a great trip. I remember rooting for Florida State and all of my teammates wondering why I wasn't rooting for USC. I told them that Florida State was more exciting to watch. Anyway, Florida State won that sun-filled October day in 1968, 35 - 28.")... Greg Mullins- King George, Virginia ("Joe Gibbs always speaks highly of him in all of his books: Fourth and One, Race to Win, etc.")... Mark Bergen- Keller, Texas... Steve Smith - Middlesboro, Kentucky ( "I guess you have to have a sense of humor to coach football at a former girl's college!")... *********** Bill Peterson was way ahead of the pack in his employment of the passing game, and based on what I've been able to deduce from his 1971 book "Building From the Start," written with C.A. Roberts, he seems to have been in the very forefront of the motivation and goal-setting movement with which coaches and educators became obsessed over the next 10 or 15 years. I do know that Don James at Washington placed great stress on goal-setting in his program, and many of the things I remember him saying appear to have originated with Coach Peterson. Many coaches actually developed lucrative sidelines teaching motivation and goal-setting techniques; some were so successful they got out of coaching and went into the motivation business full-time. The book was written shortly after Coach Peterson left Florida State for Rice, and by that time he appeared, from what I could tell from the book, to be involved with an outfit in Waco, Texas called Success Motivation Institute. *********** 4 years after Coach Peterson left, my old college coach left Western Illinois to become head coach at FSU. Darrell Mudra started to turn the corner, but was fired after only 2 years. Rumor has it, he wasn't "Good OL' Boy" enough and his approach was weird for the FSU people. He was different, but I related well and he did motivate me. Spring football was really funny. A busload of players (JUCO's & Div I rejects) would be dropped off and another bus load would leave with the spring rejects. It was quite a revolving door. I think he established the model most successful DIV I A programs have now Mark Kaczmarek, East Moline, Illinois Darrell Mudra's teams went 4-18 in his two seasons and Florida State bought out the final two years of his $30,000-a-year contract and hired Bobby Bowden, who was then at West Virginia. "He just wasn't a very good fit," former Florida State president Stanley Marshall said. "He had some strange characteristics that didn't set well with the boosters. For one, he coached from the press box and that people didn't understand." Mudra remained in Florida, where he coached a local youth football team before returning to coaching in 1978 at Eastern Illinois (where he hired Mike Shanahan) and immediately won his second Division II national title. (He also coached North Dakota State to a championship in 1965.) *********** The Black Lion Award Board of Advisors is pleased to announce the addition of three new members. They are David Maraniss, Bob Novogratz, and Bobby Ross. David Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize winner, and author of "When Pride Still Mattered," the classic biography of Vince Lombardi, and "They Marched Into Sunlight," the story of the Black Lions' heroism in Vietnam in the Battle of Ong Thanh. Bob Novogratz, a retired Army Colonel and Vietnam veteran, was an All-American guard/linebacker on West Point's unbeaten 1958 football team, which was also Col. Red Blaik's last Army team. Bobby Ross, a graduate of VMI and an Army veteran, is head coach of the United States Military Academy. Coach Ross has been head coach at The Citadel, Maryland and Georgia Tech, where his 1990 team shared the national championship with Colorado. He has been a head coach of the San Diego Chargers and the Detroit Lions, taking the Chargers to the Super Bowl in 1995. The three join the original board, made up of Colonel Ed Burke, Executive Director of the 28th Infantry Association - The Black Lions - and a Vietnam veteran, Tom Hinger, Black Lion Combat Medic and recipient of the Silver Star for Gallantry in Vietnam, Brigadier General James A. Shelton, USA (Ret) former Delaware football player and Vietnam veteran, and Honorary Colonel of The Black Lions. And yours truly. Needless to say, I am awed to be included in the distinguished company of such men - authentic war heroes, a retired general, a West Point All-American and member of the last undefeated Army team, the head coach of the United States Military Academy, and the biographer of Vince Lombardi. Even more than that, I am encouraged by their willingness to show their support of a progam that recognizes the best in America's young men.(Black Lion Award) *********** From a letter to Jim Moore, sports writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Jim - Imagine my surprise when I'm flipping channels last night and come across sports woman Elise Woodward color-commenting the Virginia Tech-Penn State women's tournament game! Elise is a fave of mine, she announced my alma mater Seattle prep's state title win over hated rival Eastside Catholic. I hope she made the 50 most beautiful people in seattle sports. I actually got to talk to her last summer when I called into David Locke's show (I was listening to the webcast in my dorm room) and blasted Slick Rick for claiming to not know the gambling rules. As long as I'm here and reading the article about Husky Juan Garcia's guilty plea, I'll get on my soapbox and say that the NCAA should get rid of the whole idea of a 'partial qualifier.' Someone who can't make the NCAA's GPA and SAT marks is unequivocally unqualified to enter a major research university such as the UW. (I suggest the athletic staffers call the real students who didn't get in and tell them they gave the spot to one of these jocks.) Giving students scholarships to play sports is idealogically tenuous at best; partial qualifiers make a mockery of the system. It's not that they don't deserve higher education, but that they're not ready for the 4-year university. Christopher Anderson, MIT Class of 2004, MIT football player and athletic department employee (Couldn't agree more with the bit about "partial qualifiers; every day we read of another atrocity committed on a college campus by guys who have no business even being out in civil society, much less on a college campus. The Juan Garcia case may or may not be related to the partial qualifier issue, but it sure sounds as if he's the kind of guy you don't want on a college campus: Mr. Garcia, much to the great relief of the Lake Washington Reform School, aka University of Washington football team, will be able to keep his scholarship after pleading guilty to gross misdemeanor charges of being a minor in possession in alcohol and "obstructing." Mr Garcia was a passenger in a car stopped for racing another car in Yakima, Washington last October. A trooper noticed Mr. Garcia placing something under the seat, and ordered him out of the car. When the officer tried to handcuff Mr. Garcia (who weighs 280), Mr. Garcia fled on foot. He was finally captured, and charged with resisting arrest and felony third-degree assault, charges which prosecutors dropped in return for his guilty plea to lesser charges. The f--king judge sentenced Mr. Garcia to 365 days in jail, with 355 days suspended. She (knew it was a woman, didn't you?) also gave him credit for time served, meaning he actually had to serve eight days. Whew! For a while there she had me worried - I thought he wouldn't be out in time for spring ball! But wait - you thought the judge threw the book at him? She wasn't through - she also placed him on two years of probation and - gasp! - ordered him to undergo alcohol abuse and anger-management counseling. How's that for tough? And that's not all - she also ordered him to pay restitution to the state trooper for eyeglasses, a new uniform, and... medical expenses. I put that last bit in italics, just so you didn't miss it. A police officer requires medical attention after dealing with this guy, and this is all he gets. So next fall, proudly wearing the purple and gold and representing the University of Washington in the spirit of Corey Dillon... Juan Garcia! It's great to be a Husky. HW) ************ Shown at left are some of the kids of Belilde-St. Margaret's School in Minneapolis, who donated their time last Saturday in order to demonstrate the Double-Wing for coaches at the Twin Cities clinic. (It's not all of them, because many of them had to leave early to play in a lacrosse game.) As always when we've had kids demonstrate, coaches new to our system were surprised at how easily the kids, who hadn't run a play since November, were able to step right in and run plays. The Red Knights have been a playoff team the last three years, and based on what I saw Saturday, they have the potential to do big things in 2004. Many thanks to head coach Joe Gutilla for hosting the clinic for the third year in a row, and to the young men who helped make the clinic a success! *********** Sorry about your ineptness in predicting college basketball games. Since you're undoubtedly a Stanford fan, I thought it might ease your pain if you knew that one of Stanford's stars, Matt Lottich, was an outstanding 3 sport athlete at New Trier HS in my neck of the woods. He was the starting QB for New Trier his last 2 years of HS. In a memorable state playoff game his junior year, New Trier played Loyola Academy, the local Catholic school. Since they are neighborhood rivals, they used to play on a regular basis. However, a rather spirited game, where fans didn't behave in a sportsman-like manner, sometime in the 1980's, caused the schools to quit playing each other. This particular game was the teams' first meeting since the regular season schedule changed. You can imagine the atmosphere created by 10,000 folks cramming into a facility that seats 3,000 at most. Mr. Lottich played a magnificent game and came close to beating the favored Loyola Ramblers single-handedly. The game went into double OT before Loyola prevailed. And I got to enjoy all of this excitement for the price of admission -- $3.00! Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** Coach Wyatt, Say what you want about Boddy Knight, but if he were a football coach I'd want my son to play for him. He is the real deal. And If you can't handle him, you probably will have a difficult time with life. I like the guy and I have a lot of respect for him. He has high standards, like myself. And that's probably why I like him so much. Mike Lane, Avon Grove, Pennsylvania (He has his good points and he has his bad points. Often they are one and the same. Let's just say he is one of a kind, and let it go at that. And be grateful. Based on what little I know, he'd never get to coach any son of mine, but men who have played for him swear by him. Many others, of course, swear at him. I do find it interesting that Mike Krzyzewski, his most successful former player (in coaching terms) has very little to do with him. The sad thing to me is that he is destined to be remembered - since the media are the ones who write the history books - as something of a nut case. HW) *********** You would think, as clever as these Russian scammers are, that they could program their computers to print arabic letters instead of cyrillic, like the following hard-to-turn-down appeal... Lèarñ how to iñ¢rease your sêxûaÌ plëasµre and stámiña with a new unqiue and powerful hêrbãl stîmulánt. No pîlls, pµmps, éxërcîses nécessary. All ordérs backéd by our nó rîsk, monéy back Gµarántêe! §hipped Discrëetly. Whÿ wait, thè solution is now. No further ¤mâils plèâse *********** No one will deny that Alabama and Texas are football states. But basketball? Well, consider - there are two teams from Alabama among the 12 remaining in the NCAA tournament. And two of the best players, Oklahoma State's John Lucas and UConn's Emeka Okafor, are from Texas. Actually, they are from the same high school. *********** C'mon Coach, how about giving a pass to Pittsburgh for using "We All We Got" as a rallying cry. Somehow, "We Are All We Have" just doesn't get the juices flowing in the same way. If poor grammar is one of your pet peeves, tattoos are one of mine. Some of these guys look like they passed out magic markers to a bunch of kindergarten kids and told them to start scribbling. I guess it's a generational thing, but tattoos and ungodly body piercings make me queasy. The Big East football schedule was released last week, and UConn will have 4 games televised nationally on either ESPN or ESPN2. However, in order to get the TV time they have had to make some unusual modifications to the schedule. Of the four ESPN games, one is a Friday night at Boston College, another is a Wednesday night home game against West Virginia, yet another is a Thursday night home game vs. Pittsburgh, and the fourth is a Thanksgiving morning game at Rutgers. I guess a fledgling program like UConn's has to make some scheduling concessions in order to get the television exposure, but I'd rather be tailgating on a Saturday morning than on a Wednesday afternoon. By the way, I still have 10 teams alive in the NCAA tourney, including 3 Final Four picks. I have UConn vs. Pitt in the final game, with the Huskies winning in a rematch of the Big East championship game. I know, I'm a shameless "homer". Alan Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island (I don't mind your taking me to task, but I am disturbed that you have allowed yourself to get caught up in this "Pittsburgh" (not Pitt) thing, introduced by Mr. Blow-dry Pederson, the former AD, who has since moved on to Nebraska. I am also put off by tattoos and piercing. I don't think that marks me as a member of another generation. I think it marks me as a member of another culture. And poor UConn - the things they have to do to get respect. I have just one word of advice (like Bill Peterson, I can't count): Beat Boston College. Even if it is on Friday night. HW) *********** What the f--k were they thinking? Virgin Atlantic Airways announced that it was cancelling plans to install bright-red urinals shaped like women's open lips (shown at left) in its first-class lounge at New York's JFK International Airport. Talk about clueless - a spokesman for Virgin said the airline was surprised by negative reaction to the idea. "Virgin Atlantic was very sorry to hear of people's concerns about the design of the 'Kisses' urinals to be fitted into our clubhouse at JFK Airport," said the spokesman. "We can assure everyone who complained to us that no offense was ever intended." Oh, no - no offense. Of course not. Who could possibly be offended by the idea of urinating in a woman's mouth? All of the women I know think the idea is cute. Really cute. Needless to say, many of the complaints originated with the National Organization for Women, which urged visitors to its Web site to write Virgin Atlantic. *********** Thank you Coach Wyatt for your bio on Johnny Bright--he was a wonder on the football field and as an eight year old lad-- I think thats how old I was- I too was shocked at the pictures in the Chicago Tribune-- I never forgot them... I still see them in my mind's eye...my mother and I talked about it and she said..." you love sports and play football, basketball, and baseball, you must never ever tolerate that behavior in yourself or in others - if you ever see that you must step in and let your voice be heard".... I am a mortgage broker living in San Clemente, CA but I worked after college in the printing business in Chicago. Our office was across the street from Marina Towers and a restaurant there was owned by Johnny Lattner--Heisman Trophy winner at Notre Dame... we were talking about football and reminiscing about great players in that bygone era...he said to me..."it's too bad we never got to see Johnny Bright play in the NFL - he would have been a great one, maybe a Hall of Famer!!" he also said several players went to the athletic director after Bright's injury in 1951 and tried to get the university to send condolences but it never got past the talking stage... (Lattner played from 1951-53 as a Notre Dame halfback.) he just shook his head and said, "kind of sad isn't it? He was an Indiana boy, too." Well in the annals of courage in sports, Bright's bravery was a signpost of history that should never be forgotten. A movie should be made of his life - how about Denzel Washington as Bright? ..I'll bet he would be honored. Thanks for the bio coach...yes, Johnny Bright will always be in my heart.....God bless...keep up the good work..thanks again. Bob Dudley, San Clemente, California (Many thanks for taking the time to write. I got interested in going back to research Johnny Bright's life while in Edmonton putting on a football camp. There, I ran into men who had taught with him and socialized with him. They all loved him - said he loved lfe and especially loved cooking for his friends. His death was totally unexpected and a great shock to all. You bet I remember Johnny Lattner, from Chicago's Fenwick High. I sat in Franklin Field in Philadelphia and watched him return a kickoff for a TD against Penn. That was a great Notre Dame team, with a backfield of Ralph Guglielmi, Joe Heap, Neil Worden and Lattner. I, too, would love to see a movie made of his life. Unfortunately, I fear that Hollywood would use it to fan the flames of black-on-white racism, rather than to portray the nobility and courage of this great man. HW) *********** Coach: Found out about your site via an e-mail I received this week...from a nice gentleman by the name of Bob Dudley, who now lives in California though he saw me play in Dyche Stadium as a Northwestern Wildcat and also followed my 12 year pro career in Canada. He got my e-mail address from the CFL Website on the Legends Page in the History Section and via this fantastic electronic vehicle have also heard from several hundred other fans who were able to witness that golden era of Canadian Football in which I was a part and say to thanks for the memories. Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your Website, especially the piece on Johnny Bright. Played against him several times and though in the twilight of his career with Edmonton, he was always tough to bring down. I also have a two inch scar under my right eye, courtesy of a George Reed elbow, too. Those were the good old days of single-bar face masks! I've had a pretty exciting life since my football days. Coached for 3 years in Memphis at SAM and then joined the Coca-Cola Company, coaching sales people all over the world instead of athletes. More details and my past articles can be found on my Website: www.coachingpoints.com Been living in SE Asia now for the past 10 years and love every minute of its warmth. No more Chicago or Canadian winters for me! All the best and keep up the good work... Coach T ("Coach T" is Dick Thornton, outstanding quarterback at Northwestern (1958-60); aka Tricky Dick Thornton - Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1961-66 and Toronto Argonauts 1967-72; Captained the WFL Memphis Grizzlies 1974; as Coach Thornton, coached Southwestern at Memphis College, Division III, 1976-78; he now runs a marketing consulting business in Manila, the Philippines, and is a sports columnist for the Bangkok Post newspaper in Thailand and an international editorial columnist for Beverage World magazine out of New York City. We crossed paths briefly in the WFL in 1975, when he was PR man for The Hawaiians and I was PR guy for the Portland Thunder. check this out: http://www.cfl.ca/CFLHistoryCFLLegends/thornton.html If he had played in the US, he would easily have qualified as one of my "Legacy" guys - HW) *********** Great story from our neighborhood fish-n-chip shop...a guy comes in with one of those cards that says "I'm deaf and mute, can you please give me some money." The owner's son then says to the guy - "Hey, you were in here the other day and you were talking - get the f--k out of my shop!" (Story of course is much funnier with Melbourne/Greek accent). Ed Wyatt, Melbourne, Australia *********** Coach Wyatt, I am not one to highlight one players successes over the team's success, but I thought this one you would like to know because it is a direct result of the double wing. We are going into our third year of running the double wing, and entering the playoffs for the third year in a row. I have a running back that has had major success in this offense. We have, I truly believe, a chance at winning our section and going to Minnesota's state tourney this year with this running back. This football player as a sophomore rushed for 1700 yards and 21 TD's. As a junior he rushed for 1200 yards and 16 TD's, and now as a senior, even missing one game out of 8, has rushed for another 1000 yds and scored 19 TD's. He in our last game of the season reached the 4000 yd mark for his career and 55 TD's. And through the playoffs he is bound to add to his total. I wanted to thank you for allowing us coaches access to your website and videos. They are great teaching tools and they really make us better coaches and players better players. Kevin Haley, Head Football Coach, Barnum Bombers, Barnum, Minnesota *********** ESPN's Ron Franklin was doing the Michigan-Hawaii game and during a timeout, a young Michigan fan (female) held up one of those signs degined to get her on camera. This one read, "Ron Franklin, Will You Marry Me?" Franklin handled it magnificently, saying, "I have fishing lures older than she is." *********** Nearly 37 years ago, a bunch of dirty, war-weary soldiers in the Vietnam jungle north of Saigon were paid a morale-boosting visit by a beautiful and gracious young woman, Barbara Harris, Miss South Carolina of 1966. They were the Black Lions of Delta Company, and their company commander was First Lieutenant Clark Welch. David Maraniss, honorary Black Lion and author of "They Marched Into Sunlight," the tale of the Black Lions' epic battle in Vietnam (not to mention "When Pride Still Mattered," his biography of Vince Lombardi), wrote of the visit... Late on the afternoon of August 19, a call came from brigade headquarters with word that a special guest was waiting to be picked up and hosted for dinner at Delta's mess hall. Miss South Carolina. When news spread through camp that the southern beauty queen was coming, the number of men claiming to be from South Carolina increased considerably. Authentic or not, a band of soldiers became South-Carolinians-for-a-day. First sergeant Bud Barrow, who had been a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson, ran a quick tutorial, and four of the self-styled South Carolinians piled into a jeep to escort the visitor up to their place. It was apparent upon her arrival that the young woman had already accomplished one unlikely feat. "For the first time," Welch wrote afterward, "everyone took a shower, and my whole company smelled of deodorant, after shave, and soap. What a funny war!" Less than two months after the visit, the men of Delta Company marched into a bloody ambush. Many of them were killed; most of those who weren't were wounded, some grievously. When they returned to the United States, they did their best to get on with their lives, and to forget the horror they'd been through. In many cases, they concealed from an ungrateful nation the fact that they had served their country in an ugly war. But they never forgot Miss South Carolina. This past week, Clark Welch and nine other men of Delta Company paid a surprise visit to the Miss South Carolina pageant in Spartanburg to help honor her for her years of service to the pageant. Lt. Col. Phil Kaiser, Battalion Commander of the 2-28 Infantry Battalion at Fort Jackson was in attendance, and told Tom Hinger that when the soldiers came on stage and were reunited with their long-lost friend, the crowd of almost 1,000 broke into God Bless America, and "there wasn't a dry eye in the place." At Left, that's Miss South Carolina, Barbara Harris Sorkin, with Clark Welch, described by all who served with him as "a soldier's soldier." (Photo courtesy of Spartanburg Herald Journal)   Janet Spencer, of the Spartanburg Herald Journal, was kind enough to grant permission to reprint her story of the event: Last fall, retired Army Col. Clark Welch set out on a mission -- finding the Miss South Carolina who visited his troops in Vietnam in 1967. Welch, who lives in Colorado, sat Saturday night with nine fellow soldiers from the Delta Company, 2-28 Infantry Battalion, First Infantry Division, which he commanded. They all listened intently to Barbara Ann Harris Sorkin, who had thrilled them with her visit 37 years ago. One of his men, Mike Stubbs, patted Welch on the shoulder when Welch dabbed tears from his eyes as Sorkin, formerly from Greenville, told of her successes over the years. Just as Sorkin, whom Welch continued to address as "Miss Barbara Harris," surprised the troops when she was on the first Miss America USO Tour in August 1967, and was dropped off with a two-hour visit with his company, Welch delighted in surprising and seeing her again. Sorkin was part of the Miss South Carolina Weekend held prior to the summer pageant, and she was on hand to give memorabilia from her reign and tour of Vietnam to the organization's soon-to-be museum. She talked about the horrors of Vietnam, and then was reunited with the soldiers in front of a packed dining room at the Marriott at Renaissance Park. Joe Sanders, executive director of the Miss S.C. Pageant, told her about Welch's efforts to find her, but said he had heart surgery in December. When Sanders explained Welch had recovered, Welch stood in the audience and said, "And I wouldn't have missed this for the world," and was followed onto the stage with the other nine soldiers, including retired Col. Jim George of Spartanburg. "I never thought I would be reunited with any of these soldiers," a tearful Sorkin said. "I am surprised." But the rough, tough Welch had the upper hand. While pageant officials had worked to keep them from bumping into each other, Welch got a glimpse of Sorkin in a hallway. "I recognized that profile as I tried to hide from her. It's the same as the photos we all carried of her from that visit, and some of us still do," he said. Welch was not as thrilled about Sorkin's visit in Vietnam. "A Jeep brought her. Dropped her off that day. We didn't have anybody to call to ask and to tell to come back and get her," he laughed. "I think it was a mistake she was left with us. But she was protected that day." Sorkin's visit to the troops is chronicled by Pulitzer Prize-winner David Maraniss in the recently published "They Marched Into Sunlight: War & Peace, Vietnam and America." It tells of her nonchalance when the company's dog urinated on her. "I offered her my shirt," Welch said. "She refused it and continued to hold that puppy." Just a few days after Sorkin's visit with Welch and his company, they lost 61 men in a major battle. "We were all injured, some seriously. But you see us here today. Some have injuries that continue to plague us. We didn't lose an arm, a leg, but all of us are still hurting," he said. Welch, always the rough, tough commander, described Sorkin's visit as that of an angel and a special light. "It was as if her feet never touched the ground," he said. He challenged the pageant contestants in the audience to strive to be like Miss South Carolina 1966-67. "Not all of you will be Miss South Carolina, but my wish is that you will be able to do what Miss Barbara Harris did for my soldiers and me. Bring your hearts to men and women like us," he said. According to Welch and George, time has finally allowed the veterans of Vietnam to speak freely of what they felt and lived during the war. Welch has visited Vietnam and met with the leaders he fought. "I didn't fear them on the battlefield. I respected them. I still do," he said. Welch said he and a Vietnamese leader he had faced discussed how the American soldiers were outnumbered 142 to 1,400. George said the recently published book has enabled many of the soldiers, including inexperienced teenagers who were able to return, to have closure. "We were told to wear civilian clothes to avoid people here spitting on us at the airports in America," he said. Welch, who received five Purple Hearts for his injuries, said it is a relief to finally be able to talk openly about the war. "For so many of us, the injuries were to our hearts. It's still what we feel," he said. Reprinted by permisson. Janet S. Spencer | Staff Writer, Spartanburg Herald Journal Janet Spencer can be reached at janet.spencer@shj.com.  (Black Lion Award)  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 23, 2004 -   "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig." Paul Dickson, author   NEXT 2004 CLINICS SCHEDULED - SAT APRIL 3, DURHAM NC, SAT APRIL 10, PHILADELPHIA 2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO TWIN CITIES Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He was often ridiculed because sometimes what he said came out far different from what he intended, and that's a legacy both unfortunate and unfair, because he was a bright coach who achieved great things: he helped turn Florida State from an independent weakling into a national powerhouse, he was way out ahead of the pack in his use of a wide-open passing offense, and helped develop and influence many assistant who went on to become fine coaches themselves. In his own words, he wanted to become a coach from the time he was a youngster, and he overcame great obstacles in order to achieve his dream: "I was the oldest in a family of six children. When I was twelve, my father died. My mother had no means of earning a living. Therefore, at the age of twelve, I took over the job of running the farm. I would get up before dawn, milk the cows and do the other chores. "I can recall vividly that at the time, I seriously doubted I would ever get to finish high school. I was convinced that if I did, I would then devote full time to working on the farm and getting the other kids through school. "Each Saturday, I would round up all the available kids and we would choose teams and play football. Saturday night was always a bad night. I would come in from playing, do my chores, and try to get some sleep. Visions of playing and someday coaching football would walk through my mind. I would bite my lip, fight back the tears, and roll my face into the pillow. (To myself) I would say, "You have no right to think about such things. They are for other people." Finally, I would sleep, but the dreams would fill my youing mind. I'm glad they did. "By the time I graduated from high school, only one thing stood between me and college: money. Needless to say, I did not attract national attention withh my athletic performance. I wasn't big, I wasn't fast, and I had only a fair amount of athletic ability. But I did have one thing which I suppose has been my strongest charcteristic: I was a fighter. "I made a trip to Ohio Northern University and talked to the coach, Harris Lamb. He offered me a work scholarship. I picked up dishes in return for my meals. I joined the Delta Sigma Phi fraternity and became houseman. I stoked the furnace and kept the place clean in return for my room. Coach Lamb waived my tuition and I began to play football. "Toward the end of college, a Class B high school in Forestvile, Ohio needed a coach. Ray Baum had been the coach and was a great help in getting me started. His daughters were my biggest boosters in town. Actually, I coached the team during my noon hour while I was still playing at Ohio Northern. I had fourteen boys out for football that first year. There is nothing else I care to remember about that experience except that I had become a coach. It was an anemic start, but my dream was off the ground." His big career break came when he was coaching at Mansfield, Ohio high school, and Mansfield native Paul Dietzel offered him a spot on his staff at LSU. He stayed six years as Dietzel's offensive line coach (the Tigers were running the Delaware Wing-T) and after LSU won the national championship in 1959, he was offered the head coaching job at Florida State, left vacant when Perry Moss left Tallahassee after one year to coach the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. It was 1960, and, he later wrote, Florida State was not all that far removed from the days when it was an all-female college. There wasn't a male alumnus over the age of 40, and the program was $50,000 in debt. Doak Campbell Stadium seated 20,000, and the Seminoles were averaging around 16,000 a game. He was permitted to bring in only two of his own assistants, since Moss' staff had been there just year. At first, he wanted to go with a passing game, something he believed in thanks to his early exposure to Paul Brown and Sid Gillman, but finally he gave in to staying with what he knew - the wing-t. Only when he realized during spring practice that he had only one runner and one receiver did he decided to widen the wingback and turn him into a flanker. This meant placing less emphasis on the run and more on the pass, a radical approach at the time. Under Moss, Florida State had gone 4-6, and in his first year, even against a weak schedule, the Seminoles went 3-6-1. Their wins came over Richmond, Wake Forest and William and Mary. The Seminoles went through three more losing seasons, beating the likes of Furman, George Washington and the Citadel, but occasionally picking off a major - Georgia in 1961 and 1962, and Miami in 1963. Meantime, the schedule was being upgraded, and the Furmans, the Citadels and the Richmonds were dropped in favor of more powerful opposition. In 1964, he achieved a great breakthrough for the former women's college, as Florida State went 9-1-1 and defeated Oklahoma in the Gator Bowl. With a sensational passing game built around quarterback Steve Tensi and receiver Fred Biletnikoff, the Seminoles beat Miami and Florida for the first time ever. To accomodate the growing football fever in Tallahassee, Doak Campbell Stadium's capacity was doubled, to 40,000, yet demand for tickets grew to the point where by the end of the 1960's, Florida State had to adopt a season ticket priority plan. The Seminoles slipped to 4-5-1 in 1965, but from 1966 through 1970, they went 34-17-1, with three bowl appearances in there, including the famous 17-17 Gator Bowl tie with Penn State when Joe Paterno rashly went for a first down deep in his own territory and wound up handing the Seminoles their chance to tie the game. He left after the 1970 season for Rice, but after one season (3-7-1) he jumped to the Houston Oilers. Ouch. He went 1-13 in 1972, and after getting off to an 0-5 start in 1973, he was fired. I have been unable to find what he did after that. (Please help if you can.) Among football coaches, he became as famous as Yogi Berra for the strange and twisted way the things he meant to say sometimes came out. Maybe he said them, and maybe he didn't. Like Yogi, he couldn't possibly have said everything that's attributed to him, but long after his coaching has been forgotten, Web sites are full of bloopers attributed to him: "I want you guys to pair up in groups of three," he once supposedly told his team, "and then line up in a circle." Or, "You guys line up alphabetically by height" Or, "You guys have to run a little more than full speed out there." "Men," he is reputed to have told his Oilers, "I want you just thinking of one word all season. One word and one word only: Super Bowl!" Although such stories may have had some basis in fact, he was not the fool they portray him to be. Quite the contrary. Some of the men who served under him at Florida State and went on to become head coaches were John Coatta (who went on to coach at Wisconsin), Don James (Kent State and Washington), Bobby Bowden (West Virginia and Florida State), Vince Gibson (Kansas State) Bill Parcells (Air Force, Jets, Giants, Patriots, Cowboys), Dan Henning (Falcons, Chargers) and Joe Gibbs (Redskins). Bobby Ross (Maryland, Georgia Tech, Chargers, Lions, Army) was on his staff at Rice. Defensive assistants who went on to become outstanding NFL coordinators were Ken Meyer and Larry Pecatiello. According to no less a coach than Don James, he was one of the first college coaches to have academic counselors, and one of the first to have a recruiting coordinator. "We had a plan for everything," James remembered in his autobiography. "I think that's an important part of my coaching style that I got from (him). The way to lay out a solid program, how to organize it and how to administer it. "I was at Florida State for seven years, the last six with (him), and I could see how this strong organization was improving our team." *********** Two famous Minnesotans, each in his own way, offered the same words of wisdom to those of us who find ourselves at the mercy of a partisan news media. Former governor (and pro westler) Jesse Ventura, now serving as a fellow - a guest lecturer - at Harvard (if you can believe that), told students there: "Don't trust the media." (Conveniently overlooking, of course, the fact that he wouldn't even be at Harvard were it not for the media, which helped him win election as governor largely because of the fame/notoriety he had achieved as a wrestler/entertainer.) Vikings' Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant, just back from a week in Iraq spent visiting US troops along with a group of NFL alumni, said just about the same thing, but said it better. Coach Grant told old friend Sid Hartman, long-time sports columnist of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, that the biggest impression he got while over there was that the American news media are not portraying things as they really are, and the troops - he emphasized that he spent his time with the grunts, and not with officers - wanted Americans to know that. "They've got a job to do," he told Hartman. "They hate Dan Rather, because he only wants to talk about who got killed. And they're doing so much more than killing people or getting killed. They are supporting the countryside, they're helping them keep everything as peaceful as they can. They're opening schools and waterways and electrical outlets. They're doing things to help the country. "There's so much good that's going on," he went on. "So much is good, and nobody wants to report that." *********** OOO-WHEE! Am I the laughing stock of the family NCAA pool. We started it when our kids were small and we lived back in ACC country, and now it's expanded to where, thanks to the Internet, it's coast-to-coast (international, even), taking in our four kids and their spouses and our ten grandkids, as well as assorted other in-laws and close friends. Fortunately, my son-in-law Ken Timbers is such a basketball nut that he has taken over its management, with the exception of the complaint department, which he has wisely sloughed off onto his wife, my daughter Vicky. (Past complaints have dealt with such matters as Ken's clever attempt to sneak in an extra entry under the name of their dog, Duster.) Anyhow, call it Neuheisel's revenge, but Saturday was death for my pool chances, since I had Stanford and Gonzaga making it to the final game, where I went with the home state kids and chose Gonzaga. Ouch. Both Stanford and Gonzaga are now out, and so are at least three-quarters of the pool's entrants, given the heavy concentration of Stanford alums in the group. Now that Gonzaga and Stanford are gone, along with my money, my allegiance is down to Duke, still represented by the North Carolina branch of the family, and UConn, representing the state where I went to school, where we lived when we were first married, and where our son was born. I am out $5. Wonder how much Rick bet this year. *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, Your double wing system and the way you teach it are incredible! We have been using your system since 1998/1999. When we first put the offensive system in place our team was the worst in the state of Tennessee. We had lost over 40 games straight. We were the laughing stock of football in this area. Since the time we have put the offense in we have became one the most prolific offensive teams in western Tenn. We have been able to make it to the state championship, state semi final and the 4th round of the playoffs. This past year our A back was voted Mr. Football for our state. We have also been ranked as the #1 team in our classification going into the playoffs the past 2 years. Thank you!!! This success has a lot to do with you and your videos and playbooks. Once again thank you for all that you do! All of Crockett County is in your debt! Sincerely, Coach Joshua Epperson, Crockett County HS, Alamo, Tennessee (Crockett County HS finished 12-1 in 2003, and occupies a place of honor on our 2003 LIST OF TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS) *********** Making friends everywhere. You wouldn't think that South Africans, after years of being known as the world's most racist people, would still be going out of their way to alienate others, but some people just can't help it... My son, Ed, who as part of his job follows international rugby, sent me a note that as time was running out in a recent international "SAuper 12" match, and it was clear that the Bulls, a South African team, were going to beat the New South Wales Waratahs, from Australia, the South African PA annnouncer said, "Go back to Australia, you Aussie sheep-rooters." Uh, in Aussie slang, to "root" means to, uh, "have sexual relations with." I don't think I need explain further. The announcer had been making derogatory comments throughout the match in Afrikaans, but this final "sledge" (trash-talking insult) was in English. *********** Say what you want about Bobby Knight - and I've said my share about a guy whose exploits could fill a book on churlish behavior - the guy is a teacher. One of his Texas Tech players was being interviewed after Tech's opening-round win over UNC-Charlotte, and he started his answer with "Me and Mikey (not sure if that was the name, but that's not the point..." Like that, from off-camera, Coach Knight snapped - "Mikey and I!" The kid, recognizing that the coach had corrected a flaw in his speech, resumed: "Mikey and I..." Now, as one who still believes that you are judged by the way you speak, that unless you are a good enough entertainer or athlete to make it without ever learning to speak, I consider good speech and good English to be essential life skills (not to mention job skills). I think that we have to have the stones to help kids correct flaws in their behavior and mannerisms; I think that when we don't, we are setting them up for future failure - we are helping to place a limit on how far they can go. Let's put it this way - at some point, somebody's going to judge them, and it might not be somebody who cares as much about them as you and I do. So I sure applaud Coach Knight, whose possession of a large set of stones has never been in question. My wife, a third-grade teacher, heard the story and said while she may not be willing to forgive him for all his past transgressions, "he goes up a notch." Too many so-called teachers, unfortunately, lack the stones to defend our language, and to help their kids in such small ways as correcting their speech. They are not teachers. They are enablers. Take Jamie Dixon, coach of the University of Pittsburgh's basketball team, who stepped up from assistant when the Panthers were left high and dry by the departure of Ben Howland for UCLA after last season. In his behalf, he has done a marvelous job of coaching. The Panthers were shafted by the NCAA tournament selection committee, and now, after handling the enormous task of beating Wisconsin in front of a sea of red in Milwaukee, they have as good a chance as anyone of winning the tournament. I wish them well. But it is obvious that Coach Dixon, in his first year as a major college head coach, does not yet see himself as an educator, as playing a part in his university's mission to educate young people. In the spirit of paranoia and "we don't get no respect" that is so common among so many of today's inner city-dominated college basketball teams, the Pitt (sorry, I'll never stop saying that) players thought it was cool to print a defiant "us against the world" slogan on the backs of their warm-up shirts: "WE ALL WE GOT" Are you kidding me? These guys are supposed to be students at a major university. If they didn't say anything at all, onlookers might at least suspect that the college experience was having a beneficial effect on them. But they had to go and show everybody - on the backs of their shirts - that the street was more powerful than the classroom. "WE ALL WE GOT" - Can you imagine John Wooden allowing that? Bob Knight is a teacher. Jamie Dixon is an enabler. Maybe he will get lucky and someone with stones will tell him. *********** Hi Coach. Hope that all is well. Around here I'm in somewhat of a funk. I read the,"News" Section about the High school  trying to destroy rec leagues. Well, we are in a similar situation here. To start I have been working very hard for the last 7 years to understand all aspects of football coaching. This has paid off with what I have been able to pass along to the kids at every level of rec league. I basically have been rebuilding a program that had been run by founder , more than 40 yrs ago, after he passed away. The high school coaches in our area along with the Jr. high coaches started last year to dictate what they thought should be done at rec league, and the resutl was deteriorating programs one by one. Something that was not "BROKEN", they try to fix. This year the plague spread to our side of town. I was suckered big time. A lot of promises and expectations. I went along with age changes. I technically gave up my team.(I won't have one unless numbers are enough for two teams, which is highly unlikely). The founder of our rec club would've never gone along with any of this. Now it seems like the community is in turmoil. Kids will not get a chance to develop properly. Nothing has changed in the Jr. high, and the high school is planning to run an offense that will again get them killed. All I see happening here is a group of elitists that think that no one can think for themselves, trying to dictate what goes on.Hummm.You think they will vote for John Kerry? In the meantime Baseball, Soccer, Basketball are picking up the pieces. You know what hurts me the most? It's that in my heart. I knew this was all wrong. I do not know if it was my hopes of coaching at the Jr. high that did it, or just not wanting to make anyone mad at me. Or fearful for my son in this backstabbing community that I have seen take it out on kids of parents they do not agree with. I do not know. But it is starting to eat at me. I will do everything in my power  as coordinator to keep football moving in the right direction. I just hope I did not screw these kids too bad by not standing up for them. Last year there was a jr high that had many boys quit football. They had over 60 kids on their team. Coaches that were not in the least interested in developing football players. At the end of season they did not even know who was on their team. This is what high school wants? They do not do this in areas that are successful. I guess around here they know what rest of country does not. That seems to be the attitude in this town.That is why almost all the football programs STINK. Thanks for listening. Looking forward to the Durham clinic. I need to spend a day with you guys. Recharge batteries. Best wishes on the clinic circle. Glad to hear they are going well. The story about the Japanese and guns,was great. I would like for you to print this letter if you can.Hold my name. *********** I wrote, "For Providence College, for example, Hoop 1 Video was a lifesaver. Providence was faced with trying to find tape on a first-round opponent - Pacific - which hasn't been on television a whole lot. So Providence bought 14 tapes, four of Pacific and 10 others of Kansas and Illinois-Chicago, the Friars' second-round opponents should they beat Pacific." John Torres, a native of Stockton, California (home of University of the Pacific) and now a resident of nearby Manteca, wrote back - after Pacific beat Providence... "Well the boys from Stockton beat Providence or should I say UPSET that team. Great game and I really think Coach Thomason outcoached the Providence HC.  Get this, Coach Thomason was confused with the HC of another team named "Pacific" going to "the dance" and was mistakenly sent an email by the Rick Pitino congratulating him on making the tourney.  Upon learning that it was the wrong Pacific team he was congratulating, nada!" (I knew someone would pick up on that! Great job by the boys from Stockton. And yes, it is true - the coach at Pacific University, in Forest Grove, Oregon, (which is so small and insignificant athletically that it would be Division IV, if the NCAA went that low) got numerous congratulatory telegrams from the big guys, and they had to put a special message on their athletic department phones telling people they needed to call the other Pacific!HW) *********** "Monaca (PA) HS is a small steel town that has seen better days. The HS football team, once a perennial powerhouse, had a down year. A mom wrote in to the paper asking the fans to quit booing the team, that they were just 15-17 year old kids doing their best. This guy responded 'I am a taxpayer in this community and I have a RIGHT to a winning football team. We had them in the past. Why can't we win now? And as a taxpayer, I have the right to boo an inferior product.' "Personally, I think the guy is an a**hole. Probably shows up on Friday night in his too-small HS letter jacket with his unemployed steel worker buddies to boo the kids and rag on Reagan for the demise of their industry." Mark Rice, Beaver, Pennsylvania *********** Sent to me by Lou Orlando, of Boston: A heart-warming story of the advances of women in achieving equality throughout the world...   Barbara Walters of 60 Minutes (USA) did a story on gender roles in Kabul several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked about ten paces behind their husbands. She returned to Kabul recently and observed that the men now walked several paces behind their wives. Ms Walters approached one of the Afghani women and said. "This is marvelous. Can you tell the free world just what enabled women to achieve this reversal of roles?" "Land mines," said the woman. *********** In case you read the first part of the newspaper, the part that they use to wrap the sports pages in, you may have read about the flap concerning Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Back in January, Justice Scalia and Vice-President Dick Cheney spent a few days duck hunting, down in South Louisiana, near Morgan City. Mr. Cheney arranged for them to fly there in a government jet. But now a case involving Mr. Cheney is coming up in front of the Supreme Court, and certain opposition groups, claiming conflict of interest, are insisting that Justice Scalia recuse himself from the case - sit this one out, in other words. Now, the opposition makes clear its hatred of President Bush, but its hatred of Vice-President Cheney and Justice Scalia, a noted conservative, is every bit as intense. Justice Scalia, however, is a man of stones, not easily intimidated, and he is often inclined to use sarcasm when dealing with his foes. Explaining why he sees no need to remove himself from the case, he wrote, "If it is reasonable to think that a Supreme Court justice can be bought so cheap, the nation is in deeper trouble than I had imagined."   *********** The article(s) about high school coaches trying to stamp out youth football make me suspect that some of these high school guys may be getting in over their heads. Some high school coaches look down their noses at youth coaches. BIG mistake - they underestimate the youth coaches' ability to deal with matters out in the real world. The high school football coaches may know more about football, but their experience in important matters other than football is often very scanty, and they are babes in the woods compared to youth coaches, many of whom in their workaday lives deal routinely with such things as finances and public relations. And politics - the real kind and the office kind. *********** Speaking in 1983 on the 20th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination, John Connally, former Texas Governor who was riding with the President on the day he was shot, scoffed at the rumors, still persistent, that Lee Harvey Oswald had had help: "Nobody in America can keep a secret that big for that long." *********** Two high school athletes died of injuries directly related to football last season. Of course it is sad when any youngster dies, but that is the fewest number of high school football fatalities in 10 years. According to an annual report by the National Federation of State High School Associations, four other deaths were caused by heart-related ailments and were listed as indirect fatalities. There have been an average of four direct fatalities a year in the past decade. There were a record 26 direct deaths in 1968, but that number has declined since the 1976 rules change that banned making initial contact with the head while blocking or tackling. Jerry Diehl, NFHS assistant director, attributed the improved 2003 results to increased education and improved attitudes among coaches (especially regarding dealing with heat issues), as well as the trend toward having players receive quick medical attention when an injury first occurs, rather than risk more serious injury by letting them continue to play. *********** In "Gray Matter," a publication for and by West Point alums and fans, "J. Phoenix" writes about new Army coach Bobby Ross: Some may call him a "good ole boy," but there is no doubt that the new Army head football coach is a man dedicated full time to a mission-winning the Commander in Chief's trophy and making Army a competitive independent once again. How does he plan to do this? By emphasizing preparation to build confidence, returning to a balanced, multi-running back offense, and using "lots of players," especially in special team situations, to give every player a chance to contribute to a team effort (and a good reason to work hard at preparation) that compensates for the lack of superstar players.  