This Sunday’s New York Times had an article about the death of Greg Goossen, a baseball player I confess I had not heard of before. What caught my attention was that he was originally signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers for a six figure bonus, was then sent to the Mets for $8,000 and then acquired by the Seattle Pilots. He lasted one season and was dealt to Milwaukee. The Pilots no longer exist but Goossen led the team in…
I've enjoyed reading what I find about coach Bear Bryant because he was such a great leader and football coach. He was famous for continually saying to his players "Have you written your mamma today?" He was a good decent man. Someone sent my wife Lita this story and I enjoyed it so much I'm posting it. The source of this article is Larry Burton See: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/61880-it-dont-cost-nothin-to-be-nice IT DON'T COST NUTHIN' TO BE NICE At a Touchdown Club meeting many…
I suspect very few young people of today have ever heard Jim Thorpe who died in 1953. Thorpe, whose real name was Jacobus Franciscus Thorpe, was regarded as the athlete of the century and the greatest American football player of his time. He was the most famous American athlete of his time and was selected by the nation’s press in 1950 as the most outstanding athlete of the twentieth century. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame…
I laughed at something I read in the sports page of the Seattle Times. It said: "The late Les Earthorne, to the Kitsap Sun, on his early struggles as basketball coach at Camas High School en route to a hall of fame career at Bremerton: 'By the time the cheerleaders could spell out Papermakers, we were already down twenty points.' It reminded me of a quote from some professional player talking about a losing season. He said: "We couldn't win…
The New York Times sports section noted that July 4thwas the one hundred year anniversary of the famous Johnson vs Jeffries heavy weight fight held in Reno, Nevada on July 4, 1910. Called "The fight of the century" by the media some 20,000 people watched a black man, Jack Johnson fight the former heavyweight champion of the world, James J. Jeffries, billed as the "great white hope." Johnson had angered the white establishment by simply refusing to conduct himself the…
I am enjoying a book by Allen Barra about Paul "Bear" Bryant The Last Coach. Bear was bigger then life and his story is enjoyable to read as well as inspiring. Here are few excepts from the book which I am still reading: Alabama coach Wallace Wade was a legend himself. In the Rosebowl of 1925 Wade's team was behind at the start of the third quarter 12-0. Wade said to the gathered team in a big, booming voice "They told me boys…
I am reading The Last Coach, a life of Paul "Bear" Bryant by Allen Barra. An interesting book by a very good writer. Bryant has been everyone’s image of who is a great football coach and his life story confirms why. Here a few stories from the book that I thought were worth repeating. Bryant grew up dirt poor in Arkansas and he remembered all his life when he was able to afford to have cleats attached to the shoes…
Seattle attorney Tom Frey’s dad died on Sunday September 13, 2009 at 99 years of age. Over the years I had heard Tom talk about his dad’s baseball career, but I never realized he played in the majors nor what a great player he was until I saw a picture of his dad, in a baseball uniform, published in the obituaries and begin to read about his career. Linus R "Lonny" Frey was born on August 23, 1910 in St Louis…
I am reading The Last Coach, a life of Paul "Bear" Bryant by Allen Barra. An interesting book by a very good writer. Bryant has been everyone’s image of who is a great football coach and his life story confirms why. Here a few stories from the book that I thought were worth repeating. Bryant grew up dirt poor in Arkansas and he remembered all his life when he was able to afford to have cleats attached to the shoes…
When I think of local sportscaster's I think radio – not television, because I grew up with no television and an ear to the radio. Bill O'Mara and Leo Lassen were voices on the radio and Keith Jackson and Wayne Cody were faces on television, but the voices have a stronger mental image in my mind then the faces. From 1931 to 1958 Leo Lassen was the radio voice of the Seattle Indians and then the Seattle Rainier baseball clubs…
