Fall of '63

Sandlot ball was all I ever played when it came to football up until I was about 12 years old. This was back in the early 60's and I don't recall any kind of youth leagues whether it be JFL, Pop Warner, Pee Wee or anything similar. We just got together in someones' backyard and divided up teams and played. It was usually 4 0n 4 or 5 on 5 and we had touchdown lines at the end of the yard. Sometimes we would wear our store bought uniforms but usually we just played in our jeans and sweatshirts. (Boys did not wear shorts back in those days) I guess it was the summer of '63 that word got out that there was going to be a flag football league in the fall. We were pumped! Yeah, we would have preferred real football with tackling, after all, tackling was the most fun part. But we would take anything.

My Dad went to an organizational meeting and when he came back, he and my Uncle Jerry were the coaches of one of the teams. I don't know how they chose teams but I ended up on the Gold team, which of course was coached by my Dad and uncle. There were four teams in all. Our jerseys were long sleeved and gold with blue shoulders. The other teams were blue, green, and red with white shoulders. No pads, but we did wear helmets and wore our blue jeans for pants. Most guys just wore their own department store helmets. Back in those days, helmets were not what they are now. Anyway, we had a league and we were excited. This was my first taste of organized football.

We were allowed to wear our own helmets and mine was white with a red stripe down the middle. I had drawn horseshoes on the side with a black marker to make it look like a Colts helmet. They were my favorite team at the time because my favorite players were Johnny Unitas, Raymond Berry, and Lenny Moore. Oh, and these were the BALTIMORE Colts.

My best memory is the night they let us play the Blue team at the halftime of the local high school game. It was a crisp October night and there was a nice crowd. As we warmed up near the end of the 2nd quarter the excitement mounted. At the half we got on the field and quickly lined up on defense. We didn't have much time. After about 3 plays they broke a long run and the crowd cheered as we ran down the field. Now it was our turn. We broke a long run also after a couple of plays and the crowd roared! Man, was that fun. Cool autumn air, under the football lights, long touchdown runs and twelve years old. It was my first time on a football field under the lights. What could be better?

As I look back, they should have made it 7 on 7 passing leagues, but it was just like real football (11 on 11) except played with flags. Instead of 10 yards for a first down it was 20. I suppose the thinking was flags would be hard to pull. We lined up in the full house T formation with two tight ends and ran the football 90% of the time. So did everyone else. Needless to say, the games were very low scoring with not much offense. I mean, you couldn't run over defenders and break tackles, so the games were defensive battles. Big plays consisted of a long pass play hooking up now and then or someone making a reverse work. It was really very crude but you know what? We had fun and really enjoyed it. There weren't many pileups but we got to fall down enough that we were happy. Our team only won one or two games out of six played but it was football, and that's all that mattered. My Dad and uncle had fun too and it turned out a positive experience. Dad had been a professional athlete but he was very good about being low keyed and was never critical of my performance. The following year we moved to another part of town and there was no flag football or any other kind of youth league. Now it was just wait for high school ball and get back to the sandlots.

These days the youth leagues are numerous, intense, and very well organized. I don't know how much sandlot ball or flag football kids play these days but I do know that we had our own brand of football that taught us toughness, tackling, and moxey. It was great and I'll never forget it.

Thanks to Chiefpigskin.com for having me on as a blogger. I love talkin football.