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 19, 2004 -   "There's never a bond, old friend, like this - we have drunk from the same canteen!" Miles O'Reilly   NEXT 2004 CLINICS SCHEDULED - SAT MARCH 20, MINNEAPOLIS, SAT APRIL 3, DURHAM NC, SAT APRIL 10, PHILADELPHIA 2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Long before the Maurice Clarettt ruling, Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb went from high school to the NFL without benefit of college experience. At his best, he was a dominating player, and many who played with him believe he has been denied a place in the Hall of Fame because of the unsavory and mysterious circumstances of his death. He grew up rough on the streets of Detroit. He never knew his father, and when he was 11 his mother was stabbed to death. He was taken in by his grandfather, who made him work odd jobs in order to pay his room and board. Always big - he was 6-4, 220 as a sixth-grader - he was self-conscious about his size, teased by his classmates because of his ill-fitting clothes, and called "Big Stupe" because of his difficulty with classroom subjects. He finally found his niche when he turned out for football at Miller High School, but he was ineligible his senior year, and his coach suggested he join the Marines. There, by all counts, he became a man, and while playing service ball at Camp Pendleton, he was discovered and signed to an NFL contract by a Rams' executive named Pete Rozelle. He played three years with the Rams from 1953 through 1956, until the Rams, tired of dealing with his carousing, let him go for the waiver price. Picked up by Baltimore, he played with the Colts from 1956 through 1960, starring on two NFL championship clubs. At 6-6, 290, he was a giant in the middle of the Colts' defensive line, playing tackle next to Art Donovan, with Gino Marchetti and Don Joyce at the ends. In his combination of great size and unusual athletic ability he was way ahead of his time. He relished the media attention he received, and in his bragging - much of which he could back up - and in his wild life off the field, he was also very much more like a player of today than of his time. His most famous boast was that he tackled everybody he could get his hands on, then sorted them out until he got to the one with the ball. But he really could play. Teammates still marvel at his ability. Coaches called him the best they'd ever seen. He was All-Pro in 1958 and 1959. He was traded to the Steelers after the 1960 season, and played the 1961 and 1962 seasons in Pittsburgh, but Baltimore remained his home, and he spent his off-seasons there Following the 1962 season, he was named Most Valuable Player in the Pro Bowl, but in May of 1963, he was collapsed and died in the kitchen of a Baltimore house after a night of serious partying with an acquaintance and two "ladies of the night." He was not a Boy Scout. He was known to have had enormous appetites for food, for women, and for strong drink, but although he was not known to be a hard drug user, the cause of death was ruled to be a massive overdose of heroin - self-administered, according to the testimony of the acquaintance, an admitted heroin addict with a long criminal record. He was 31 years old. More than 20,000 people attended his viewing in Baltimore, and more than a thousand people attended his funeral services in his native Detroit, where his pallbearers were eight NFL players, many of them stars of the first rank: Erich Barnes, John Henry Johnson, Dick "Night Train" Lane, Lenny Moore, Luke Owens, Jim Parker, Sherman Plunkett and Johnny Sample. There were said to be at least three women in attendance who claimed to be engaged to him. Those who knew him best said that his death had to be a homicide, because he was deathly afraid of needles. They suspected that he was murdered by the acquaintance, who was then protected by the Baltimore police, whom he served as an informant. The acquaintance, they said, did it to rob him. (He was known to carry large sums of money on his person, and a woman friend testified that he had $700 in his pocket when he left to go out on his last night on earth. When he was found, he had $73 on him.) "Find out what happened to that," former Colt Buddy Young, now dead, long maintained, "and you'll know why Daddy is dead." Correctly identifying Gene "Big Daddy" Lipscomb: John Muckian, Lynn, Massachusetts ("That is Big Daddy Lipscomb! I believe he also ended John "Hondo" Havlicek's brief,brief NFL career ,When Hondo played TE for the Browns in Training Camp and 1 or 2 Exhibition games , and Big Daddy hit Hondo so hard , Havlicek decided the NBA was a better and safer choice for him.")... Mark Kaczmarek- East Moline, Illinois... Adam Wesoloski, Pulaski, Wisconsin... Ronald Singer- Toronto... Bill Nelson- West Burlington, Iowa... Mike Foristiere- Boise, Idaho... Dave Potter- Durham, North Carolina... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Joe Gutilla- Minneapolis ("You couldn't be more right about him being way before his time. Both on and off the field!")... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois... ("Yes, he should be in the Hall of Fame, if for no other reason than he changed the way the game was played.")... Joe Daniels- Sacramento ("One of the precursers to the huge athletic DT's you see nowadays.")... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... Mike O'Donnell - Pine City, Minnesota... Steve Smith- MIddlesboro, Kentucky... Bert Ford- Los Angeles... John Zeller- Tustin, Michigan... *********** Evidently Big Daddy Lipscomb's wild life really kicked into high gear when he was traded to Pittsburgh, a team whose quarterback and on-and-off-the-field leader, Bobby Layne, was a notorious party animal. After every practice the Steelers would head to a local saloon called the South Park Inn for a little "team bonding," and Layne would buy everybody a drink. Except for Big Daddy. He'd buy Big Daddy a fifth - of VO (the only thing he ever drank). *********** While watching the NCAA tournament, making not to get involved in an office pool because of what happened to coaching great Rick Neuheisel, it might interest you to know that the competing schools are involved in something of an office pool of their own. See, the NCAA is going to take in $425 million this year (as compared to $1.4 million in 1970), and most of that money is distributed in various ways to member schools and their conferences. One way it is distributed - $105.3 million of it - is in "performance distributions", payments to conferences based on how their members do in the tournament. Here's how it works: each conference is awarded a "unit" every time one of its teams appears in a tournament game. Each unit is worth $912,000, paid over six years in installments of $152,000 a year. Naturally, most of this money winds up in the hands of the big six power conferences (think BCS). Last year, those six conferences, the BCS Six, took in 60 per cent of the performance distribution money. The Big Ten led the way, with $12.3 million. That compares with the $784,000 paid out to the nine smallest conferences. The NCAA keeps trying to even out the distribution to take care of the have-nots, and naturally, the haves keep rejecting any ideas of sharing the wealth. Just to to give you an idea of how the BCS Six have taken control of the tournament... in the 1970's, 11 schools from outside today's BCS Six made it to the Final Four, and average of about one a year; in the 1980's it was 9, and in the 1990's it was down to four. So far in this decade, just one outsider - Marquette, last year - has crashed the party. *********** This year, for the first time in six years, the Chicago Clinic was held at a location other than Rich Central High School. This year it was at Crystal Lake Central High, host coach Jon McLaughlin's new school. Central football has been down on its luck of late, and it plays in a tough 6-A conference, but I saw lots of signs that it is on the verge of a breakthrough. The ingredients are there, from administrative support, to good facilities (including a field house with an all-weather playing surface) to an enthusiastic staff. And, of course, there is Coach McLaughlin. AT LEFT: I am in distinguished company with three top Double-Wing coaches: From Left: Steve Staker, Fredericksburg, Iowa High School; Yours truly; Mark Kaczmarek, United Township High School, East Moline, Illinois; and the host coach, Jon McLaughlin, of Crystal Lake Central High (More photos from the Chicago clinic) *********** This came from friend Tom Luke, head coach and youth pastor at Eagle's Landing Christian School in McDonough, Georgia... Joe William Sheffield, of Tifton, Georgia is 9 years old. His mother is a teacher in the school system in Tifton, and they attend First Baptist Church there. Little Joe William has been diagnosed with cancer and he began his Chemo on Christmas Eve. First Baptist has a program called the Prayer Beeper. Say a prayer for little Joe William, and when you do, take the time to call this toll free number: 1-877-546-0248. Listen to the recording and then input number 733#. Joe William is wearing a beeper, and every time it vibrates he knows someone, somewhere is praying for him! *********** Years ago, when I did color work on Portland State telecasts, I travelled to Florence, Alabama to take in the Vikings' trip to the NCAA Division II final game against North Dakota State. Now, Portland State, under the direction of the late Pokey Allen, and with a bright offensive coordinator named Al Borges, was pretty good. But damn. North Dakota State, a bunch of big, tough kids from the Dakotas and Minnesota and Iowa,was physical as hell. They ran the split back veer and they ran it down PSU's throat. The NDSU coach was a guy named Rocky Hager. Guess he eventually got his walking papers at North Dakota - happens to everybody - but he's back in the game (as MIke Ditka would say) as new head coach at D-IAA Northeastern. It would be great if he were to run the veer there. I'm sure Atlantic-10 coaches are shuddering at the thought that for at least one game a year, they might have to have to strap in on and try to stop a running team. *********** You'd certainly think that Kellen Winslow, Sr. would be a big help when it came time for his son, Kellen, Jr. to select an agent. I mean, the guy was a standout in the NFL himself, and since retirement he's still been involved in sports as a broadcaster/analyst. You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. Turns out he needed some high-priced help. The elder Winslow set up an "agent selection committee", or "advisory panel" if you will, to interview agents hoping to represent his son. And in order to help pay the expenses of the committee, he required each agent to pay a $2,500 fee. Uh-oh. The NFL Players Association has a rule stating that no NFLPA certified agent can give anything of value to a player or his family in order to sign the player, so Mr. Winslow has had to return the checks - at least five of them - to the agents. I couldn't find out how many people were on the committee (one, maybe?) or who they were (Kellen Winslow, Sr., maybe?). Hmmm. *********** A couple of years ago, an Eco-Freak named Michael Scarpitti did a little sit-in on a building ledge, high above the streets of Portland. He was protesting logging of old growrth forest or some suvch thing. Like most of that legion of the great unwashed, he went by another name, one more closely associated with nature. He called himself Tre Arrow, and damned if the liberal media out here didn't go along with him and refer to him by his "green" name. He sat up on that damned ledge for days, and the authorities, instead of just getting out the old firehose, coddled him and let him stay up there. The fool was up there crapping in a bucket, and passing it down to his friends to empty. (Greater love hath no man...) Meantime, it turns out that Mr. Arrow, like so many of those eco-bums, was not exactly into peaceful pursuit of his goals. He was charged in August of 2002 with arson, setting fire to two logging trucks belonging to an Estacada, Oregon company. He was also implicated in the destruction of a $500,000 construction crane in Pennsylvania. Mr. Arrow was arrested this past week in Vancouver, B.C., when he was caught in a hardware store trying to shoplift a pair of bolt cutters. (Probably just lost the key to the lock on his garage door.) The guy who owned those logging trucks noted that if the arsonists had waited just one more hour, his drivers would have been sitting in those logging trucks. "I believe the world's a lot safer with him behind bars," he said. "I hope he gets put away for a long time. But, " he added, showing that he deals in reality, "it's a pretty sympathetic world." *********** Students at Western Oregon University have banned the Red Cross Blood Drive from its campus, because... because... the Red Cross discriminates against gays. Stay with me... in an effort to make sure that the Gay Plague doesn't spread into the larger community, the Red Cross screens potential donors by asking men if they have had sex with another man since 1977. Evidently to the knucklehead students at Western Oregon, the right of two men to engage in what can at best be called "dangerous" sex trumps the right of the rest of us to receive blood tranfusions without fear of contracting AIDS. *********** Remember all those people who said that our cracking down on terrorists would only further enrage them, and cause even more terrorism? You don't suppose, do you, that the religious fanatics who call us all Unbelievers are going to ease off, now that they know that at heart we are a peaceful people who have nothing against them, and just want to go about our business - men marrying men and women marrying women? *********** For obvious reasons I can't use names or places here, but I was contacted by a youth coach whom I've come to know who described one of the most arrogant power plays I have ever heard of. Primarily because the local high school coach objects to the offense that the local youth program is running (it happens to be the Double-Wing), he is attempting to start a parallel program, one which would operate under his direction and run his offense. But here's the best part - he knows he can't raise the money himself (he probably has no idea how hard youth programs have to work to keep themselves funded) so he's proposing asking the taxpayers to subsidize his struggle for control. In a chronically-depressed area, in a community whose schools are not lavishly equipped, he's asking them to fork over the bucks to start football programs in the junior high school, where they do not now exist. Now, I'm all for creating opportunities for kids to play football. But this is not being proposed for the purpose of creating more opportunities. Those opportunities are already being provided, as they have been for years, by the local youth football organization. This is designed for the sole purpose of putting the youth organization out of business and bringing youth football under the strong arm of the high school coach. My suggestion to the high school coach (who, I might add, has been very successful without any suggestions from me) would be that he patch up relations with the youth coaches and get back to running his own program. If he can't take kids who come to him as ninth-graders from a decent youth program and teach them his system and mold them into a winning varsity football program, it isn't the fault of the youth coaches and the system they run. As one who once coached at a large high school with grades 10-12, where we had to take incoming sophomores (not freshmen) from five different junior highs, all playing different systems, all coached at varying degrees of expertise, and turn them into a varsity football team, I can tell you that it can be done. I really don't think it matters what offense or defense is run at the youth level, so long as kids come to me having been taught good work habits and coachability, using their body properly, blocking and tackling, competitiveness, and a love of the game and a desire for more. Are there other high school coaches out there who agree with that? *********** I don't think so... A local newspaper ran a pre-St. Patrick's Day article about "Irish Cuisine." One of the dishes featured was something called carrot soup. Yecch. And then, to top it off - literally - the chef/author, who must have just come back from his same-sex honeymoon, garnished the bowl - with pansies. *********** "T.O." got what he wanted. Terrell Owens forced the NFL to give in and let him go play in Philly with his fewfound buddy, "D-Mac" (Donovan McNabb). Welcome to Philly, Dude. A few tips to help you realize that you are no longer in San Francisco. The Philly guys in the upper rows - what used to be know as the 700 Section at The Vet - love the Eagles, not each other. You will not see them french kissing each other after scores. When you do something bad, you are going to hear noises that will make you wish you had taken a closer look at Baltimore. And watch the 'tude. Philly fans don't like attitude with their athletes. They have run better athletes than you - many of them far better people - out of town. Don't look around and expect D-Mac to be standing there with you, either. It's every man for himself, and he's liable to have problems of his own. Don't think you can turn on him, though, the way you did with Jeff Garcia, because he's spent enough time in town that he's built up some equity. You - you have no idea how on the mark you were when you said in your press conference that you were starting over - that you were coming in with a clean slate. That works both ways, Dude - it also means that the Philly fans don't give a big rat's rear what you did in San Francisco. (Come to think of it, what did you do in San Francisco, besides dance on the Cowboys' star, autograph a football immediately after scoring a touchdown, run your coach out of town and publicly criticize your quarterback - and drop a bunch of catchable balls?) Which reminds me - one final word of advice: don't... drop... any... passes. You're not in San Francisco any more. *********** I refuse to touch this one, but he's the one who said it... "Maybe I am the missing link." Terrell Owens *********** How would you like to be Chris Ford, coach of the 76ers? When he told Allen Iverson Sunday that he wouldn't be starting, Iverson refused to play. ("A franchise player doesn't come off the bench.") Management's reaction to their multimillionaire player's refusal to earn his paycheck - zippo.  *********** Anyone who has ever made it into the playoffs knows that exactly one minute after the initial thrill passes, the frantic scramble begins - the scramble to find tapes of the first-round oppponent and likely second-round opponents. Imagine what it's like for college basketball teams, which don't learn until Sunday who they'll be playing on Thursday, That's where a New Jersey company named Hoop1 Video comes in. Hoop 1 Video provides tapes to most of the teams in the NCAA tournament. Hoop1 charges $30 per tape during the season, but $60 per tape at tournament time, and flies them out of Newark airport to schools all over the country. For Providence College, for example, Hoop 1 Video was a lifesaver. Providence was faced with trying to find tape on a first-round opponent - Pacific - which hasn't been on television a whole lot. So Providence bought 14 tapes, four of Pacific and 10 others of Kansas and Illinois-Chicago, the Friars' second-round opponents should they beat Pacific. *********** Coach Wyatt when was Art Spinney an All-Pro for the Colts ? he was teammates with Artie Donovan and Ernie Stautner at B.C. in 47,48,49 and is considered the greatest player ever to come out of Saugus,Mass ( Town next to Lynn) geezus B.C back then had 3 All-Pro's and 2 future hall of Famers on their D-line and the best they could do I believe was 6-4 and a 5-4-1 record not that those are bad records but with that talent you think they would of put up a few more W's in that era. See ya Friday Coach, John Muckian Lynn, Massachusetts ( Art Spinney was All-Pro in 1959, along with fellow Colts Raymond Berry, Jim Parker, John Unitas, Lenny Moore, Gino Marchetti, Gene Lipscomb and Andy Nelson. Those BC teams must have been a tough buncha bastards. HW) *********** Coach, There is some good news for the wing-T in the small college ranks. Olivet College in Michigan was 2nd is rushing in all of Division III with 385 yards per game. They run the Wing-T and are coached by a long-time high school coach Irv Sigler. John Bothe, Oregon, Illinois *********** Good morning man with the plan: Coach, good stuff as usual. You truly are a treasure to all of us and a mandatory read. Being from Detroit, it's hard for us to figure out why hockey has fallen on hard times throughout the league. The Red Wings are a sell out for, well forever now, and a huge deal here. Obviously, they are the exception. I can't wait to see how the great Don Cherry (another treasure) weighs in on this. He will point out, I'm sure the "instigator rule." It doesn't allow the game to police itself, like the ole days. Goon vs. Goon. It's led to more cheapshots, nasty stick work, etc... As far as Bertuzzi, he has always been a goon. A very talented one, but a dirty player, who loves to take guys out. We have been seeing that everytime he plays the Red Wings. He should pay a hefty price for that crap. Jail, fines, whatever. I hope they throw the book at him. At a clinic last night, a Eastern Michigan Unv line coach gave a great three hour talk about line stuff. They're not going to run much this year, which frustrates the hell out of him, but when they do coach, it's double wing blocking all the way. We were tickled pink. He used more profanities than I think I heard in my life, but he was funny, and motivational. He brought up a good point that the O coach will pass 7-8 times in a row and run once, and when that run only gains a yard he barks out for all to hear "that's why we don't run the damn ball." He just grinds his teeth. "Still in the damn huddle." Luv that one, got a good laugh. I will be coaching at Troy High School this year, and the Cowboys. Troy High is a Division 1 school that runs the Pro Eye. Wanna take bets how long it takes for me to slip in some DW stuff? My lone voice will be in there trying, without being disloyal, of course. They do that straight ahead blocking with a little trapping from what I've observed over the years. Our coach, Gary Griffith, is a hall of famer in the state of Michigan and I am honored to be on his staff. I have been very lucky, first my dad, now this man. I'm gonna be one busy pup this season, and loving every minute of it! It looks like we will have 4 at your clinic in April. Can't wait. God bless coach. David Livingstone, Troy, Michigan *********** Hugh, I was reading about Seattle Roosevelt HS' state title in girls basketball... "TACOMA - After all the battles she has been through in the last two years, winning a basketball game seemed almost trite. But this game was what all the other struggles were about..." (I thought, did she lose her parents or something?) (The story resumed) "...There is no denying how far Russell has come. She missed all of last season after giving birth to her daughter, Trekayla. She had to go to court to get a fifth-year of eligibility." Call me callous, but my sympathy drained. Christopher Anderson, Cambridge, Massachusetts *********** Hey coach, Hope things are good. Just had to let you know about this week-end... My wife works for a Japanese company and employees come from Japan every so often. When they come over the company provides for their entertainment. This week-end I was the entertainment. They can not have guns or shoot in Japan, so I took a crew of 15 to the range to shoot skeet and rifles and hand guns. They were like kids on Christmas morning! They looked at me like I was General Patton! But I realize that I was like a 21 year old playing recreation football! From their reactions Americans are very well respected. While these men were vastly more intelligent than I, I believe that it is our life experiences as Americans that keep us a cut above the rest. I had to use the opportunity to rib my Granddaddy. I have been reading The Greatest Generation...I told him they should have won the war in a week. He said they don't know how to shoot now because we won the war! Makes Sense. On another note...Judging from the box office receipts from the Passion..There are a whole lot more of us than there are of them..they are just better organized. Hopefully we will start to realize this,organize,and take our country back..one vote at a time. Does that make sense to you? See you in NC, Jeff Murdock, Ware Shoals, South Carolina (I wrote Coach Murdock and told him I'd have given anything to see the look on the face of the first guy to pull a trigger. He wrote back, "I shot first to show them how (it was easier to communicate with grunts and motions than to speak) When I hit the target the crowd went ahhhhhhhh, then clapped. I felt like a pro golfer that nailed a 30 foot putt!")  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 16, 2004 -   "One thing we learn from history is that we usually don't learn from history." Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune   NEXT 2004 CLINICS SCHEDULED - SAT MARCH 20, MINNEAPOLIS, SAT APRIL 3, DURHAM NC, SAT APRIL 10, PHILADELPHIA 2004 CLINIC PHOTOS :ATLANTA CHICAGO Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Long before the Maurice Clarettt ruling, he went from high school to the NFL without benefit of college experience. At his best, he was a dominating player, and many who played with him believe he has been denied a place in the Hall of Fame because of the unsavory and mysterious circumstances of his death. He grew up rough on the streets of Detroit. He never knew his father, and when he was 11 his mother was stabbed to death. He was taken in by his grandfather, who made him work odd jobs in order to pay his room and board. Always big - he was 6-4, 220 as a sixth-grader - he was self-conscious about his size, teased by his classmates because of his ill-fitting clothes, and called "Big Stupe" because of his difficulty with classroom subjects. He finally found his niche when he turned out for football at Miller High School, but he was ineligible his senior year, and his coach suggested he join the Marines. There, by all counts, he became a man, and while playing service ball at Camp Pendleton, he was discovered and signed to an NFL contract by a Rams' executive named Pete Rozelle. He played three years with the Rams from 1953 through 1956, then with the Baltimore Colts from 1956 through 1960, where he played on two NFL championship clubs. At 6-6, 290, he was a giant in the middle of the Colts' defensive line, playing tackle next to Art Donovan, with Gino Marchetti and Don Joyce at the ends. In his combination of great size and unusual athletic ability he was way ahead of his time. He relished the media attention he received, and in his bragging - much of which he could back up - he was also very much more like a player of today than of his time. His most famous boast was that he tackled everybody he could get his hands on, then sorted them out until he got to the one with the ball. But he really could play. Teammates still marvel at his ability. Coaches called him the best they'd ever seen. He was All-Pro in 1958 and 1959. He was traded to the Steelers after the 1960 season, and played the 1961 and 1962 seasons in Pittsburgh, but Baltimore remained his home, and he spent his off-seasons there Following the 1962 season, he was named Most Valuable Player in the Pro Bowl, but in May of 1963, he was collapsed and died in the kitchen of a Baltimore house after a night of serious partying with an acquaintance and two "ladies of the night." He was not a Boy Scout. He was known to have had enormous appetites for food, for women, and for strong drink, but although he was not known to be a hard drug user, the cause of death was ruled to be a massive overdose of heroin - self-administered, according to the testimony of the acquaintance, an admitted heroin addict with a long criminal record. He was 31 years old. More than 20,000 people attended his viewing in Baltimore, and more than a thousand people attended his funeral services in his native Detroit, where his pallbearers were eight NFL players, many of them stars of the first rank: Erich Barnes, John Henry Johnson, Dick "Night Train" Lane, Lenny Moore, Luke Owens, Jim Parker, Sherman Plunkett and Johnny Sample. There were said to be at least three women in attendance who claimed they were engaged to him. Those who knew him best said that his death had to be a homicide, because he was deathly afraid of needles. They suspected that he was murdered by the acquaintance, who was then protected by the Baltimore police, whom he served as an informant. The acquaintance, they said, did it to rob him. (He was known to carry large sums of money on his person, and a woman friend testified that he had $700 in his pocket when he left to go out on his last night on earth. When he was found, he had $73 on him.) "Find out what happened to that," former Colt Buddy Young, now dead, long maintained, "and you'll know why (he) is dead." ************ Hugh, I just started reading "When Pride Still Mattered," and already I can see that times have changed...The Izzo family (Vince's mother) insisted that English be spoken by all 13 children. Then I remember your story a few years back about the Hmong immigrants of Minnesota suing to have their language subsidized by the state. Speaking of pride, is it romanticizing to imagine a time when people were proud to be American? Today's urban genteel chic' seems to suggest it's hip to be cynical about your country. I saw screw that. They also had quite the pride in their faith - you and I know that devout Catholicism at least is not the order of today's West coast. Last week was a sad one - first, a missing MIT student was found dead in the Charles River. Suicide or accident, we don't know yet. Then a friend's father died of a heart attack, and she went back to Kingston, ON. Then the 17-year old daughter of my dad's colleague was found unconscious in her room, brain dead. She was taken off life support two days later. My dad was pretty choked up about the last one, I think he was consumed by the fear that might happen to his kids. That got me thinking about my own community and support crew. Prep football was not just a game, it was a community, from the coaches and trainers to the pasta mamas, concession salesmen and cheerleaders. A time when we weren't cynical, we weren't "too cool" to work hard and expect the best. It doesn't have to be football, but I believe people need meaningful opportunities to work together like that. If it takes a game to bring people together so that they can support one another in rough times, so be it. In my experience, real achievements teach that mutual appreciation in a way that self-esteem BS can't. Christopher Anderson, Cambridge, Massachusetts *********** The Joaquin Rams made school history this year by making it three rounds into the play-offs. To add to our success we won the District title for the first time in 14 years. Thanks to the Double Wing, our players and you. In Feburary Texas realigned our districts and we had to set our new schedules for the next two years. Funny thing happened! In our classification last seasons, the #1, #7, #10 and #12 teams would not schedule us. We went 1-3 against this group but we gave them all they wanted. Two schools in a higher classification would not play us this next year. I questioned the coaches as to why they wouldn't schedule us and the unanimous rely was because of the Double Wing Offense. I had one coach tell me that they didn't even practice against the DW because his scrimmage team could not even run the plays. We won 38-10. Joaquin has gone from a sissy to one of the most feared teams in East Texas. We don't always win but we do "pound on" the other teams. It Takes a SET, Wayne Gandy, Joaquin High School, Joaquin, Texas *********** The Democrats keep calling President Bush a liar, but man - based on the things I see, it's the Democrats who are really getting away with the Big Lie. They keep hammering home the point that the economy is in the toilet, blah, blah, blah. You sure couldn't prove it based on the upscale homes being built near us, in the Portland suburbs. Somebody's building those homes. And somebody's buying them. My late parents lived through the Depression, and I can't remember them talking about sprawling real estate developments, where people bought homes as fast as they were built. Nor could you prove it by the incredible amount of construction - residential and commercial - that I saw on my recent visit to the Northwest Chicago suburbs. Oh yes - and then there was fact that on Saturday night, Coach Jon McLaughlin and his wife and I couldn't find a restaurant - and we tried a few - with a waiting time of under 35 minutes. Now, that, my parents would never have believed. Some recession. So what's going on with the Demos? I think they want things to be bad. I suspect a case of Second Stringer Syndrome (SSS). We've all known second-stringers who didn't actually want their team to win. Not really. What they really wanted was for the guy playing ahead of them to get hurt or screw up, so they could play. If that meant that the team had to lose for it to happen, so be it. I think many Demos want us to fail in Iraq so that they will get to play, but I also think their plan includes actually sabotaging the first-stringer, undermining consumer confidence to the point where things do really do turn sour and then they can blame the downturn on Bush. Their team will lose, but they will get to play.  *********** While we're still on the subject of the Economy Going Down the Gurgler, I came across an article in the Chicago Tribune's real estate section. Bears' QB Rex Grossman just bought a 3-bedroom condo somewhere in the north suburbs for $872,664. He is a piker. Acccording to the Northern Illinois Multiple Listing Service, there were 1,675 single-family homes on the market this past week being advertised for more than $1 million. *********** Coach, Sorry to see about the Cumberland fiasco. The wing-T has taken some hits at the college level the last few years. With Denny Creehan and Tubby Raymond out of the loop the Wing-T has lost two major resources. Now, with Hershel Moore being released, the jet sweep has lost a great college source. I think the next running revival on the major college level will come from the option. Even the shotgun, one-back teams are running option. Paul Johnson's success at Navy will help also. We are seeing more teams on the high school level running option offenses. It looks like an either-or proposition. High schools are going to veer option or the 5 wide/shotgun look that is growing in Illinois. The tight double wing will get more popular on the high school level because it is simpler to install than a true Delaware wing-t. It would take a large time and staff commitment to install a comprehensive Wing-T package at the high school level. That combined with the loss of the college Wing-T resources will be favorable for double wing growth. John Bothe, Oregon, Illinois (I'm afraid you're right. There is no one left to keep the flame going, and little likelihood of any young guy being hired to restart it. On a more promising note, I see that Rocky Hager was hired at Northeastern. He ran a hell of a split back veer at North Dakota State, so maybe he'll do the same there! HW) *********** I wrote, "I personally wish we could go back to the days of blocking low. I don't know how it has affected injuries one way or another, but I do know that the inability to do so really has helped change football from a running to a passing game. High school coaches keep trying to do what Air Force does, without realizing that Air Force can block low, and (except in Texas and Massachusetts) they can't." Frank Simonsen, from Cape May, New Jersey, responded... Hugh, Add my name to the list of coaches that would like to see the low block come back in NJ. My oldest son was only 110 lb. as a freshman (125 as a senior) when he played high school football. However because he could block low was able to compete and be very successful playing with the bigger players. The fact is that when they changed the rule and took the low block out of football, they also took the smaller players out of football. Now that they allow holding and actually promote and encourage it, the smaller player just can not stand toe to toe with the bigger players. Which brings me to another pet bitch of mine. We get more dammed holding penalties on our power blocking technique, then the big pass blocking linemen that are actually trying to hold. Why in the hell can't one of these sports glove manufacturers make a glove for the offensive linemen. A boxing type glove without a thumb and that would not close (I think the thumb hooking is the main problem), or that you could only wear by making a fist so it would be impossible to grab or hook with the thumb. This would help eliminate injuries and virtually eliminate holding. When the linemen went on defense they could simply throw them to the sideline, where the managers could pick them up and have them ready for their next offensive series. I know, I know, we can't do that if we want to encourage basketball on grass. Next they will try to do away with the free block zone, so our ends can't clip. *********** There was an interesting story in Sunday's Chicago Sun-Times' sports section (40-pages long, by the way) --- The state of Indiana will have only one college in this year's NCAA tournament. The last time that happened was 1974. No IU, Purdue, ND, Indiana State, IUPUI, Ball State, Butler or Evansville. Only Valparaiso. *********** So the inspirational story of St. Joseph's and the nearly-unbeaten season continues, as the Hawks get a number-one seed, despite being hammered by Xavier in the opening round of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament. Basketball expert Billy Packer openly questioned whether the Hawks' seeding had a little too much sentimentality behind it, and I have to agree with him. Not to diminish in any way the Hawks' wonderful season, but does any knowledgeable basketball person in America think they'd have been a number one seed if they'd played in a major conference? I mean, Xavier is decent, but, to pick just one conference, does anybody think they'd have gone through the regular season unbeaten if they'd had to play, twice each, Georgia Tech,Wake Forest, N.C. State, North Carolina, Maryland and Duke? Hell, in a conference like that, they'f probably have lost a couple to Clemson, Florida State or Virginia. So St. Joe's coach Phil Martelli was put on the camera to talk about his reaction to being selected number one, and rather than being approporiately grateful for the charity, he churlishly wasted precious air time going off on Packer, with a tirade that went something like this:"Who does Billy Packer play for? We'd like to play him." Jeez. What a brilliant way to respond to legitimate criticism. Talk about childish. And, because the journalist has the mike, he always gets the last word. Packer came back on and said, "I'd like to give Phil Martelli a history lesson. The last time I played against St. Joes, they lost. I'm not saying how well I played, but we won. Phil Martelli needs to learn a little about the history of the place where he coaches." *********** Surely they were fated to win. It was 1954, 50 years ago, and they were the first all black team, the first Chicago public school, the first school with a black coach, to make it to "downstate" to the state's final game. They were Chicago DuSable, a school whose graduates included such famous men as singer Nat King Cole, and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton, who left the Harlem Globetrotters to become the first black man to play in the NBA. DuSable was undefeated; opponent Mt. Vernon had lost three times during the season. But while DuSable was in the final game for the first time, state power Mt. Vernon was going after its third state title in a six-year period. Mt. Vernon won, 76-70, and now, 50 years later, versions of the way they did it depend on which team you played for or coached. DuSable people said it was bad calls down at the end; Mt. Vernon people said it was because DuSable didn't play defense, and when they got down to the end, they couldn't avoid fouling. Either way, it was a major breakthrough for city schools, the first step in the ascendancy of the black inner city player. Players from the two teams came away with some interesting perspectives, some interesting life lessons, that they shared with the Chicago Sun-Times. Recalled Mt. Vernon's Goff Thompson, "We knew we weren't a god-like team, because we had been beaten three times. But they hadn't been beaten. They didn't think they could be beaten." (Such is the vulnerability of the team that begins to think it is invulnerable. How many times have you heard a coach say, "We needed this loss?") DuSable's Charlie Brown went on to Seattle University, where he teamed with all-time great Elgin Baylor to make it to the 1958 NCAA final game. He served as a basketball official for 30 years, and helped found a basketball legue for Chicago youngsters. He said, "I learned more from that loss than from all the wins. I learned how to deal with what life is all about. It taught me how to deal with realities in our society and learn to accept them, so if it happens again I will know how to deal with it. I teahc kids not to be bitter. I tell them, "If they wrong you, don't get mad - get better." *********** On its sister network, UPN, CBS is planning on running a new "reality" series, a sort of "Revisiting the Beverly Hillbillies." But they can't use "hillbillies" any more. That's because rural groups, and folks in Appalachia have made it clear that they're tired of being made fun of. Aside from white fundamentalist Christians, that doesn't leave them with many groups to ridicule, does it? One among the following is UPN's choice. Remembering the Super Bowl, and knowing what you know about the limits of CBS's good taste, which one do you think they've chosen? Which ones offer possibilties? Which ones wouldn't they dare attempt, for fear of offending an important group that no one dares offend? (A) Two young Mormons are on a mission in New Orleans. In one episode, they knock on a door and find themselves invited inside a strip club - and the next thing you know, they're getting lap dances... (B) A single mother entertains a number of boyfriends who find ingenious ways of getting her little kids out of the house... (C) Young Amish teenagers from Pennsylvania, who've never so much as seen television, pay a visit to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the symbol of our society's excess, and realize what they've been missing out on... (D) Young Muslim exchange students are taken to a baseball game and offered good old American hot dogs. They start to eat, and pronounce them "tasty." And then someone tells them hot dogs are made of pork... (E) A young Marine veteran of the War in Iraq, a native of a small town in North Dakota, goes back to college and finds himself with a gay roommate, and the only male in a class entitled Women and Gays for World Peace, taught by an openly-lesbian professor at a prominent Ivy League school... (F) Young Christian men are transferred to San Francisco. In one episode, hoping to find a place to worship, they walk into a church and discover that there's a wedding going on - a "marriage" of two men... (G) A young rapper transfers to an academically-strong, 99 per cent white suburban high school, and is placed in the English-as-a-Second-Language program when no one at the school can understand him. (H) A young atheist from Massachusetts goes to East Tennessee with Habitat for Humanity, where he falls for a beautiful young woman. He asks her out, but first he has to meet her parents. Imagine his surprise when he learns her daddy is a Baptist preacher! *********** Purely coincidental but... in a story in Time Magazine about the anarchy in Haiti, a photo shows a looter wearing a Portland Trail Blazers' jersey. *********** Think of a combination of Indiana basketball and Iowa wrestling and you've got Minnesota ice hockey. The Minnesota boys' ice hockey tournament is like nothing else in high school sports. It has been going on almost since the invention of ice skates, and this year, as I was passing through the Twin Cities, I noticed that a first round game, involving a team from Wayzata, an affluent Minneapolis suburb that hadn't made the playoffs in years, drew 19,000 people to the Xcel Energy Center (capacity 18.064) , home of the NHL Minnesota Wild. Standing-room only tickets were gone hours before the game. Last year's boys tournament drew 116,878 over four days. Meantime, the girls have been playing hockey, too. Girls' hockey is only 10 years old in Minnesota, but it is growing year by year. Last year's girls' tournament drew a total of 12,727 in three days at the University of Minnesota's Ridder Arena. Ridder, with a capacity of 2.742, is home to the Minnesota women's hockey team, and most of the girls interviewed by the St. Paul Pioneer Press said they liked the atmosphere at Ridder, they liked being able to play where the Minnesota women play, they like the fact that they are often playing in front of a packed house. Most of them. But not all of them. Some of them - 11 to be exact - are named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the Minnesota State High School League, the state's governing body, attempting to get the girls' tournament moved to the Xcel Energy Center, too. Forget the fact that the girls play in front of enthusiastic, appreciative crowds in the same building where the University of Minnesota women play. Forget the fact that their small crowds would get lost in a giant NHL Arena. Forget the fact that it has taken years for the boys' tournament to attain the status that it has. The girls are suing to play in Xcel Arena because.. because.. well, because the boys play there! And everybody knows that girls deserve the exact same thing that the boys have, whether or not they've earned it. The worst thing about these people is that if they can't play in the Xcel Energy Center, it will suit them just fine if the boys are forced to play their games in Ridder Arena, too. They would go in front of King Solomon and be perfectly happy to see him cut the baby in half.    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 12, 2004 -   "No man does anything in this world for one reason alone." William Sloane Coffin, Jr., former chaplain, Yale University   NEXT 2004 CLINIC SCHEDULED - SATURDAY MARCH 13, CHICAGO, SATURDAY MARCH 20, MINNEAPOLIS Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: Al Davis is one of the most controversial people in the history of football. Although now famed at least as much for his belligerence in board rooms and courtrooms as for his football expertise, he has a solid record as a professional coach, a professional general manager, and an owner. Born July 4, 1929, in Brockton, Massachusetts, Davis grew up in Brooklyn and attended Wittenburg College and then Syracuse. It is said in various places that he played football there, but like so much of his early background, the claim is difficult to verify. After graduating with a degree in English, he took a job as line coach at Adelphi College in 1950. After two years there, he spent another two years in the Army as head coach of the team at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. Following his discharge, he served as line coach and chief recruiter at The Citadel, then moved to USC as line coach in 1957. He spent three years at USC, then joined Sid Gillman's as end coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the brand-new American Football league (AFL). After three years with the Chargers, he took over as head coach and general manager of the Oakland Raiders, the sorriest team in the AFL with only nine wins (against 33 losses) to show for their three years of existence. At the time, Davis was just 33, the youngest general manager-head coach in pro football history. He proceeded to "build the brand," adopting the things that over the years have made the Raiders the Raiders. He chose the motto "Pride and Poise," changed the colors to silver and black, and helped design the Raiders' logo - the guy with the eye patch - that still adorns their helmet. On the field, Davis achieved one of the great turnarounds in professional football history, taking a team that had been 1-13 in 1962 to a 10-4 record in 1963, thanks to an eight-game win streak to end the season. He was a unanimous selection as AFL Coach of the Year. In three years at Oakland, he compiled a 23-16-3 coaching record, and was named the AFL Commissioner in April 1966. He embarked on an aggressive policy designed to siogn NFL quarterbacks, but unbeknownst to him, several key AFL owners had been secretly negotiating a peace with the NFL, and in less than two months into his term as commissioner, the AFL and NFL announced a merger. Disappointed because he thought the AFL could have won by employing his strategy, and further disappointed at not being named commissioner of the merged AFL-NFL, Davis turned down an offer to remain as AFL Commissioner until 1970, when the merger would become final returned to Oakland as managing general partner. Reputed to be the puppetmaster behind his head coaches, he managed the Raiders to Super Bowl wins in 1977, 1981 and 1984. Meantime, he stuck it in his fellow owners' faces in 1982 when he moved the Raiders to LA, in defiance of the NFL rule requiring approval of any move by three-fourths of the owners. When the NFL took action to prevent his move, Davis sued and won, and was awarded $35 million. In 1995, he reversed his field and moved the Raiders back to Oakland. Disliked and distrusted by his fellow owners, Al Davis was a real thorn in the side of the late Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who prided himself on consensus-building and collegiality, and could never quite figure out how to deal with him. Never one to worry about what others thought about him, Davis has instead remaining narrowly focused on the things that matter to him, once telling an interviewer, "It's tunnel vision, a tunnel life. I'm not really a part of society." Correctly identifying Al Davis - John Muckian, Lynn, Massachusetts ("Very Suprised he is a Native of Mass. Was not aware of this - Brockton to boot, City with very good Football and Athletic Tradition. Coach, I'm glad you picked up on the 'Cuse situation. Davis is not listed under their All-Time lettermen ( which doesn't necessarily mean he did not play but at a major power like 'Cuse you think their record keeping is accurate). I was always curious about that. See ya Friday, Coach.")... Joe Daniels- Sacramento ("As a loyal and devoted member of the Raider nation , it would be cause for excommunication if I did not get AL DAVIS as the week's trivia question.")... Mark Kaczmarek- East Moline, Illinois... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... John Bothe- Oregon, Illinois... Greg Koenig- Las Animas, Colorado ("I didn't recognize Al Davis in the picture, but there was no doubt whom your clues were describing; and once I knew who it was, the picture did look like him. Love him or hate him - and the Raiders - you can't argue with his record of success.")... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin ("What? No mention of the jump suit?")... Joe Gutilla- Minneapolis ("Any ' true ' Oakland Raiders fan would know that he has been the force behind the force since he took over that franchise so many years ago. "Pride and Poise", "Commitment to Excellence", etc. etc. IS Al Davis. Like him or not (there are no in-betweens) his name is as synonomous with the Raiders as bread is with butter, or peanut butter is with jelly. Just win baby!")