Worst Seat In The House: Spooktacular

It’s Halloween again which reminds me of a Friday night 50 years that happened to fall on October 31. It was Homecoming Week at good old RHS and the festivities were a lot of fun. Each night at football practice we were gearing up for the Odessa Tigers.

During the day several members of the senior class devised ways of getting out of class and finding wood for the bonfire. Over the years the bonfire had been at different locations but in late October, 1969 the bonfire was going to be near the entry to the football field. Today it would be very close to the admission gate.

I can tell you one thing; our senior class was going to make this bonfire memorable. There was a lot of wood brought in even an old advertising sign that had fallen down off of 395 that made it onto the back of a wheat truck and thrown onto the pile. The wood posts were good and dry and would heat up the night.

As the pile grew in size we were finally told that it was big enough since there was concern that the nearby bleachers and gym could be harmed in some manner. The maintenance crew dismantled the wood fence near the bleachers and the remaining posts were soaked with water.

On Thursday night the serpentine made its way through downtown and up the hill to the parking lot by the gym. When we got there the fire was already raging. The cheerleaders didn’t dare get too close to the fire because it was hot.

Near the end of the Homecoming rally it was time for the co-captains to throw the Tiger dummy into the fire to burn baby burn. Greg Shelman and I grabbed this dummy and started walking toward the bonfire. We could only get so close without burning eyebrows so we gave it a big toss and just barely got the dummy to the edge of the inferno but just far enough to become part of the blaze.

The Ritzville Fire Department (RFD) was on hand to make sure the fire didn’t blister the paint on the gym or an ember go over to the wood bleachers and burn it down. I heard that the RFD was there until after midnight when they watered down the entire area.

I believe that after that bonfire there were limitations as to how big future bonfires would be. Leave it to the class of 1970 to figure out how to push the envelope. One thing about it none will ever be bigger without setting off alarms.

On Halloween night we struggled through three quarters against a very motivated Odessa team. We led 6-0 and the half and 14-0 at the end of the third quarter. The final score was 35-0 but until the fourth quarter you certainly wouldn’t have guessed that would be the case.

We were a big favorite to win the game by a bunch but Odessa wasn’t going to make it easy and they certainly didn’t. When I walked into the locker room Virg McCrady came up to me and said, “Andy I’m sure glad you guys decided to play that fourth quarter. I bet a guy $25 and gave him Odessa and 35 points. I’m sure glad (Max) Graber hit that last extra point.” I said, “Well Virg, my dad made a bet with some guy from Odessa and he gave him 35 points too. And my dad never bets. I can’t imagine him being happy with a 34-0 win!”

After a very hot Thursday Bonfire it was a cold and spooky three quarters for the home town team on Halloween night. But the Broncos came out and played a spectacular fourth quarter to make fans happy and at least two gamblers happy that Max Graber split the uprights!