Saturday Morning, 2/16/2013 - Boxcar Bailey

Nice sunny morning in Ohio, a little cold, but Spring is on the way, may have a little snow first though.

Funny, the things that come drifting through my mind, for no reason. I woke up this morning thinking of Jim "Boxcar" Bailey, Hamilton High School, Hamilton, Ohio. I really don't know a lot about him, he was a great athlete, played many sports, exceeded at them all.

I only saw him on one occasion, at a track meet in Cincinnati at one of the large high schools. My brother, was coaching track, and I drove a few of his athletes down for the meet. The one incident I especially remember about Boxcar ... well, let me explain more.

It was a big track complex. They had the track, and in another field quite a distance away, another field where they had the weights, shotput, etc., probably three or four hundred yards apart. I was standing with my brother who was talking with the Hamilton coach. We were at the track complex. I remember a "stocky" kid come running from the other complex, "Coach, I'm not sure how long I can keep this up." He was entered in the discus, the shotput, the 100 and the 200 yard dashes.

He would run to one field, throw the shot, run back, run the 100, then back, throw the discus, and back.... well, you get the picture. As I recall, he won all four events and ran on one or two relay teams, which also won.

He was an outstanding football player, I think he went to Miami of Ohio and played for Woody Hayes. He was also a standout in basketball, and I think, baseball. Not sure how his career unfolded, but the track meet event I have never forgotten.

Hamilton had another favorite son,, Hamilton Joe Nuxhall who is most remembered for having been the youngest player ever to appear in a major league game, pitching 2/3 of an inning for the Reds on June 10, 1944 at the age of 15 years. He became a broadcaster and the voice of the Reds. I have heard him mention Bailey on a number of occasions.

The only thing I found .........

1951 SALAD BOWL

Miami Ohio 34, Arizona State 21

January 1, Phoenix, Ariz.

Montgomery Stadium

Attendance: 23,000

Eddie Doherty took his team to the Salad Bowl for the second straight year, this time to face Woody Hayes' Miami Redskins. Miami roared out to 21-0 lead before Wilford White scored for ASC on a pass from Manuel Aja. The teams traded touchdowns after that. Passer Nobby Wirkowski and runner Jim (Boxcar) Bailey were Miami's offensive stars.

Funny what you think of on a nice Saturday morning.

Another How it used to Be

I am somewhat a sports fan, have been all of my life.

Presently watching a rerun of an Ohio State, Michigan game from 1969. How times have changed.

NO tribal dances after making a good play or a touchdown, they acted like they had done it before, gave the ball to the official, no "high fives," none of those jumping into each other, not sure what that means. I always felt that if I was a coach I would insist they save their energy for the game and not use it up in "tribal exhibitions."

NO TV replays of each play, 2 or 3 or 4 or more times. NO red flags to determine if the call was correct or not.

The field and surrounding area are void of advertising, no scoreboard at the bottom of the screen to let me know the score and the down and the time and the temperature and upcoming TV shows. There is a small gold M on the 50 yard line, yard markers and nothing more.

AND ...... ONE announcer, Keith Jackson, not a press box full of "experts," there is someone in the booth with him, but he says very little.  Actually, in this game, and I remember watching it at a local bar, the Draft House, which I owned at the time, Ohio State was highly favored to win the game. Bo and Woody were the coaches. VIP seats were a row of benches against the brick wall that surrounds the playing field. On the sidelines were a few cameramen, cheerleaders and the teams.

Game is almost over, big upset, Michigan is going to win. Game is over. Ohio State sideline is sad, Michigan sideline is happy, "the upset of the century," both teams are leaving the field, together, no big celebration, they just played a game, and one team won. Woody is walking off, no police escort, Bo is walking off, no police escort, no microphones being shoved in their faces. They played a football game to see who could win, not to sell Honda s, and, their were NO TV timeouts for commercials.

I miss those days, just pure football, the focus was on the game, how great was that?