... Brian Rochon- North Farmington, Michigan ("Some may not like him and his methods, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for the man.")... Mike Foristiere - Boise, Idaho ("Just win, baby.")... Ron Timson- Umatilla, Florida... John Grimsley- Gaithersburg, Maryland... Mike O'Donnell- Pine City, Minnesota... Steve Smith- Middlesboro, Kentucky... Greg Stout- Thompson's Station, Tennessee ("He is someone that almost everyone has a strong opinion on. You either love him or hate him. What I like about him is that he will stand up for what he believes in, no matter who it is against").... Ronald Singer- Toronto ("Just Win Baby")... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois... Armando Castro- Roanoke, Virginia... John Rothwell, Fort Worth, Texas... Pete Porcelli - Lansingburgh, New York... John Reardon- Peru, Illinois... *********** You wonder why the other NFL owners - with the possible exception of the Cowboys' Jerry Jones - hate Al Davis? In his book "Hell-Bent," about the Cowboys of the Jones-Johnson-Switzer era, author Skip Bayless tells how Jones, then "a wide-eyed rookie owner," sat in admiration at an NFL owners' meeting and "watched Al Davis move from owner to owner, smiling and collecting checks - something like $750,000 installments they owed Davis after losing to him in court." *********** "My wife and I attended Carson-Newman's coaches clinic last weekend, Coach Wyatt, and I highly recommend it. Dave Wannstedt was the featured speaker and I was impressed by his lack of any self-importance as well as his Christian testamony. There were many other contributors and each one did a great job during their segments. Coach Sparks' clinic is an annual affair held in the Gatlinburg, TN area and it places an equal emphasis on football, faith, and family (they have sessions for the wives while we're "X"ing and "O"ing). The speakers were diverse as were the topics, and if you're a veer coach, the staff break-outs at the end of the first night are worth the price of admission ($25). I hear you put on a heck of a clinic yourself, Coach, but I figure every so often you might want to just sit back and take one in. They have it around this time each year, so mark your calendar! Have a good week," Coach Steve Smith, Middlesboro High School, MIddlesboro, Kentucky *********** "The Northbrook Junior Spartans had their annual 'meet the coaches' night last night. This is mainly for all of the 4th graders who will begin playing tackle football next year. We had our best turnout ever. We must have had 45 kids and their parents. If historical percentages play out at registration, we'll probably add another team this year. Football is alive and well in Northbrook!" Regards, Keith Babb, Northbrook, Illinois *********** I really envy my kids, whose own kids (my grandkids) are now involved sports. It is always interesting to hear what's going on, because I know that as coaches' kids themselves, they understand the games and they understand what coaches face. I got this report recently from my daughter, Julia love, whose oldest, Matt, is 12. AARGH! Matthew's baseball game yesterday was a close loss (7-6), held in 40 degree rain. The other school's first pitcher balked on virtually every pitch. After our coach pointed it out, the ump gave the pitcher a warning. After our coach pointed it out again, the ump gave the pitcher a second warning. After our coach pointed it out a third time, the ump called it a balk and the opposing coach complained that the ump should call the balks, not our coach. When our coach pointed out the 4th (straight) balk, the ump told our coach to back off, saying it was his decision and "he's just a kid" referring to the pitcher. There were only 2 balks called on this guy, who probably removed his foot from the rubber 90 percent of the time, and also put his foot up then down half the time. I'm not a balk expert, but even I could see most of them. "He's just a kid" drives me crazy! And all the other kids following the rules are just kids too - when do you apply this kindness and when do you not? (How do you deal with it? Same as you deal with the rest of the rules of the game - which, I might add, it is the coach's responsibility to teach. The first time you catch him, you call the balk and, with his coach listening, you explain the rule to him and say, "Son, that's the rule, and I'm going to have to call it every time I see it." No official in any sport has the right to pick and choose the rules he's going to enforce. It is the job of the coaches to do the coaching. HW) *********** Old coaching friend Chris Davidson has just been named head coach at LaPlata, Maryland High School. Chris, a native of Curwensville, Pennsylvania and a graduate of Temple, has been a double-winger as long as almost any coach I know. I first met him when he was on the staff of Doug Moister at Abington, Pennsylvania, the first place outside the Northwest where I field-tested my system, and I paid him a visit at his first job, Phillipsburg-Osceola High, in the mountains of Central Pennsylvania. From there, his travels have taken him to a head coaching job at Columbia, North Carolina, and most recently to one in Alexandria, Virginia. We've got some catching up to do when he gets to my Philadelphia clinic. *********** Wouldn't you like to be able to bottle what a football coach does routinely? Amazon.com lists 67,032 books with "leadership" in the title. *********** "My hero was Mickey Mantle. I am offended that there are guys who have broken his records who on their best days couldn't carry his jockstrap. Let's put pictures of syringes next to the records of all these guys." Penn State professor Charles Yesalis, expert on drugs in sports. *********** Hugh, I am in the process of writing a proposal to extend the below the waist blocking restriction to cover the entire field of play for the elementary school league that I am involved in here in Dallas. My first concern is safety, a far second is my belief in teaching kids how to really block. I am also hearing that some high school leagues are considering such a rule change. Is there any literature and or studies/proposals in print that I might find useful as reference that you might be aware of? Regards, Barney Rinaldi, Dallas, Texas I do wish you luck. I am not aware of any study that confirms the wisdom - or lack of same - behind the rules change. One possible place to start might be the National Federation of High School Associations - www.nfhs.org Another might be the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury at the U of North Carolina - www.unc.edu/depts/nccsi/ I personally wish we could go back to the days of blocking low. I don't know how it has affected injuries one way or another, but I do know that the inability to do so really has helped change football from a running to a passing game. High school coaches keep trying to do what Air Force does, without realizing that Air Force can block low, and (except in Texas and Massachusetts) they can't. *********** Coach, It sounds like your Atlanta Clinic was another sweeping success. I really enjoyed hearing about the success that Coach Jones had in Ocean Springs, MS. I enjoyed meeting him last year at the Atlanta Clinic and have sure used some of the things he showed us then. I know that I feel very much like he does that I will use the double-wing until I retire or I have the big one on the sideline. In the five years that I have run the double-wing as a head coach we have gone 40-14 and have made the playoffs four out of the five years. I find that I have never had as good a success with any of the other offenses I ran, and this one just gets more simple each year. We just tweak the things that have been successful and try to get as many reps as possible and just love to see all the new gimmicks teams use to try and stop it. I know that it has made us more tough and physical in all aspects of our game, and has given us time to work on special teams until they have started to produce some very good results for us. (Particularly kick-off and punt returns) I am not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. We have also met with one of the largest schools in the state of Florida and their staff will be implementing the double-wing this spring. As I told you before, the reason I was unable to come to the Atlanta clinic this year was my wife had knee replacement surgery. She had a very successful surgery and is rehabing at home and doing fine. Her surgeon is our team doctor and he did a great job. Hopefully, she will enjoy the games more this year and be able to enjoy our two granddaughters a lot more. She is looking forward to taking them to Disney World sometime in the next year. I want to certainly agree with what you had to say about Tom "Doc" Hinger. Since I have had the opportunity to know him personally I cancertainly attest to his unassuming personality. I have all the respect in the world for him and that has doubled since reading the David Mariniss book. It is nice to be able to say I personally know a true American "Hero". More later. Ron Timson, Umatilla, Florida *********** Coach Wyatt, My name is Rich Ottley I am the head coach football coach at Lincoln County High School in Panaca Nevada, the 2003 Nevada 2A undefeated State Champs. Anyway we had a German foreign exchange student this year that played football and has just fallen in love with the game. He is a sophomore that is 6'4" and about 185 LBS . The other day he told that he doesn't know why Europe is so in love with soccer when football is a better and more exciting game. He asked me if there was any football in Germany for High School age kids. So I am asking you if you know of any way that he could keep playing football back in Germany. Thanks, Rich Ottley, Panaca, Nevada Coach- American football is played in Germany, and although it is nowhere near as big as soccer, I would say it is more advanced in Germany than in any other European country. Have him check this out on the Web: http://www.iht.com/articles/107114.html - Konstantin Ritzmann, who began by playing club football in Hamburg, Germany, wound up starting last year on the defensive line at Tennessee. Not bad! I do know some people in Germany. Please find out where he lives.  ************ The poor NHL. Their scoring is down, their attendance is off and their TV ratings are in the toilet, which is why ESPN has told it that it won't be renewing its TV contract. Oh, yes - and since hockey owners are just as big a bunch of damn fools as owners in other sports, they pay their players way too much money, and in order to get that mess under control, they're probably going to have to stage a lockout next year to try to bring the players to their senses. Why is attendance down? Why is interest down? Many people say it has something to do with the fact that emphasis on defense has turned hockey into soccer on ice. Others say it's a result of hockey's oversensitive efforts to cut down on fighting. Still others say it's all the Europeans in the NHL - they can skate to beat hell, but they won't fight. So just as hockey people began realizing that fighting is a part of hockey, along comes a jerk named Todd Bertuzzi, who attacks (the Vancouver police say "assaults") an opponent from behind, cowardly hitting him and pile-driving him face-first into the ice. Among asorted injuries, the opponent suffered a broken neck. Bertuzzi will almost certainly be banned for a season, and he may actually pull some hard time for this one, but the game of hockey will be the real loser, because it will come under even more pressure to cut down on the violence. And, mark my words, instead of directing its efforts at cowards who attack with sticks, who sneak up behind opponents and sucker-punch them, watch for hockey to crack down even more on good old-fashioned fistfights. *********** I was watching TV and saw Todd Bertuzzi's apology. Talk about a lame! How do I know? Well, he started out by saying, "I'm not that kind of a player." Sorry, Todd, but based on the kind of evidence proecutors dream of, you most certainly are. But then, he gave the whole act away when he said, "I'm not mean-spirited." I mean, come on - you know that was written for him. By a female apology writer. "Mean-spirited" is touchy-feely, a feminine word. No red-blooded American male would be caught dead saying it. *********** Based on what I know of war and combat - which is all secondhand - and what I know of the men who've actually been there, I scoff at athletes being called "warriors," and coaches who talk about "going to war." So as a history major, with what I know about the Civil Rights movement, what am I supposed to think when Terrell Owens, millionaire knucklehead, likens himself to Mrs. Rosa Parks? *********** Good Morning Hugh, Very much enjoyed reading the Tom Hinger piece in the news. Just this past weekend Sue and I were headed for the movies to see Hidalgo ( you see what kind of movies I watch) and stopped in the book store. I noticed the book "They Marched into Sunlight" by David Maraniss. I had read "When Pride Still Mattered" and remembered you talking about the book in the NEWS. So I picked it up and read some and couldn't put the damn thing down. The next thing I knew I had shelled out 30 dollars for the book - hard cover of course. What a great read - worth every penny. Thanks for the tip and good luck in the "Windy City" this weekend. Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine *********** When David Williams, a psychologist at the University of Westminster in London, was researching the factors that influence our perception of pain, he rigged up an ordinary kitchen scale, attaching a device to it which he described as "guillotinelike" (although, he told the New York Times, the edge was "really blunt, not as sharp as a razor.") It was designed to hit at the fingernail's half moon, where it is possible to inflict pain without doing serious bodily harm. The people who were tested were told to say "stop" when they could take no more, and the results indicated that we are willing to take more pain from a woman than from a man. The 40 people who were tested waited longer to say "stop" when a woman was causing the pain than when a man was. The results held true whether the subject was male or female. "The stereotype we have of women is that they are nurturing, caring, sensitive, that they have empathy," said Mr. Williams. "We feel safer with them." *********** Steve Jones, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, says one of his boosters, after watching his offense, said, "You get in the huddle.. you come to the line.. and you're still in the damn huddle!" *********** Coach Wyatt - All great news - The clowns that run that BCS  have finally come to some common sense and have decided to add a 5th bowl ,Im hoping it is the well deserved Cotton Bowl and even better News was that the Big East gets to keep their automatic bid for the Next cycle in the BCS, now I really hope those Back-stabbing SOB's at B.C. really regret jumping to the ACC.see ya friday  John Muckian  Lynn, Masachusetts *********** Hi, Coach, I've got a G5 running iMovie, Putting together a video. Trying to get all the footage on one DVD (8 games) I notice iMovie really gets bogged down after a while… with many clips. Wondering if you have run into same. Mike Talentino, Twinsburg, Ohio (I have found that to be the case, and when I am doing a big project, I try to break it into 30-minute segments. HW). *********** Coach, Saw in your column that you suggested the E-mac as an alternative to the I-mac for editing purposes. I have the e-Mac and have used it for the editing. It works very well. I added 120 gigabyte hard drive for space. I didn't want to have any worries. My son put together the highlight tape with all the software that at that time came with the E-mac--I-movie and I-tunes. It was very well done for our first time doing anything like this. One other comment. If someone is looking for playbook software I would suggest Playmaker Pro. I have used it for several years and it is easy to learn and very dependable. It comes in both Mac and Windows versions. It is from B.W. Software. In addition, he has editing software for football--only for the Mac. It does down, distance, etc and video clips. It also has the capability to do both team and individual highlights or cutups. It looks very promising. I have only "played" with it so I can not recommend it with out reservation but in using the Playmaker Pro I expect it to be excellent. The best part is its cost--$895.00. You must have a Mac, a VCR and a Camcorder and I think most of us do. That is a lot cheaper than any similar product. The website is http://www.bwsoftware.com/ Thanks! Dennis Metzger *********** Coach, Please sign us up for 2004.  The Black Lion award has been a very meaningful experience for my teams in the past. This coming year, I am changing from  Eagles C Division in Billings to a Jr High team. I have purchased several of your tapes and recommend them to all my friends.  Please keep up your good work. Sincerely, Marlowe Aldrich, St. Francis Jr. High Rams, Billings, Montana *********** So lemme see... One of the strongest arguments against steroids is that they provide the user with an unfair edge. Meantime, I came across an article bragging about the edge that wearing a Speedoo swimsuit is going to provide those swimmers fortunate enough to be under contract (in the true Olympic spirit of amateurism) to endorse Speedoo swimwear. Talk about an unfair edge! Not to endorse steroids - no, no, no, no, no - but at least they're available all the competitors. I think. *********** Is there any sport that comes close to football in the figures of speech it provides? This great illustration was sent to me by football mom Veronica Anderson of Madison, Wisconsin by way of her son, Christopher: "... He [Sen. Tom Daschle] doesn't have [Sen. Tim] Johnson's votes or credentials to run right, has lost clout when he lost the majority, and will be feeling pressure above ballot. All this has to leave Tom Daschle feeling as edgy as an underweight wide receiver going over the middle. He's got to be hearing footsteps." (from National Journal; February 23, 2004) *********** Thanks to Jim Kuhn, of Greeley, Colorado, for chasing down the story of Coach Herschel Moore. Coach Moore, who led the Cumberland University Bulldogs to a 7-4 record and a bowl game in 2002, was fired earlier this month aftwer going 3-7 this past season. A release from the school's human resource office said, ''President Harvill Eaton announced today that Cumberland University's Bulldog football program is slated for a new direction and new head coach for the 2004 season. President Eaton announced that a search for a head coach will begin immediately as Herschel Moore leaves the position that he has held since 1993.'' ''I just got back from talking at a clinic in North Carolina and they called me on the phone, said I'd taken the program as far as I could and they needed to go in a different direction,'' Coach Moore told the Nashville Tennessean. ''That same old type of thing they always say. They wanted to know if I'd resign and I said, 'If you don't want me, fire me.' '' No reason was given for the delay in letting him know. ''We're right in the middle of recruiting,'' Moore said. ''In fact, I just had a guy call me awhile ago wanting to bring up some players, now I'm not going to be here.'' Coach Moore, who started out as a high school coach in Tennessee in the 1950s, went to Cumberland in 1992 as an assistant and took over the next year when the head coach retired. In his 11 years at Cumberland, he was 64-51. The release concluded with the president, in typical administrative fashion, wishing coach Moore well: ''… the university truly appreciates the long service that Coach Herschel Moore has given the university and wishes him the very best in his future endeavors.'' *********** I don't know about you, but I love the Nike commercial with Brian Urlacher and Michael Vick playing pro hockey, Lance Armstrong boxing, Randy Johnson bowling, Serena Williams playing volleyball, and Andre Agassi playing baseball for the Red Sox. Was it that long ago that they were doing the same thing, just using Bo Jackson?  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 9, 2004 -   "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants..." Thomas Jefferson   NEXT 2004 CLINIC SCHEDULED - SATURDAY MARCH 13, CHICAGO, SATURDAY MARCH 20, MINNEAPOLIS Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS  A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: He is one of the most controversial people in the history of professional football. Although now famed at least as much for his belligerence in board roooms and courtrooms as for his football expertise, he has a solid record as a professional coach, a professional general manager, and an owner. Born July 4, 1929, in Brockton, Massachusetts, he grew up in Brooklyn and attended Wittenberg College, then Syracuse. It has been noted in various places that he played football at Syracuse, but like so much of his early background, the claim is difficult to verify. After graduating with a degree in English, he took a job as line coach at Adelphi College in 1950. After two years there, he spent another two years in the Army as head coach of the team at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. Following his discharge, he served as line coach and chief recruiter at The Citadel, then moved to USC as line coach in 1957. He spent three years at USC, then joined Sid Gillman's as end coach of the Los Angeles Chargers of the brand-new American Football league (AFL). After three years with the Chargers, he took over as head coach and general manager of the Oakland Raiders, the sorriest team in the AFL with only nine wins (against 33 losses) to show for their three years of existence. At the time, he was just 33, the youngest general manager-head coach in pro football history. He proceeded to "build the brand," adopting the things that over the years have made the Raiders the Raiders. He chose the motto "Pride and Poise," changed the colors to silver and black, and helped design the Raiders' logo - the guy with the eye patch - that still adorns their helmet. On the field, he achieved one of the great turnarounds in professional football history, taking a team that had been 1-13 in 1962 to a 10-4 record in 1963, thanks to an eight-game win streak to end the season. He was a unanimous selection as AFL Coach of the Year. In three years at Oakland, he compiled a 23-16-3 coaching record, and was named the AFL Commissioner in April 1966. He embarked on an aggressive policy designed to siogn NFL quarterbacks, but unbeknownst to him, several key AFL owners had been secretly negotiating a peace with the NFL, and in less than two months into his term as commissioner, the AFL and NFL announced a merger. Disappointed because he thought the AFL could have won by employing his strategy, and further disappointed at not being named commissioner of the merged AFL-NFL, he turned down an offer to remain as AFL Commissioner until 1970, when the merger would become final returned to Oakland as managing general partner. Reputed to be the puppetmaster behind his head coaches, he managed the Raiders to Super Bowl wins in 1977, 1981 and 1984. Meantime, he stuck it in his fellow owners' faces in 1982 when he moved the Raiders to LA, in defiance of the NFL rule requiring approval of any move by three-fourths of the owners. When the NFL took action to prevent his move, he sued and won, and was awarded $35 million. In 1995, he reversed his field and moved the Raiders back to Oakland. Disliked and distrusted by his fellow owners, he was a real thorn in the side of the late Commissioner Pete Rozelle, who prided himself on consensus-building and collegiality, and could never quite figure out how to deal with him. Never one to worry about what others thought about him, he has instead remained narrowly focused on what matters to him, once telling an interviewer, "It's tunnel vision, a tunnel life. I'm not really a part of society." *********** Hugh, Thought you'd find this amusing.  I had a kid last Friday refuse to stand for prayer in his homeroom.  Imagine that!  He attends a private Catholic school where "standing" for prayer during homeroom is not an option.  Being the sensitive, PC type of guy that I am I brought the kid in and explained the rules to him AND sent him to meet with our "diversity" coordinator so he could get further explanation from someone on staff who is seen as less "disciplinary" as I am.  Basically I told the kid he had to see the diversity guy or else.  Long story short the other guy told him he should stand for prayer and the kid agreed he would.  Today, the homeroom teacher called me to tell me the kid didn't stand for prayer again, and wanted to know if I had done anything about it on Friday.  I saw the teacher and told him I was under the impression the kid would stand for prayer, and told him I would get to the bottom of it.  I grabbed the kid this morning and hauled him into my office.  I asked him why he didn't stand for prayer when he told the diversity guy Friday that he would.  The kid told me he "thought" about it over the weekend and decided not to.  At that point I told him if he thinks he's going to make a game of this he's chosen the wrong guy to play the game against.  He asked me what I meant by that and I told him I've already been told by his dad he is going to a public school next year; and, that if he (the kid) thinks he's going to play games with us, but not play the "game" by the rules, we'd gladly see to it he gets an earlier start on attending that other school.  Then I told him this, "So, tomorrow young man, you WILL stand for the prayer, keep your mouth shut if you don't like the prayer, and at least show the others in the class a little respect for their right to pray."  "As long as you are a student at THIS school, you will play the game by OUR rules, and you will do it OUR way!"  "Any questions?"  "No, sir."  "Good, have a nice day!" Joe Gutilla, Minneapolis *********** Damon Stoudamire has never been one of my favorite Trail Blazers. On a team full of bad actors, he has stood out. Not on the floor, but off it, where I think it has been fair to say that he has been a bit of a pot head. While the little weasel with the Mighty Mouse tattoo was being trotted out as a great example to kids, he was showin' them that it's okay to be smokin'. Consider: (1) He was just sittin' in the back seat relaxin' with a little weed with friend Rasheed, when the yellow Hummer they were riding in was stopped for erratic driving between Seattle and Portland; (2) police responding to what turned out to be a false burglar alarm found two pounds of pot in his house, but the charges of possession were dismissed because the magistrate said the police needed a search warrant; (3) He was stopped in the Tucson airport when the pot he'd wrapped in foil ans stashed in his pocket was picked up by a metal detector (duh). In the meantime, last Friday, John Canzano, sports columnist for the Portland Oregonian happened to ask Stoudamire how things were going, drugwise, and when Stoudamire mentioned that he had been clean for several months, one thing led to another and Canzano asked him if he'd be willing to prove that by submitting to a test. Just like that, Stoudamire said, "Sure," and in the presence of Coach Maurice Cheeks and Canzano - who just happened to have a test kit - Stoudamire, uh, provided a sample, and damn if the test didn't disclose that he was clean. Considering the fact that it's supposed to take some 28 days for marijuana to pass completely out of the system, the result certainly lent credence to what Stoudamire had told Canzano. Okay, you say. No big deal. One guy is clean. So what's that prove? Not much, really. But considering the suspicion that surrounds major league baseball, largely because of the players' union's resistance to any meaningful testing or punishment, what if large numbers of non-cheating baseball players were to summon the courage to expose the cheaters - to say "screw the union" - and step up and prove themselves clean? In the meantime, my hat is off to Damon Stoudamire for doing the right thing. *********** Hey Coach. Hope things are going good for you. I hate that I missed the Atlanta Clinic, but look forward to the clinic in NC. We got a baby girl. Shana Mattison Murdock, we are going to call her Mattie. Jeff Murdock, Ware Shoals, South Carolina (Mattie is a lucky little girl to be born to a football coach and a coach's wife. She will be brought up right, by people who love her and know what's right. HW) *********** Coach Wyatt, I really enjoyed your clinic. Its nice being in a room with coaches who eat and sleep football. Since I have been back, I have been busy applying all that I learned. My assisstants were blown away with my excitement. As you recommended, I will not issue playbooks, I agree, if they can't learn it on the field, then they are not applying themselves. I am however making large laminated flash cards for the practice field, one of the coaches gave me the idea. Thanks again for a great clinic, which I will become a regular fixture in Atlanta. Coach Eric Schneider, Marshall, North Carolina PS. Great pictures....:) *********** I am going to order your videos "A Fine Line" and "Safer and Surer Tackling".  A couple of questions, though.  Is there any game footage in either of these videos? I'd like to see "real time" action.   Coach, Those are pretty much step-by-step teaching videos, with illustrations of drills and so forth, but no game footage. They are meat-and-potatoes videos that you could show to kids or assistants and say, "this is how we want it done." *********** Herman Masin is a treasure. Herman, who's Editor-in-Chief of Scholastic Coach Magazine, has been at the job, pecking away at his manual typewriter, since 1938. That's the year I was born. He is 90 years old and he still has his marbles and his memory, so you can imagine the stories a man who's lived on the New York sports scene for 65+ years can tell. Herman had to go into the hospital recently to have a little work done, but SC's publisher Bruce Weber, who had to fill in this past month and write Herman's "Here Below" column for him, assures me that he'll be back soon. *********** Congratulations to Andy Jackson, son of Tracy Jackson, head coach at Portland's Madison High whom I assisted this past fall. Andy was our A-Back, strong safety and all-around return man, and he recently finished in the top four in the Oregon state wrestling championships at 145. *********** Sunday was the last practice for my daughter's travel softball team before the high school season begins.  (The team can't practice together during the HS season.)  We had practice early and then went over to the coach's house to eat brunch and set goals for when we get back together in June.  After this, the girls decided to pick an outdoor activity to take advantage of our spring-like weather.  The choice --- Football.  That's right they didn't pick soccer or any other socialist sport. Keith Babb - Northbrook, Illinois (Funny - with all the damn soccer fields we have near us, it seems like there are tournaments every weekend, but I never see kids out there playing soccer on their own. I wonder if any kids would even play soccer if their parents didn't drive them to it - literally and figuratively. HW)  *********** Mark Rice, of Beaver, Pennsylvania, was good enough to put to rest my fears of a Bill Clinton Vice-Presidency, pointing out that the 12th Amendment says, among other things, "...no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States." Whew. That was a close one. Back to the lecture circuit, Willie. *********** According to a story in the Manhattan (Kansas) Mercury, high school quarterback Nick Patton, who has committed to play for Kansas State next fall, said he had consensual sex with a woman whom he met on the Iowa campus while on a rectuiting visit. Patton said the woman then visited him "four or five" times in Kansas after their first meeting. He said he wasn't certain whether the encounter was arranged by his player host at Iowa, or if Iowa football officials were involved. No matter. The Iowa University president announced the appointment of an independent investigator to look into the story. Sheesh. Can't a kid just get lucky? *********** If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. For years now we've all stood by and chuckled at the self-esteem movement, where educators put the cart before the horse and told kids how wonderful they were, before they'd even done a damn thing to earn the praise. In typical educator fashion, the high priests of learning confused cause and effect and reasoned that since successful people generally felt good about themselves, they could make slackers successful by raising their self esteem. (It sure is a lot quicker and easier for everybody that way, without having to break the news to the kids that hard work and good work habits seem to have something to do with the success that makes successful people feel good about themselves.) Unfortunately, this whole idea of telling a kid "you can be anything you want to be", without immediately adding "given a certain aptitude and a lot of hard work," results in the kid swallowing it whole. He starts to feel entitled to success, because, see he's special. Coaches know all about this. We've all had to deal with kids who are so out of touch with reality that they just know they're going to be pros someday. Trouble is, at the moment, they're not even starters on the JV team. But no matter. There is no shortage of kids who have been told often enough, until they are convinced it is true, that they can be anything they want to be. The most recent glimpse into this never-never land of kids who have been taught they can be anything they want to be came this past weekend from Tacoma, Washington, where a 6-2, 215-pound high school senior declared himself eligible for the NFL draft. But get this - the kid, who now attends an alternative school, didn't play a down of high school football, so far as the guy who would have been his coach can recall. Imagine the coach's astonishment when the kid called and asked for game films that he could show the NFL scouts. *********** A few weeks back, over the course of a couple of weeks' time, USA Today ran a series listing what it called its "Ten Toughest Athletes." What a joke. No complaints from me about Steve McNair or Brett Favre being on it. Or Lance Armstrong. I think Allen Iverson was on it, too, and I won't argue with that. But jeez- There was exactly one hockey player on it. I think hockey players are some of the hardest-nosed people on earth. At least the Canadian hockey players are. Nor was there a single boxer on the list; and it goes without saying that there wasn't a college wrestler. Who's tougher than those guys? Uh, golfers? Don't laugh. I am not kidding. There were two golfers on the list. Golfers, for God's sake! One was Tiger Woods. Huh? A hell of a golfer, no question, but he doesn't even play in all the tournaments. He's so rich than he can high-spot, unlike the little guys who have to scramble to make their millions. The other golfer - I am snickering as I type this - was Anikka Sorenstam. Sure, a really good golfer. But tough? Guys, if you felt you had to play the PC game and put a woman on there, are you telling me she was the toughest female you could come up with? (No, Tonya Harding didn't put me up to writing this.) *********** Can anybody please tell me what in the world happened to Hershel Moore?  I saw a tiny note in USA Today's sports section one day last week saying that he'd left coaching, or something equally cryptic. A check of Cumberland University's football page lists biographies of all the assistant coaches, but there is no mention of Coach Moore. Like something out of the days of the Soviet Union, he seems to have become a non-person, his name stricken from the history books. What goes? Coach Moore is a bit of a legend in the Southeast, and is considered by many to be the inventor of the jet sweep. At the very least, he has developed it to the point where it is (was?) the basis of his entire offense. *********** Look for a newly-licensed 16-year-old to challenge this... NASCAR has a minimum age requirement of 18. *********** I'm not always wild about uniform changes, but I am absolutely crazy about this one, because it's not so much a change as a return to the traditional: Bobby Ross, new coach at Army, has announced that he's trashing the foo-foo jerseys of the Todd Berry era - the ones with the streamlined "A" on the sleeves that were intended to make the Cadets (sorry - "Black Knights") look sleek, but had the unintended effect of making them look puny. Talk about retro - Coach Ross is going back 60 years, to the look of the mighty 1944-45-46 Army powerhouses of Red Blaik, some of the most feared football teams of all time. As shown at far left in this 1946 photo of the famed "Mr. Outside" and Mr. Inside", the great Glenn Davis (41) and Doc Blanchard (35),and then in the 1955 team picture (that's Don Holleder, #16) the home jerseys will be black, with three separate thin stripes - gold-gray-gold - on the sleeves. Away jerseys will be white with similar striping in black-gold-black. Pants will be gold, with no striping. Helmets will remain gold with a single narrow black stripe, unchanged since the 1940's when Army became the first team to wear plastic helmets. Changing the look is so often the first act of a coach desperate to repudiate a losing situation, but when you come into a place with a rich tradition like Army's, you want to do everything you can to reconnect with that tradition. *********** Q. Why don't you see more big high schools running the Double-Wing? A. The major reason why you don't - why see more small schools running the Double-Wing - is that you rarely see a big school make any radical change offensively. It is a major undertaking for a big program, a little like having to turn an oil tanker around, with all the assistant coaches and middle school coaches and youth league coaches who have to be brought on board. And when a big school does make an overall change, it is often because the program has been losing and needs a jolt to save their jobs, and in that event, with jobs on the line, the last thing they want to do is take on something radical, something that could get them laughed out of town in the bargain. Small school coaches, on the other hand, are used to having to be flexible. They don't always have the luxury of staying with the same offense from year to year. In fact, it's not unheard-of for them to sometimes have to make major changes in mid-season when one kid gets hurt. *********** Nice to know that CBS, the sleazy network that gave us the Super Bowl halftime show, in addition to the slick Michael Jackson on 60 Minutes for broadcasting Michael Jackson special swap, is taking the high road and getting that evil Martha Stewart off the air before our children start asking the tough questions, like why she's using a pink floral arrangement with a red tablecloth. *********** Dear Coach Wyatt, I wanted to write you earlier to inform you that there is a new Double Wing team in the Dublin Jerome Celtics in Dublin, Ohio. I was offered the position 4 weeks ago and I have been very busy since. This is a brand new school in the central Ohio area. The third high school for our district. I have had to order most everything. It is exciting to start a new school but it is also very busy, and seemed overwhelming at first. I have just chunked away at the list of things that were necessary to do. We will have no seniors our first year, but I have to be honest, I think we are going to surprise a lot of people in our first season. We are getting a good response in the weight room and they are working hard. I have a staff already together (I had most of them ready before I was offered the position). This may be the best staff I have ever worked with and that says a lot because the staff I have just left was awesome (we won the regional championship and made it to the final four bracket in Ohio at Division One). We will have many detractors in regards to our offense I am fairly sure. But I do know that our staff is on board and ready to coach the Double Wing. Our offensive staff will be coming to the Detroit Clinic in April. We have also been in contact with Ray Pohlman who used to be the head coach and Double Wing coach at Perrysburg, Ohio. Thank you for your help, your web site, and allowing me to use some of your material for my interview. God Bless, Mark Hundley, Dublin Jerome Celtics, Dublin, Ohio *********** You know what I think about rap and rappers. Let's just say that I think the term "hip-hop culture" is an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. But guess what? It won't be long before we all look back fondly on the good old days, back when all rap was was filthy lyrics, degradation of women and glorification of drugs and lawless violence. That's because many rappers are taking the next step, into XXX porn. Check this out, by Martin Edlund, Music Editor of the New York Times: 50 Cent, whose "Get Rich or Die Tryin' " was the best-selling album of 2003, was at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas in January to promote a deal with a company called Digital Sin. The result, to be released later this year, will be an "interactive sex DVD," titled "Groupie Luv," featuring 50 Cent and the rap group G-Unit that will allow the viewer to select partners, sexual positions, camera angles, even the dispositions of the women ("naughty" or "nice"). The newly launched music-meets-porn magazine Fish 'n' Grits gives rappers and and porn stars equal play in its pages. (The rapper Method Man shares the inaugural cover with the adult film star Solveig.) And in January, Playboy TV introduced a new hip-hop-themed series &emdash; the first of several planned for this year &emdash; called "Buckwild." The show features mainstream stars like OutKast, Snoop Dogg, Nelly and Busta Rhymes cavorting with a frisky troupe of women called the Buckwild Girls, who seem to fall out of their clothes whenever a camera approaches. You will remember Snoop Dogg's affiliation with the NFL. How wholesome. *********** Around 1787, when our original 13 states adopted our constitution, a Scottish history professor by the name of Alexander Tyler had this to say about "The Fall of the Athenian Republic" over 2,000 years before: "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (generous gifts) from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship... The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence. From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance, from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back into bondage." Eerie similarities to Professor Tyler's assessment of ancient Athens were noted in a study of our 2000 election by Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Professor Olson thinks the US is now between the apathy and complacency phases - but shockingly, he believes that 40 percent of the nation's population has already reached the dependency phase. To illustrate his point, he notes the following statistics: Population of counties won by Gore: 127 million; by Bush: 143 million. Square miles of country won by Gore: 580,000; by Bush 2,427,000. States won by Gore: 19; by Bush 29. Murders per 100,000 residents in counties won by Gore 13.2; in counties won by Bush 2.1 Says Professor Olson, "The map of the territory Bush won was (mostly) the land owned by the people of this great country. Not the citizens living in cities owned by the government and living off the government...." *********** It wasn't so long ago that many churches were struggling over the question of ordination of female clergy. The Roman Catholic Church contines to catch heat for its opposition. Meantime, as many same-sex couples are having church "weddings," I can't help noticing (our newspapers are full of photos) how many of the ceremonies are being performed by female clergy.  *********** The University of Colorado announced broad, sweeping changes in its recruiting practices barring recruits from visiting bars and private parties and putting them under the close supervision of parents and coaches. All activities will be planned, approved and supervised by a coach, and visits will take place only during the offseason, when presumably coaches would be more available to chaperone - er, supervise. Visits will be limited to a single night's stay, instead of the usual two, and the curfew, formerly 1 AM, will be moved to 11 AM. Asked if the new guidelines will hurt recruiting, chancellor Richard Byyny said: "It really doesn't matter. We want to have a model program. We want to make sure students understand they are here first for an education." Thanks to a friend in the University's Recruitment Reform Commission (RRC), I was able to obtain an advance copy of a proposed new recruits' visit itinerary... SATURDAY 8 AM: Chaperoned school bus meets recruits at Denver International Airport, departs for Boulder 9 AM: Chaperoned school bus arrives at CU campus 9 AM - 9:15 AM - Chaperoned visits to rest rooms 9:15 AM - 9:30 AM - Chaperoned walk to Student Union and introduction to University President Betsy Hoffman 9:30 AM - Welcome Address and Sexual Harassment Sensitivity Briefing by President Hoffman Sexually Transmitted Disease presentation, University Department of Student Health Services Presentations by representatives of PETA, CU Gay and Lesbian Alliance, and Students United Against Anything Republican, followed by breakout small-group sessions and role-playing 11:45 AM - Chaperoned walk to downtown Boulder 12:00 - "Lunch Under the Bridge" - Box lunch, shared with the Boulder homeless community 1:00 PM - Chaperoned visit to Boulder Abused Women's Crisis Center, with talks by abused women. Subject: male brutality. 2:00 PM - Chaperoned tour of library, featuring in-depth explanation of the Dewey Decimal System of book classification 3:00 PM- 4:45 PM - Chaperoned visit to CU STUDENTS FOR KERRY headquarters, where recruits will help stuff envelopes 5:00 PM - Punch and cookies at the President's house 6:00 PM - Vegetarian Dinner sponsored by PETA 7:30 PM - Chaperoned social - charades, amateur talent contest, and square dancing, concluding with a singalong featuring old favorites 10:30 PM - Milk and cookies 11:00 PM - Lights out SUNDAY 7:00 AM - Wakeup. Cold showers for everyone, followed by breakfast of juice, yogurt, cold cereal and choice of milk or decaf coffee 9:00 AM - School bus departs for Denver International Airport and flights home *********** In case you get as tired as I do of hearing professional athletes being referred to as "heroes"... On July 19, 1989, when Al Haynes lost the middle engine and all three of the hydraulic systems on his Chicago-bound United Air Lines DC-10, he had to make an emergency landing in Sioux City, Iowa. Among other things, he prepared the passengers by telling them that they would be making a "hard landing." There were 296 people on board, and thanks to his expertise, a little luck, and a lot of divine guidance, 184 survived. Yet he shrinks from peoples' description of him as a hero. "A hero," he says, "is someone who voluntarily puts his or her life in jeopardy to benefit other people." I would say, "Amen," and add one more thing: a hero shies away from any reference to himself (or herself) as a hero, and speaks self-deferentially, if at all, about what he (or she) did. Such a person is Tom "Doc" Hinger, a Black Lion and certified hero whom I've come to know over the years. Tom is the essence of the guy who was shoved by fate into a spot he didn't ask to be put in, but who, when circumstances dictated - and the lives of others depended on it - went above and beyond, "voluntarily putting his life in jeopardy to benefit other people." Doc - he was an Army medic - has been through a lot. For Americans who flinch at the blood and violence of a Mel Gibson movie, it is impossible to imagine what a medical corpsman has to deal with in the heat of a fire fight. No one can ever forget such experiences, and Doc hasn't. Nor has he forgotten the men he served with, some of them dead more than 35 years. For years, though, like so many combat vets, he kept his experiences bottled up inside. Last week, Gary White of The Ledger, in Lakeland, Florida, Tom's adopted home town, interviewed him... By Gary White The Ledger, Lakeland, Florida gary.white@theledger.com For more than three decades, Tom "Doc" Hinger largely avoided discussing the events of Oct. 17, 1967, even with his closest relatives. And then in the spring of 2000, he got a call from a writer, a man he had never met, who wanted to harvest Hinger's memories of that dreadful day. The Winter Haven resident was exceedingly wary at first. But the reputation of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss eased some of his doubts, and after receiving Maraniss at his home Hinger agreed to talk. "It was obvious he was the type of man who could be trusted," says Hinger, 58. "We were lucky someone of his integrity was the one to write this book." In sharing his memories of a devastating battle with Maraniss, Hinger in effect shared them with the world. Maraniss transformed his interviews with Hinger and dozens of other sources into a book "They Marched Into Sunlight," published in October (Simon & Schuster, $29.95). Playtone, Tom Hanks' production company, has bought the film rights. The book describes the Oct. 17, 1967, battle at Ong Thanh, an area of thick jungle north of Saigon, when two companies of the Army's First Infantry Division walked into an ambush set by Viet Cong troops. Hinger, then a 21-year-old from Latrobe, Pa., was a combat medic with the Alpha Company of the Second Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment. Maraniss juxtaposes the battle at Ong Thanh with events that occurred the same day in Madison, Wis., when University of Wisconsin students protested against recruiters from Dow Chemical Co., the manufacturer of napalm, the jellied gasoline dropped by American warplanes in Vietnam. As Hinger describes it, his Army company and another totaling 140 men unwittingly marched into a "horseshoe" of some 1,400 enemy troops that day. The Vietnamese commander launched the attack by banging two sticks together. "He knocked on a couple of blocks of wood three times and then the world ended," Hinger says. Pfc. Hinger, who had received 12 weeks of medical training at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, spent the entire day tending to wounded soldiers, applying bandages and tourniquets and comforting the dying. Maraniss describes Hinger, with 70 pounds of medical gear strapped to his gaunt, barely 100-pound frame, wandering without a weapon or a helmet, consumed by tunnel vision as he moves from one soldier to the next. The main battle lasted more than three hours, and Hinger continued to treat the wounded and retrieve bodies until past dark. Retired Gen. Jim Shelton, a major with the battalion that day, later used Hinger as an example of devotion to duty in a training manual the battalion now uses to illustrate its core values. He described not only Hinger's selfless actions in treating his comrades but also an incident in which Hinger defended himself by fatally shooting an enemy soldier -- a scene not included in Maraniss' book. By day's end, all but 12 of the 140 American soldiers were either dead or wounded. Sixty-one died in the jungle or shortly afterward, including Hinger's battalion commander, Terry Allen, and a former All-America football player, Donald Holleder, who perished in Hinger's arms. Hinger was cut by shrapnel on the hands and head, though he didn't realize it until later. Maraniss makes it clear Hinger also was wracked by survivor's guilt. "'If I am alive, I must have done something wrong,' " Maraniss writes, speaking for Hinger. " 'Did I run? What did I do?' He took out his pistol and thought about killing himself. The urge passed, but the guilt did not." Barbara Nakles, Hinger's sister, says she never knew of that moment until she read the book. In fact, at the time of the Ong Thanh battle, Hinger's family thought he was working in the safety of an Army hospital. Compounding the trauma, Hinger later helped to identify bodies, some on the basis of only tattoos or hair color. Hinger, who received a Silver Star for his performance and a Purple Heart for his injuries, was discharged in July 1968. Nakles, who still lives in Pennsylvania, recalls greeting him at the Pittsburgh airport. "I didn't recognize him," she says. "He looked like someone who had just been liberated from a concentration camp. He was emaciated and totally emotionally devastated." Hinger and his wife, Jane, moved to Polk County in 1971. He worked as a controller and an insurance agent before retiring three years ago. Jane Hinger teaches in the Polk school system. After years of reticence about discussing his Vietnam experiences, Hinger began communicating over the Internet with other alumni of the battalion, known as the Black Lions. A few men -- including Gen. Shelton, the author of "The Beast Was Out There" -- started meeting each fall at West Point for an Army football weekend. Hinger later attended more formal Black Lions reunions at Fort Jackson, S.C.. Hinger was one of the first people Maraniss contacted as he began researching his book four years ago. In the acknowledgments, the author lauds Hinger as "a one-person search engine" for his help in finding other sources. "I think we spent four or five hours that (first) day talking," says Maraniss, an associate editor at the Washington Post. "It was pretty emotional for him. It was apparent to me from the beginning that Oct. 17, 1967, was the central day of his life." Nakles says her brother has benefited from the process of discussing his experiences and then forming a friendship with Maraniss. "The ability to speak out about it, I think, was . . . I'm not sure it was healing, but I think it helped to make things open, and I think all the vets who have been in traumatic battles have that need," Nakles says. "I do know since David came into Tom's life and has become such a good friend, it has been a great help to him." As an example, she says that during a trip to Pennsylvania last fall Hinger visited his high school and answered questions from students about his Vietnam experiences. Nakles says her brother would not have considered participating in such a forum a few years earlier. "The whole process -- not just my book, but I think it's part of a larger process -- helped Tom over the last few years in feeling better about himself and what happened," Maraniss says. "That's been one of the most meaningful parts of this book, the effect it has had on the veterans who survived the battle." Hinger now mulls the prospect of a movie about the Black Lions. He tells relatives his part should be played by Tom Cruise. "We keep teasing him about who will play his role," Nakles says. "The humor has come back into his life, which is something that was missing for a long time. War does terrible things to people." Reprinted by permission It's partly to help our young men appreciate the courage and devotion to duty of Vietnam vets like Tom Hinger, partly to remember those who never returned, partly to say to those who did, "Welcome Home - we appreciate what you did," and partly to recognize the fact that our nation's survival depends on our producing more men like them, that we instituted, with the help of the 28th Infantry Association, the Black Lion Award.    