Coldest Night Ever

Early November 1988 - almost exactly 24 years ago today. It was Saturday night and we were warming up for our second round playoff game against Clifton Central, a very good 9-1 team. We were 10-0 and had just won our first round playoff game the previous Wednesday night, 20-0 against University High School from Normal. Yep, we had just played Wednesday night and here we were on Saturday playing again. That's how we did it in the early days here in Illinois. In order to get a 32 team bracket decided by Thanksgiving, we had to play two games the first week. (It has since changed) Wednesday night had been a beautiful night for football. Forty-five degrees at game time with no wind. You could see your breath and it just hung in the air. Perfect! Now, just three days later it was completely different.

It was 35 degrees with a stiff 25 mph wind blowing out of the northwest. The precipitation was going from a freezing rain to sleet, to snow flurries, then back to sleet. It was cold and miserable. OK, you guys from North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota have better stories but believe me, it was cold. The wind and sleet was making it numbingly cold. I remember our guys jogging out of the locker room and most of them were bare armed. No under armour, it hadn't been invented yet, no sweatshirts under the jerseys, just t shirts and short sleeved jerseys. The guys obviously wanted to show how tough they were and that the weather didn't bother them. Well, I was bundled up. It was going to be my job that night to be the coach in the pressbox on the walkie talkie. But I wasn't IN the pressbox, I was going to be on the roof. After warm ups I headed up to my post.

The football field sat right next to I-57. There was nothing to block the wind. Over my coat I also put on one of those old fashioned long parkas like the Packers used to wear in Green Bay. I don't remember much of what I told the coaches down on the field that night. All I remember is that we won a hard fought game that night 10-0. And I was cold. When the game was over I took off my parka and it stood up. My back had been against the wind and there was an inch thick coating of ice on my parka. That's why it stood on it's own. I wish I remembered more of the game but mostly I rember how cold it was on that pressbox just off the interstate. Cold and sleet coming down so hard it hurt. But you know what? It actually made a great memory. Now we look back and say, "Hey remember the Clifton game of '88? Man that was a miserable night but our guys toughed it out and won a battle.They were in short sleeves". Then we laugh. "Yeah and we had carry you down," they kid me.

Memories. When you coach long enough you have a lot of them. And even the bad memories are good. Like a frozen night on the press box. Chiefpigskin.com