Flag Football

There were some interesting P.E. options at Orange Glen High School back in 1969... I started out in golf class - that only lasted for one day - then I switched to flag football...

Offering flag football was kind of "genius" on the school's part. It made life easy on the P.E. teachers - they would occasionally wander by to check on us but for the most part they left us on our own... And it allowed the varsity football players to keep active all year long... Now - not all of the guys who took flag football were on the school team and vice versa - but there was a lot of overlap...

I should take a step back here and mention that my father grew up in Hungary so it's not surprising that he didn't know much about American sports like baseball and football. He certainly taught me the basics, but most of the other kids my age seemed to have a significantly better understanding of what was going on than I did. I'm sure there was other factors involved (like my whole "pain avoidance" thing) - but the end result is that I got laughed at a lot and was usually among the last picked when sides were chosen... That wasn't really a big deal - it's something you got used :-)

Now I had played football (in full gear) before - back in the 4th and 5th grades at Waldron Academy we played against other schools - but I really had no clue what I was doing. And I played some intramural ball at St. Paul's up in Winnipeg - I made some great plays but blew my assignment more often than not :-)

And - back to Orange Glen:

I don't remember much about the rest of the guys who played flag football but I will never forget Henry Parades. He wasn't much taller than I was, but he was about 60 lbs heavier and it was all muscle. He could do one-armed push-ups all day long - by far the strongest guy on the varsity team - and he was one of the best centers and nose tackles in the conference... Now - flag football is played without protective gear. There's no tackling, but you still have to block just as if you were wearing pads... And nobody wanted to line up across from Henry. Not even the other varsity players.

Given my whole "pain avoidance" thing I have no idea what possessed my to agree to take Henry on. I think at first I had no idea what I was getting myself into - and then I just couldn't acknowledge defeat:-) But the upshot is that I ended up playing against the school's best varsity linemen - without protective gear - a few times a week for almost 6 months. Here are some of my fondest memory:
The first time I faced Henry was on defense. After the snap I raised up out of my stance... Henry got under me and launched me 15 feet onto my back... Literally... I'm not exaggerating! (He could bench press double my weight)... I tried to not make that mistake again :-)
One time I was running downfield to cover a kickoff... I thought I could put a fake on Henry and run around him... But he was a lot quicker than I thought. I ended up airborne for some distance and landed on top of the hurdles stacked next to the sideline... (That hurt.)
Another time he grabbed my bicep as he pushed himself past me. You could still see his hand print on my arm 3 weeks later.

Yeah - I was covered with bruises pretty much the whole time I was at Orange Glen... But it was still a heck of a lot of fun... Like the time we we decided to run a double reverse with me lined up as one of the receivers. The other receiver and I got our signals crossed - and we collided head-on in the backfield... I'm not sure I've ever laughed harder - despite the pain :-)

I'd like to say I eventually got to the point where I could completely stop Henry - yeah - nobody could... But every time he got past me I learned from it. As it turns out, you can neutralize weight and strength with technique - and playing against a really good lineman without protective gear is an excellent way to learn that... After many months I got to where I could routinely slow Henry down for a couple of seconds, and that was usually enough.

So - the flag football kept me in good shape - it earned me the respect of the guys I played with - and the real surprise came when one of coaches asked if I'd be interested in going out for varsity in the fall...

I politely declined - it sounded more like work than fun. But that whole experience was one of the few pleasant memories I have from that point in my life :-)