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 5, 2004 -    "The true soldier and officer never forgets what he owes to the men he commands." Secretary of War John M. Schofield, dedicating the Battle Monument at West Point, May 31, 1897.   NEXT 2004 CLINIC SCHEDULED - SATURDAY MARCH 13, CHICAGO, SATURDAY MARCH 20, MINNEAPOLIS Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: When this photo of Rod Paige was taken, it was 1969, shortly after he had been hired by Ray Callahan at the University of Cincinnati to coach receivers. Since then, his career has taken giant steps - not to mention a major turn in direction. Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, he starred in football at Jackson State, and was captain of the 1954 football squad as well as a quarter-miler on the track team. After graduation in 1955, he spent two years in the Navy, then became athletic director and head coach of both football and basketball at Utica (Miss.) Junior College. In six years there, his football teams were 35-12, and he was three times named Conference Coach of the Year. In 1963, he was hired as an assistant coach at Jackson State, and a year later, he was named its head coach. In four years there, his teams were 27-16-2. Two of his better-known players at Jackson State were Lem Barney and Verlon Biggs, who went on to star in the NFL with the Lions and Jets, respectively. After spending the 1969 and 1970 seasons at Cincinnati, he was hired as head coach at Texas Southern i and in 1971 he became Director of Athletics. In the meantime, he had earned both a Master's Degree and a Doctorate Degree at Indiana University (he wrote his dissertation on "response time of football linemen"), and in 1980 he became a professor of education. In 1984, was named dean of the school of education, a position he would hold for the next 10 years. While serving as dean, Dr. Paige won a seat on the Houston school board, and in 1994, the board chose him as superintendent, a position he held until leaving to become United States Secretary of Education. In that job, he recently angered the nation's largest teachers' union by referring to it as a "terrorist group." Correctly identifying Secretary of Education Dr. Rod Paige: John Muckian- Lynn, Massachusetts ("Did not know he had a Football/Athletic background; so far that was that was one of the best quotes I have heard in the early year!")... Mike Foristiere- Boise, Idaho... Adam Wesoloski- Pulaski, Wisconsin... Keith Babb- Northbrook, Illinois... Steve Staker- Fredericksburg, Iowa... Mark Bergen- Keller, Texas... Steve Smith- Middlesboro, Kentucky ("It was the 'terrorist' info that ghave it away!")... Mark Kaczmarek, East Moline, Illinois ("Unfortunate metaphor in light of our times, but the sentiment directed at the national leadership is appreciated.")... John Bothe- Oregon, Illinois... *********** I'm not sure I am an actual terrorist but I think Rod Paige may be right when it comes to my union. Although I think he used a poor choice of words, I understand his sentiment. I am not a teacher, but the NEA represents the supervisory employees at my place of work. Therefore, as such I am a reluctant member of this "terrorist group". My union supports causes and candidates I mostly disagree with. They support policies on education and other matters that I find appalling. I am told by my union officers that my dues are not used for political means, and that there is a separate voluntary fund for this purpose which is apart from member dues. I do not believe this for a second, but what is one to do? Alan Goodwin, Warwick, Rhode Island *********** Steve Jones, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, says one of his boosters, commenting on his offense, said, "You get in the huddle... and then you come to the line... and you're still in the damn huddle!" *********** Coach Wyatt, I hope all is going well with you on the clinic circuit this year. I am hoping to see you again in Minneapolis later this month. In your "News" column for March 3rd, you comment on the Big Ten conference now using instant replay to assist the officials during the games. My concern is this - If it wasn't Joe Paterno running down the field trying to catch the official to ask for a rule interpretation, would anyone at the Big Ten's offices ever think about making a change? I think that if the initiating coach was Gerry DiNardo of Indiana, Ron Turner from Illinois, or Randy Walker at Northwestern who ran up to an official and, while being more than angry, asked for an interpretation of a rule, the Big Ten office would have had a serious "sit-down" chat with the coach and a letter of reprimand issued to both the coach and school without a second thought. But, because it was Coach Paterno, the Big Ten decided to look into a possible problem and draft a potentially workable solution. Who else could command such respect in the Big Ten? Jim Tressel at Ohio State? Lloyd Carr at Michigan? Possibly. Glen Mason at Minnesota? Kirk Ferenz at Iowa? Joe Tiller at Purdue? Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin? Probably not. Coaches DiNardo, Turner, and Walker? How about John Smith at Michigan State? Definitely not. Poor calls are poor calls no matter who is affected. By reducing the number of poor calls that occur in a game, hopefully a great game becomes even greater. Unfortunately, it seems that only the premier programs/coaches get what they want which is someone to listen to them. Keep up the great work. Mike O'Donnell, Pine City, Minnesota *********** No more Super-Sizing at McDonalds, the headlines blare. Recognizing what's just over the horizon, the biggest fast-food company in the world has decided to become proactive and take the politically-correct step of helping Americans who are obviously unable to help themselves. What's next? I predict that with McDonalds in the bag, competitors will fall in line, and the professional fat fighters will bring enormous pressure on the feds. Former McDonalds executives will testify in front of congressional committees, shocking the public with tales of closed-door meetings in which corporate marketers actually planned to use tricks such as advertising, low prices and large portions to lure gullible Americans into eating more food. The President, pressed hard by his Democratic opponent ("How many more Americans must die of heart disease before this President takes action?") will announce a War on Fat, to be conducted by a huge new Federal bureaucracy, the Waistline Security Administration (WSA). The WSA will to be paid for with a 5-cent per can surtax on soft drinks, and a similar tax on servings of french fries. The new WSA regulations will stipulate maximum size-portions on such food items as soft-drinks, hamburgers, and french-fries, no one will be permitted to purchase more than one of any item - anywhere - during any 24-hour period. An army of WSA agents (most of them former Border Patrol agents who transferred in frustration), armed with measuring cups and scales will descend without warning on fast-food outlets, to make sure that no one is selling food in larger-than-legal quantities. They will have the power to close down violators on the spot. They will also be empowered to arrest customer trying to circvumvent the new federal maximum-portion-size regulations by ordering two of anything. The law will state that "the number of containers of any particular food item on a particular table may not exceed the number of consumers seated at that table, except that at any one time a maximum of one adult and one child under the age of six may be counted as 'seated' if they are in fact using the rest room at the time of the inspection." Millions of taxpayer dollars will be spent on public service announcements, educating Americans about the WSA and the need to reduce fast food consumption. A lovable cartoon character named Wally the Walrus will add a touch of humor to the otherwise very serious subject, telling Americans, "It's not cool to be corpulent!" Elementary schools will forego regularly-scheduled classes in multiculturalism and environmental education in order to explain the new WSA bounty system - turn in Mom or Dad whenever they buy two helpings when one will do, and win a free WSA soccer ball. A Mississippi trial lawyer will win a $200 million class action lawsuit against Burger King; the lawyer will receive $100 million, and the 20 million members of the class action will each receive a gift certificate entitling them to a free salad at the Burger King of their choice. And America takes a giant step closer to Sweden, where Nanny Government takes away all your worries and makes all your decisions for you. *********** With the Democratic nomination for President nailed down, John Kerry can turn his attention to selecting a running mate. There are lots of names being tossed about - Edwards of North Carolina, Bayh of Indiana, Richardson of New Mexico, Nunn of Georgia. And, yes, Clinton of New York. Many (you can guess who they are) think that Saint Hillary would be great, but in all likelihood she would only join up if she thought they'd lose in November, because she's got her eyes on the Big Prize in 2008, and she ain't about to play second fiddle for two terms of Kerry. But wait - like another chapter of Friday the Thirteenth, up pops a name I wouldn't have thought of in my wildest imagination. With him on the ticket, you would see the most uproarious campaign in American history. I'm talking about the Man From Hope. The Fastest Zipper in the West. You got it - Slick Willie. William Jefferson Clinton. See, he can't run for President, but he can run for Vice-President. The Constitution, while preventing Clinton from running again for president, does not prevent him from running for vice president. The 22nd Amendment reads: "No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice." Nope, can't be elected to the "office of president" more than twice, but what if he's elected Vice-President, and then "something" should happen to the President? So Bill joins Kerry's ticket, they get elected, and then... Let's put it this way - remembering Vince Foster (may he rest in peace), we will find out how good the Secret Service really is. ************ I received the book by Ken Keuffel "Winning Single -Wing Football" and I just started to read it when today I got to the part in your news and saw the diagramn of the direct snap box formation that Seve Jones runs at Ocean Springs. I would like to see that run live. I am just having a good time educating myself on the evoulution of this great game. Once I understand it the single -wing a lot more I sure would like to incorporate that into the d-wing offense as just a change up with a purpose. Maybe it will be a way to sell tickets to the older generation to come and watch the games/ possibly those they may have run it in school or watched it run. Hell it would be fun. Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho *********** Among its "Worst Dressed Men in America," Esquire Magazine lists Deion Sanders, "any NASCAR driver in his decal-cluttered suit," and - the Oregon Ducks. (What - you poofters don't like "lightning yellow?") *********** In your "Installing the System" video you installed the system with the linemen in the morning and then installed the system with the backs in the afternoon. Should I install the system that way or should I get the whole team together and do it with 11? The only reason we did it that way was that we were doing it in Indiana, and we had to comply with state of Indiana off-season regulations, which are designed to prevent a full team from practicing in the off-season. If it were up to me, I'd teach the whole team together. *********** I am a wanna be football coach at the ripe old age of 28. I have coached 10-12 year old kids for 9 years, and played ball up through high school. I'm not a great coach but I love the sport. I returned to college in an attempt to get my bachelors, and in hope of becoming a graduate assistant afterwards. However, I'm getting overwhelmed. I have a wife and daughter, and a decent paying job. I know that I don't have legitimate experience as a coach, but I went to some of the local high schools asking if i could work as a volunteer coach. Unfortunately, all I've heard is we don't need any help. I've tried contacting the local arena team and pro team, but nobody returns any calls. I know I have no experience, but how can you get experience if nobody will give you a shot. I was able to get on as a coach for a 8 man team, however, I had a falling out with the so called president/player/coach of the team, so that is over. My dream of becoming a coach in college or professional is quickly disappearing. I have no desire to teach in a classroom all day, while making 20k a year. I am considering dropping school and football so that I can spend more time with my family, especially my little girl. Did you go through this? What should I do? Any advice and words of thought would be greatly appreciated. NAME WITHHELD I don't mean to be discouraging, but owing to your unconventional entry into the game, your options are limited. This doesn't mean you can't get into coaching, but it might not be at the level you had in mind. To be blunt, a graduate assistantship at a college is a very remote possibility, because there's not a lot of those positions, and they usually go to former players, or good friends of former players, or former players of good friends (connections are very important in football). As for high school coaches not being interested in volunteer help, I still think that's the way to go. It may have been a matter of your timing. If it were me and you'd asked me, my answer might have been different in June ("we'll see") than it would have been in September ("we don't need any help now - I wish you'd contacted me earlier"). Regrettably, you sound uninterested in teaching. You might want to rethink that. Otherwise, that's going to be a major obstacle, because the fact is that by far the most opportunities to coach and get paid for it are in high school and middle school, and in at least one state - Texas - as I understand it, you must be a teacher in order to coach. I wasn't aware that teachers start at $20,000 per year anyplace, but if that's the case, you might want to consider relocating, because in Washington, which doesn't exactly overpay its teachers, you will start out at any school in the state - there is a statewide salary schedule - at more than $31,000 with a bachelor's degree and no experience. Don't give up on your search. Fortunately, you are still young. I didn't get into coaching until I was 32, and I didn't draw my first paycheck as a high school teacher-coach until I was 38. I started at about $11,000 a year, but since I had been out of work for six months, going to school to get my teacher's certification, I wasn't about to complain. That looked like a lot of money. HW *********** In your "Practice Without Pads" video I saw some harnesses being used to have tug-of-wars and also pulling tires for speed and conditioning. Do you have a contact or can you direct me to some companies that provide these. Or could they be made? Thanks. You must mean the Coach Wyatt E-Z Drag Harness, available only through me for $200 a dozen, shipping extra. (Actually, they are used truck inner tubes, and I'll bet you can find some locally a whole lot cheaper than that.) *********** What do you say to a coach who is more worried about a title( i.e. Coordinator or Assistant Head Coach) than what we are trying to accomplish. I do not believe in conferring titles on people until they earn them. The greatest head coaches in the history of the game made do without "coordinators," and some of the greatest assistants operated without the title. "Coordinator" is a relatively new title, befitting modern-day football with its 9-man staffs, in which the job of the head coach is to serve as the CEO, while the coordinators coordinate and the position coaches coach the players. I don't know that to be the case in too many high schools. The number one requisite of an assistant at your stage of the game is loyalty, which includes a willingness to do whatever it takes - scouting, coaching JVs, cleaning up the locker room, sticking around until the last kid is gone, and so forth. Too many guys get a title and they assume two things: (1) that it implies a job description and they don't have to do anything beyond it; and (2) that it draws a line around their turf that no one else can cross. I would tell them in as diplomatic a way as possible that I prefer to evaluate them as we go until I am better able to see where they can be of most help to the program. I think it is much easier at first to hold off on conferring titles than it is to award a title that you may find you have to take away. *********** I got this fron a few people on the Internet, and at first, I said, naaah. But then I did some checking, and damned if this isn't the final exam that Jim Harrick, Jr. gave his "students" in his basketball coaching "course" at the University of Georgia. The source is none other than the University itself, which deserves some credit for making public something which brings it such discredit (be careful - I think #8 is a trick question): 1. How many goals are on a basketball court? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 2. How many players are allowed to play at one time on any one team in a regulation game? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 5 3. In what league to [sic] the Georgia Bulldogs compete? a. ACC b. Big Ten c. SEC d. Pac 10 4. What is the name of the coliseum where the Georgia Bulldogs play? a. Cameron Indoor Arena b. Stegeman Coliseum c. Carrier Dome d. Pauley Pavilion 5. How many halves are in a college basketball game? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 6. How many quarters are in a high school basketball game? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 7. How many points does one field goal account for in a Basketball Game? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 8. How many points does a 3-point field goal account for in a Basketball Game? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 9. How many officials referee a college basketball game? a. 2 b. 4 c. 6 d. 3 10. How many teams are in the NCAA Men's Basketball National Championship Tournament? a. 48 b. 64 c. 65 d. 32 11. What is the name of the exam which all high school seniors in the State of Georgia must pass? a. Eye Exam b. How Do The Grits Taste Exam c. Bug Control Exam d. Georgia Exit Exam 12. What basic color are the uniforms the Georgia Bulldogs wear in home games? a. White b. Red c. Black d. Silver 13. What basic color are the uniforms the Georgia Bulldogs wear in away games? a. Pink b. Blue c. Orange d. Red 14. How many minutes are played in a college basketball contest? a. 20 b. 40 c. 60 d. 90 15. How many minutes are played in a high school basketball game? a. 15 b. 30 c. 32 d. 45 16. Diagram the 3-point line. 17. Diagram the half-court line. 18. How many fouls is a player allowed to have in one Basketball game before fouling out in that game? a. 3 b. 5 c. 7 d. 0 19. If you go on to become a huge coaching success, to whom will you tribute [sic] the credit? a. Mike Krzyzewski b. Bobby Knight c. John Wooden d. Jim Harrick Jr. 20. In your opinion, who is the best Division I assistant coach in the country? a. Ron Jursa [sic] b. John Pelphrey c. Jim Harrick Jr. d. Steve Wojciechowski Source: University of Georgia *********** The Public screams about the evils of hazing, but when a coach takes the strong action the Public demands, the response is invariably "you can't punish my son." The Public doesn't understand this, but coaches do. So does one of my favorite columnists, Joe Sullivan of the Manchester Union-Leader... WHAT you are about to read is based on an incident that took place in New Hampshire several years ago. Act I Scene I Characters: High school athletes, approximately 30, split between varsity baseball players and junior varsity baseball players. High school baseball coaches, exactly two, split between varsity baseball coach and junior varsity baseball coach. Scene: School bus returning from an away game. Dialogue: None. Reason there is no dialogue: Actions sometimes speak louder than words. Actions: Several members of the varsity team decide that several members of the junior varsity need to be initiated into the school's baseball program. They decide to subject each first-year player to an atomic wedgie. (Author's note: An atomic wedgie sounds like a kid thing, a fun thing, a frivolous thing, a humorous thing. It is none of those things. An atomic wedgie is no laughing matter. It consists of one person grabbing another person's underwear from behind and violently yanking that piece of clothing straight up, inflicting significant pain on the underwear wearer.) The varsity players begin their assault from the back of the bus, far from the coaches who sit in the front of the bus. Eventually, a scream of pain leads the coaches from the front of the bus to the middle of the bus. They put a stop to the insanity. Act II Scene I (the coach's office) Characters: Athletes who were attacked and their coaches. The interview yields the names of the culprits. (Author's further clarification on the atomic wedgie and its potential danger: One junior varsity player-victim was injured to the point that he was in danger of losing a testicle.) Scene II (office of the school's director of athletics) Characters: The varsity coach, the school athletic director, the school principal. Coach: I want the varsity players who attacked my junior varsity players thrown off the team. Athletic director: I agree. They should be gone. Principal: I'll back you to the hilt. Scene III (the coach's office) Characters: Athletes who inflicted the pain and the varsity coach. Coach: You guys are done for breaking school and team rules concerning hazing. Turn in your uniforms. Act III Scene I (a lawyer's office) Characters: parent of kicked-off player and lawyer. Parent of kicked-off player: I want you to represent my son in a legal case. He has been kicked off his varsity baseball team for an incident that occurred on a team bus. I want him returned to the team. Lawyer: I'm with you. Scene II (School board meeting room) Characters: School board members, varsity baseball coach, athletics director, school principal, high school players removed from the team, parents of high school players removed from the team, attorney for parents of high school players removed from the team. High school coach: These former varsity players inflicted major pain on several of my junior varsity players. I threw them off of the team. I don't want them back. Lawyer: Blah-blah-blah-blah. School board members: Baa-baa-baa-baa. (Bottom line: A school board vote goes in favor of the thrown-off baseball players who suddenly become thrown-on baseball players.) Coach (to school board members): Do you realize that you just voted against your own policy? School board members say nothing, simply stare in awe at lawyer. Moral: Don't be too critical of today's high school varsity coaches and the decisions they make regarding their personnel. There are lawyers out there. There are school boards out there. And there are coaches out there who know how school boards cave in to lawyers. Those coaches don't want to end up looking like fools. Who can blame them. The End. Reprinted by permission. Joe Sullivan, Manchester, NH Union-Leader    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD

