Time to Smile Again...

I must apologize for last week’s column; it seems that just as soon as I say a few good things about the Mariners they go into a slump just before the All Star break, putting them in a tough position when the last half of the season begins again today. But I would still rather have the young kids play and learn and learn how to win than see the guys who have lost their talent try to get it back.

So I will still be a Mariners fan and hope for the best knowing full well that Seattle is still a year or two away from a run at the playoffs. And when that happens I’ll be there with my Mariners hat on and cheering for the kids. So maybe I’ll just let them play and keep my thoughts to myself.

Now I shall return to a time in Broncos history and relate three more stories that will hopefully put a smile on your face like many of you have told me. The first story I’m going to tell you happened in the 1961-62 basketball season and I think it happened in Lind but if you ask others they would most likely tell you it happened somewhere else.

Earlier this particular night the Broncos cheerleaders painted the Bronco onto two pieces of paper and stapled it to long sticks on the sides, top and bottom and took it to the game. The girls brought it out for the team to run through when they were finished with the halftime talk.

The cheerleaders were ready and the team came out of the locker room led by Bill Anderson. As Bill started to go through the paper he caught his foot on the bottom stick and fell through instead of breaking through. Of course we laughed even though Bill could have been hurt. He wasn’t and since Bill had a good sense of humor and was able to laugh at himself he came out of it without any problems.

The one thing that came out of that incident is that was the last time that a bottom stick was put in place and trust me when I started running through them eight years later I looked.

This next story was told to me at the Blues Fest Saturday night.

Jim Thomas from the class of 1964 told a story about one of his classmates, Dennis Heimbigner. Dennis would lead the team out of the locker room and there were the cheerleaders and the Broncettes and the paper with the Bronco painted on it.

As Dennis approached the cheerleaders he noticed a gap between the cheerleaders and the Broncettes and avoided breaking through the paper by passing through that gap. The rest of the team followed and the girls were left holding the paper Bronco that they worked on that afternoon.

The following Monday Mr. Oberst, the principal, called Dennis into his office to tell him how disappointed the girls were and to ask why he avoided busting through the paper. Dennis said, “I didn’t want what happened to Bill Anderson to happen to me!”

The last thing I want to tell you about happened in the fall of 1966 when I was a freshman. We were playing Odessa in the first game of the season at home. Now for anyone who had PE or played football for Dick Agee you will remember some of the drills he used to get us in shape. One specific drill I remember was a sprint down the field. When Coach Agee blew his whistle we would do a somersault and as we rolled on our butts we would grab our knees and pull ourselves up and keep sprinting.

During the early part of the Odessa game Agee replaced Jim Young with a substitute and Jim sprinted off the field. As he neared the sidelines he tripped and he started falling forward.

Most people would have fallen on their faces and we would have laughed for a little while anyway, but Jim caught himself enough to do a somersault and as he was rolling on his butt he grabbed his knees and finished pulling himself up and sprinting off the field. We slapped him on the back because it looked kind of cool when just a little bit earlier than that it looked really clumsy.

It was kind of funny because up until that point I don’t think any of us thought we would ever use that move other than in practice.

These are fun stories to tell and will bring back a few memories that should bring a smile to your face, especially if you were there.