Reflections on a Blessed and Satisfying Life. No. 16 - High School Days: Sports

Sports was probably number one in my life as a high school student. As mentioned in previous blogs, I attended Concordia Academy in Austin Texas for my four high school years. This was an all-boarding school, boys only,which during my days there never reached an enrollment of 100.

With such few students it was pretty well assured that if one wanted play varsity sports one would make the team. The biggest team sport was basketball and I lettered all four years. I was short but reasonable fast.It was during these days in the mid-forties that the one hand jump shot came to be popular. I practiced it endlessly.

We had no gym and had only an outdoor dirt-covered court. All games were “away games:. The only indoor practice facility was a basement room we called “the boiler room”. Apparently at some point  there was a plan  to have central for the campius-but they never could afford a big e. So the 20X20X12 foot room became our gym. I spent hours there-often with my roommate Mike Mitschke who beat me about 9 times out of ten in our one on one games. We played other small schools, some church youth teams, but the biggest rivalry was with the Texas School for the Deaf.

George J Beto who later became head of the Texas prison system was our coach .However, the term “:coach” was not really applicable. He was more monitor, driver, and disciplinarian., I doubt that he ever  even[played basketball, had no real knowledge  of how to  put together either an ofensive or defensive plan. But he ran the show. My memory is that we lost more games than we won-and I enjoyed every minute of it.. One big thing about the basketball team: we actually had uniforms-the only team at the school with this distinction.

Dr. Beto was not only coach but also the dormitory supervisor and was in charge of our recreation time. So he umpired our every-day softball games.which were played after dinner and before our mandatory seven to nine p m study period which he also monitored. I plated short-stop mainly. Sometimes I also played the outfield. I was a pretty good hitter and I thought I had a strong arm. It was only after college and I was playing for a local ameateur team that I finally had a coach. I remember especially the coaching I then received that on a throw to the plate from the outfield it was very important to keep the arc of the throw low as that extra second saved would mean the difference between an out or a a score.

We also played six man flag football. For a few weeks one year we interrupted that. Somehow or other we heard of a group of guys (all of whom were black) who  also had a pick-up football team. Neither of us had uniforms or even helmets and yet we played “tackle football. We discovered the the  University of Texas did not lock the near-by Memorial Stadium after Saturday home games.  So on Sunday afternoon we battled it our right there on that hallowed turf. I also remember my nose getting terribly battered but Iwas not allowed to disclose this as “tackle football” was prohibited. To this day I still have a severely  separated septum in the middle of my nose.

Every spring we had a big Field Day in which we ran track events. Again I did them all-winning very little-if any.However, I did  do fairly well in throwing the discuss. My discuss throwing was always influ nced by an event that took placed in my freshman year. The senior who was throwing the discuss let it slip. It struck a by-stander right in the face and he had to be taken to the hospital for treatment. I made    sure I didn’t let loose of the discuss and I can assure you I never sent any record for how far I threw it.

The commaradery was great. The exercise helpful. The discipline enduring. The enjoyment wonderful. And I think it helped me keep an interest (and even a certain abimlity in sports which endure toi this day.