(UPDATED WHENEVER I FEEL LIKE IT - BUT USUALLY ON TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS)  March 2, 2004 -    "Breathes there the man with soul so dead, who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land?" Sir Walter Scott   NEXT 2004 CLINIC - SATURDAY, MARCH 13 - CRYSTAL LAKE CENTRAL HS, CRYSTAL LAKE, ILLINOIS Click Here ----------->> <<----------- Click Here    A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   A LOOK AT OUR LEGACY: When this photo was taken, it was 1969, shortly after he had been hired by Ray Callahan at the University of Cincinnati to coach receivers. Since then, his career has taken giant steps - not to mention a major turn in direction. Born in Brookhaven, Mississippi, he starred in football at Jackson State, and was captain of the 1954 football squad as well as a quarter-miler on the track team. After graduation in 1955, he spent two years in the Navy, then became athletic director and head coach of both football and basketball at Utica (Miss.) Junior College. In six years there, his football teams were 35-12, and he was three times named Conference Coach of the Year. In 1963, he was hired as an assistant coach at Jackson State, and a year later, he was named its head coach. In four years there, his teams were 27-16-2. Two of his better-known players at Jackson State were Lem Barney and Verlon Biggs, who went on to star in the NFL with the Lions and Jets, respectively. After spending the 1969 and 1970 seasons at Cincinnati, he was hired as head coach at Texas Southern i and in 1971 he became Director of Athletics. In the meantime, he had earned both a Master's Degree and a Doctorate Degree at Indiana University (he wrote his dissertation on "response time of football linemen"), and in 1980 he became a professor of education. In 1984, was named dean of the school of education, a position he would hold for the next 10 years. While serving as dean, he won a seat on the Houston school board, and in 1994, the board chose him as superintendent, a position he held until leaving to take a job in Washington, D.C. In that job, he recently angered the nation's largest teachers' union by referring to it as a "terrorist group." *********** Taking three different schools to state playoffs and being named South Mississippi Coach of the year - not bad for a coach who just six years ago was, in his own words, "15-51 and looking to get fired." That's Coach Steve Jones, who in 2003, in just his first season at Ocean Springs, Mississippi, took the Greyhounds to an 8-4 record to their first winning season in years, and a state playoff berth, their first in 10 years. Since starting the run the Double-Wing, Coach Jones has turned around programs at class 4A Florence and class 3A Columbia (Walter Payton's home town), and now at class 5A Ocean Springs. In all since, switching to the Double-Wing, his teams have gone 36-18 regular season and 3-5 in the play-offs the last 5 years - 5 straight winning seasons and 5 straight play-off appearances. Coach Jones is happy to point out to those who wonder whether the Double-Wing will work at a "big school" that Ocean Springs is the fifth largest school in the state, and plays such talent-rich powerhouses as Moss Point and Pascagoula. Coach Jones was kind enough to make it to Atlanta to address Saturday's clinic. Since this time last year he was talking about the possibility of the Ocean Springs job coming open, I was very much interested in hearing about his 2003 season. He showed the clinic a tape of the first Ocean Springs touchdown of the year, a long run by his A-Back that produced so much excitement that kids poured out of the stands to congratulate him, and one of the assistant principals had a penalty called on him for joining in the celebration. The video shows one of the team managers racing along the sideline, almost step for step with the runner. "We got him out for football," Coach Jones noted. Coach Jones' offensive philosophy is fairly simple: "get the ball in the best athlete's hands." As proof of this, for the last four years, his A-back has gained at least 1600 yards. Giving credit where it's due, it should be pointed out that in three of those four years, the A-Back was Coach Jones' son, Cory, a sprinter in the 4.3/4.4 range who is now a freshman wide receiver at Miami of Ohio. Although Coach Jones is the one I credit with inventing the Wedge Reverse, he says the credit really belomgs to Cory, who happened to notice that whenever Dad called a wedge, opponents didn't seem to be paying much attention to the outside. Bingo - let's try it, said Dad, and the result was Wedge Reverse, which has proved to be a heck of a play. Sometimes it comes down to the runner and an opposing defensive back, one-on-one, but as Coach Jones said, "If your A-back can't get around the corner and make somebody miss, you're not going to have much of a team anyhow." (I'll be showing Wedge Reverse at this year's clinics.) Coach Jones gave a lot of credit for the big turnaround at Florence to his defensive coordinator, Steve Pruett. Steve, whose dad is Bob Pruett, fabulously successful head coach at Marshall, is now head coach at McLaurin High School, and he was in attendance at Atlanta, too. On the subject of defense, Coach Jones cautioned against playing a gambling, blizting defense that has the potential to give up big plays - said that at Columbia, they lost a few close games, and he found that the defense they were playing (he inherited the coordinator) was simply giving up too many big plays. Coach Jones said that he's got seven years to go to retire in the state of Mississippi, and he's planning on staying with the Double Wing the rest of the way. Unlike those who complain that it is too limiting, he says, "the best thing I like about the offense is the versatility." Did I hear him say versatility? The coach before him at Columbia ran the Notre Dame box. Apart from the difficulty of finding a quarterback - "convincing kids that it was all right to put their hands against another guy's rear end" - he was able to get a crash course in the offense from the former coach, and found out that it was possible to run plays from the Notre Dame box without having to change a thing on the offensive line. (That's Coach Jones' adaptation of the basic Double-Wing Super Power to a direct-snap Single-Wing.) Another bit of advice Coach Jones gave those coaches at the clinic: "Don't change what you're doing at halftime." Listen to him, guys - at Columbia, he was down, 30-6 at halftime of a playoff game. Changes? Well, they did stop turning the ball over. But otherwise, he said, "we just stayed with the offense." Columbia won, 33-30. Oh- and for those gender-equity people who keep trying to tell you that football is just one sport among many - Coach Jones is further evidence, if any is needed, that football sets the tone for an entire school - in addition to this year's playoff season in football, Ocean Springs' girls' basketball team made the playoffs and the boys' basketball team is in the Final Four. *********** Considering how bad the Big Ten football officiating has been over the last several years, the only reaction to the league's recent announcement that it will employ instant replay is, "Thank God. It's about time." Joe Paterno is probably saying, "Where've you been?" For his incensed reaction to officials following several games over the past couple of seasons, games in which replays clearly showed Penn State had been hosed, Coach Paterno caught hell from a lot of people. Apart from the fact that I am amazed at how fast a man of his age was able to run in collaring a referee whose crew had made a more-than-questionable call or two during the Iowa game, I find myself applauding the man. He did what lots of us have wanted to do, but wouldn't dare doing, because we don't have the standing of a Joe Paterno. I mean, if Joe Paterno can't question officials, then who the hell can? Does this mean, then, that like the Supreme Court, officials are given the power of life and death over us mere mortals, without accountability to any one? I know there are people who are equating his blowups with the sort of out-of-control rage that finally did Woody Hayes in, but Lord, how many years of unconscionable officiating does a man have to witness, and still keep his lip buttoned? After an officiating error has cost a team a crucial game, what good does it do to learn that the conference has disciplined the officials involved? So, yeah - god for you, Big Ten. There are few things worse than seeing a wrong committed, when you had the means to right it. So instant replay may deal with the problem of officials' incompetence, as well as plain old errors in human judgement. But what about their attitudes?. There is talk in the NBA that officials are out to get Hubie Brown. I am certainly willing to believe that certain officials don't have it in for certain coaches, and it's quite possible that certain Big Ten officials have been out to show Joe Paterno, that whipper-snapper, who's boss. No, I do not advocate being disrespectful to officials. There are plenty of good ones, and I thank the Lord for them. And there are few enough good young men getting into officiating as it is, a situation that isn't going to get better if we make a practice of abusing officials. But, damn...why do so many officials have to come off as arrogant and, even worse, uninformed asses? Who among us hasn't worked his tail off all summer, all preseason and then all week, only to have his - and his kids' - hard work squandered by a lazy, uninformed official who came out on Friday night with a chip on his shoulder, ran around the field for a couple of hours, picked up a check - and then went out someplace to drink beer? Chances are, that was it until next Friday - no film study, and certainly no rule book study. No need for him to get better! Who among us hasn't had an official make up a non-existent rule, telling us that we or our kids were doing something illegal, something that we knew perfectly well was totally legal (because the rule book clearly said it was)? Who hasn't offered to show a rule to an official only to have the guy rudely and officiously kiss him off? ("I don't need any help from you, coach!") Over and over, I hear horror stories from youth coaches about officials who decide that they don't like something a team is doing and - shazam! - they invent a rule that says it's illegal. They don't like the fact that one team is winning by too big a margin and - shazam! - "Coach, I don't care what you do, you are not going to score again!" Yes, we should be polite and respectful to officials, and communicate with them respectfully. But, yes, dammit, so should they be polite and respectful to us. And at the very least they should be respectful enough of the game and their position to know know the rules thoroughly - inside and out - and enforce them. All of them. All the time. Even-handedly. AT THE ATLANTA CLINIC: From left, Double-Wing coaches Steve Jones, Ocean Springs, Mississippi; Emory Latta, Dothan, Alabama; Larry Harrison, Snellville, Georgia. Running the Double-Wing, Coach Jones has taken three different Mississippi high schools to the state playoffs. People say you can't run it at a big school? Ocean Springs is the fifth-largest high school in the state. Coach Latta, now at Providence Christian School in Dothan, is the last coach at Dothan Northview High School to win a football game. Following the 2001 season, he was replaced by Mike DuBose, who had just been relieved as head coach at the University of Alabama. Coach DuBose went winless in 2002, his one season there, and his replacement went winless in 2003. Coach Latta is now in the process of bringing football to Providence Christian. Coach Harrison, who got his start as a youth coach before moving to the high school level, has just taken over as head coach at Nathanael Greene Academy, in Siloam, Georgia. (More photos from the Atlanta Clinic) *********** Coach, I attended your clinic Saturday in Atlanta.  I'm the one that drove from Indiana and bought a copy of your "A Fine Line" video.  I apologize for leaving a little early (I cut out right about 3:30) but I had a long drive awaiting me and I was afraid I'd start hitting traffic if I didn't leave a little early.  Actually I had planned on leaving around 2:30 - 3:00 but there was so much relevant material being explained that I kept writing. Anyway, I just wanted to drop you a quick thanks for putting on these clinics and making your material available.  I intend on being a coach as long as the game allows me to be one.  I've seen a few offenses since I became involved, and I distinctly remember the first time I saw the Double Wing and I said to myself "That's the One".  "That's got everything I want".  Coaches around here called it the Wing-T, but each time I researched it I just came up with conventional Wing-T stuff so I was a little lost.  I finally came across true Double Wing information, and everyone mentioned you as a great source.  I'm glad to say I agree. Bob Purcell, Ramsey, Indiana *********** Coach Wyatt, It was a real pleasure to see you and the other coaches at this year's Atlanta clinic.  Getting to see some your latest thinking on the offense as well as the interaction with the other coaches is simply outstanding from my perspective.  You are so right about the joy of being with guys of like mind who don't think you're nuts for implementing the DW.  Interesting how we all seem to have our continuing stories to tell about the others in our various programs who would drag us down because of our loyalty and belief in the DW.  Being amongst friends at the clinics just reinforces the idea that we are not the ones who are being narrow minded.  Good luck with the rest of the clinics this year.  I will keep you informed of our progress from this end and will continue to check the website to see how the other guys with "a set" are getting along.  By sharing our experiences we can all help each other in some way.  Best regards, Lee Griesemer, Chuluota, Florida *********** Sometimes it pays to keep old newspaper clippings. This one was a few years old, but it contained an article by Chip Brown in the Dallas Morning News, just raving about the innovative offense installed by then-new Cowboys' offensive coordinator Bruce Coslett. One of the key features, wrote Brown, was "ball fakes by the quarterbacks on both run and pass plays." Hold the phone! I said to myself! How did I miss this? Quarterbacks faking the ball? NFL quarterbacks? What will they think of next? Brown continued. "On running plays, the quarterback will hand the ball off but turn his back to the defense and bend over, acting as if he might still be hiding the ball in preparation to throw it. This is done simply to make it harder for the defense to know where the ball is for a split second. Imagine! Turning the quarterback's back to the line of scrimmage! Who but a pro would ever have had the nerve to teach that? Leave it to the pros. Out there on the cutting edge of offensive innovation. What a shame that Coach Coslett didn't stay long enough to make his idea work. It had the potential to revolutionize offensive football! (Okay, okay, enough of the carcasm. Actually, Chip Brown could have gone out on any Friday night in the fall and watched any high school Wing-T or Double-Wing quarterback routinely doing the same thing. Or gone out on a Saturday and watched a youth team's Double-Wing quarterback doing it. But what they hell do high school and youth coaches know? As the pro aficianados are so fond of telling us, the Double-Wing isn't real football.") *********** Going clear back into the early years of the last century, a sports writer named Ring Lardner made a name for himself writing stories about baseball players. The characters themselves were fictitious, but not the things they said and the way they acted - he'd been around enough baseball players that he knew the breed. They were, for the most part, ignorant oafs. Amazing. It's been almost a century, and nothing has changed... Jeff Kent, the Houston Astros' second baseman, commenting on the suspicions that baseball players such as Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi and Mark McGuire had "help" in adding dramatic muscle bulk, said, "Babe Ruth didn't do steroids? How do you know? People are saying 'Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth.' How do you know those guys didn't do steroids?" *********** Hello Hugh....I really enjoyed the letter to Coach Lambert from parent Mick Scanlon at Delta Airlines. I also work for a major airline... in the operations department... and am lucky enough to coach and have the impact on lives Mr.Scanlan talked about. Whether I'm paid or not to do it, I hope to continue on in this coaching business. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not reminded how much I've affected these kids. The ones I started with as 8 year olds will be entering college this coming year. And when I see them movng on to college I'll certainly know I've had a hand in their learning of "lifeskills"...not just the X's and O's of football. I've also had the pleasure of making friends with many of their parents as well. Most appreciate the effort... others may think it a waste of time. I'm just happy to touch as many lives as possible while I'm here. Thanks and I'll see you in two weeks. Coach John Urbaniak, Hanover Park, Illinois *********** (An update on Andrew Stobart, the young lineman from the University of Idaho who suffered a serious neck injury in an automobile accident back around Christmas time. Many of you were kind enough to respond to his coach, Mike Foristiere's, request for prayers and letters.) Hugh, I got a call from Andrew this evening after his visit with a Neurosurgeon in Seattle. He is a guy that the NFL uses for spine injuries , etc. etc. Anyway the docter was amazed at his progress and told him that he will not be able to play this fall but he will be able to go full tilt next spring. I know Andrew wanted to be able to play this fall but the doctor said it would take a good solid year for the bone to heal and support the rigors of Football. I wanted to tell you so you could pass it on to all those who sent their good wishes and prayers for Andrew. I appreciate it and I have always known the power of prayer and good intentions. Thanks goes to you too Hugh. Take care and hope all goes well in Atlanta GA. Mike Foristiere, Boise, Idaho *********** Good Morning Hugh, I am sure you are traveling this day but wanted to say good luck at the clinic this weekend. I really agree with Larry Harrisons' comments about staying within the DW system - but- could expect anything else from a conservative Yankee and I suspect Coach Harrison is a Southern conservative Rebel. We are purists. Even though I do subscribe to your philosophy of doing things within the system to make it all go. That said you will find us in the DW about 75% ( down form about 80%) of the time running those same 6 plays over and over so that we are a machine. Making yards, no fumbles, no penalties, no punts, and winning lots of football games. I really like the piece on John Lambert - he and I have written and exchanged tapes. He appears to be a really nice guy and good coach. Great letter from the father of one of his players. Well my friend good luck this weekend: I have been working on some passing stuff for the Providence clinic - I don't think you will be disappointed. Jack Tourtillotte, Boothbay Harbor, Maine (I am sure that Coach Tourtillotte, whose offense has had Boothbay Regional in three state final games, will not disappoint. HW) *********** Can or does the 3 X or 2 X work? If you have a better lineman of the two where would you have him on the crossing play - the guard or the tackle? Can you just call it the 2 x if you want the guard to lead the cross block? First of all, let me caution you against trying to reinvent the wheel. There is MORE than enough offense there for you without trying to design plays. That is a sure recipe for failure in this offense, You simply can't be running ANY of our base plays well enough at this point that you can afford the time to be experimenting. Now then (and this is how I know you are headed for trouble)... Unless you understand the principle of the fold block, you don't lead first with the inside man, because the first thing you have to do is prevent penetration, and if the inside man goes first, the man over him will penetrate and blow your play up. There is a fold technique in which the guard goes first, then the tackle, but that is meant for situations where the guard is not covered. If the guard were covered and he was to block out first, he would get in the way of the tackle, preventing the tackle from getting to the man over the guard in time to prevent penetration. *********** I wish this damn gay marriage thing would play itself out, one way or another, because I am getting sick unto death of opening the newspaper and seeing photo after photo of same-sex couples kissing, holding hands and gazing lovingly into each other's eyes, and playing with their children. *********** I need some help and advice. I don't know what happened but suddenly I have more players than I expected. Last year my Mitey Mites had the best record running the DW than any team in Salem Pop Warner (5-2-1). This year I moved up to the Jr. Peewee level with 9-10 year olds. They normally average 24 players at this level and most of them sign up on August 1st when practice starts. Last year they only had 10 players signed up by this time. Well I have 33 players registered right now and I am missing 6 starter from last year that could move up with me. We can only to carry 35 players on the roster. I can't get in touch with the 6 that hasn't signed up so there will be some disappointed player come August 1st. But, this isn't my big problem. My big problem is how to handle 35 players by myself. At this time I have no assistants. One from last year has taken the position I left and the other has moved to another town. I will need to handle all these players and still get enough reps in on each play. Any ideas? When I start running plays I thought I would create 3 offensive teams. This would give me 3 deep in every position. Then I would outfit one offensive with hand-held shields and line them up in a defensive formation. I would place both remaining offenses in huddles and call the play we will be running. We will not run anything at more than 3/4 speed at first. We will start out doing a freeze drill and walking through the play. The first offense will run the play then I will make corrections. This offense will then huddle and the next offense will line up and run the play. I will continue cycling these offenses running only one play. When one offense gets it down and starts running it perfect (at least 10 time) then that offense will move to defense and the defense becomes the offense. I then repeat the cycle. After all the offenses learn this one play then we will move on to the next play. While doing all this I will be looking to see what player is learning their position the best. If I have one guard that just doesn't get it and one that never makes a mistake I can start building my starting offense. By running everyone on defense I can also get an idea who is defensive material. Being 3 deep has its advantages and disadvantages. I heard you had a tape on the subject of running a team by yourself. If I get any assistants, they will most likely not know much about football and the Double Wing. If you could Help it would be great! Quite a predicament. Good and bad. But it's great to hear of the interest. I think that your idea of three units is not a bad one. I would suggest, though, that it be a bit more rapid-fire: Team A is running the play, Team B is on deck, and Team C is on defense. And consider switching every play. Or every two plays. Or at most, every three plays. I think that asking some kids to stand idle for, say, 10 plays is going to create some control problems, and may lead to some discouragement. When you go to coaching defense, one team stays on defense while the other two run plays at it, one right after the other. Even if you don't get another coach - someone who knows football - if you have someone with the kids on the other side of the ball from the side you're working on, the kids will at least be supervised. That person - a dad or a mom - would supervise the defense when you are coaching offense, and show the kids the plays (on cards you have drawn up) when you are coaching the defense. Yes, my newest tape, Practice Without Pads does go through a major part of a practice in a way that one coach can conduct it all. I have a certain advantage there, in that for much of the seven summers I coached in Finland , that was how I had to coach. *********** Not to say that he didn't have a bright future ahead of him but a guy stabbed to death outside a Vancouver, Washington tavern around closing time Saturday night was described on a Portland TV news broadcast as "an aspiring rapper and father of four." The guy's uncle told the local newspaper, "All of his lyrics were based on getting minority males to straighten up." For those who appreciate irony, the paper also noted that his girlfriend is pregnant with his fifth child.  A LIST OF SOME TOP DOUBLE-WING HS TEAMS   "The Beast Was out There," by General James M. Shelton, subtitled "The 28th Infantry Black Lions and the Battle of Ong Thanh Vietnam October 1967" is available through the publisher, Cantigny Press, Wheaton, Illinois. to order a copy, go to http://www.rrmtf.org/firstdivision/ and click on "Publications and Products") Or contact me if you'd like to obtain a personally-autographed copy, and I'll give you General Shelton's address. (Great gift!) General Shelton is a former wing-T guard from Delaware who now serves as Honorary Colonel of the Black Lions. All profits from the sale of his books go to the Black Lions and the 1st Infantry Division Foundation, , sponsors of the Black Lion Award).   I have my copy. It is well worth the price just for the "playbooks" it contains in the back - "Fundamentals of Infantry" and "Fundamentals of Artillery," as well as a glossary of all those military terms, so that guys like you and me can understand what they're talking about.      --- GIVE THE BLACK LION AWARD --- HONOR BRAVE MEN AND RECOGNIZE GREAT KIDS SIGN UP YOUR TEAM OR ORGANIZATION FOR 2003 "NO MISSION TOO DIFFICULT - NO SACRIFICE TOO GREAT - DUTY FIRST" inscribed on the wall of the 1st Division Museum, at Cantigny, Wheaton, Ilinois Coaches - Black Lions teams for 2003 are now listed, by state. Please check to make sure your team in on the list. If it is not, it means that your team is no enrolled, and you need to e-mail me to get on the list. HW BECOME A BLACK LION TEAM (FOR MORE INFO ABOUT) THE BLACK LION AWARD  BE INFORMED! HOT WEATHER FOOTBALL TIPS (THERE IS PLENTY MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THE WEB IF YOU DO A SEARCH ON "HEAT STROKE")