SENIOR CLASS FOOTBALL: CHANGING OF THE GUARD

The senior class of 1973, way back when, came into a difficult football situation as sophomores.

We’d spent freshman year pounding it out over all comers. We had size, speed, and some of us were still growing.

You could say we had high hopes moving forward. Instead we got stuck.

The high school coaching was in transition from one head coach with a losing record, to a short timer who racked up his own losing record.

We were more fuel added to that fire and had a losing season. Then things changed for the better.

Change came in the name of Coach Howard Johnson. His brother Dick had been the junior high coach. We liked both coaches, and hope was born anew.

If we could thump with Coach Johnson the younger, we’d do even better with Coach Johnson there elder.

The change started junior year, 1972, and part of the change was cultural. We learned how winning felt. It felt good.

We still had a losing season, but it was learning while we lost. One thing we learned was the difference between accepting mediocrity and fighting against it.

Unfortunately, new coaches need to change things fast to make the jump from accepting, to joining the struggle. As juniors we looked at the seniors as bigger losers because they’d been in the program longer and failed.

From the outside looking in, only the incoming sophomores were untainted. The rest of us were more temporary workers. And it made us buckle down.

We Would Leave A Better Legacy

Those boys in the picture from 1973 are in their mid-60’s now. Some of them played sports in college, but I don’t recall any college football players.

This was a golden time of long hair and white shoes cool. In spite of the cool, we put in extra effort to convince Coach Johnson we were more than an afterthought, more than football residue to flush away.

Favorite play of the year: Dan Richards, #23, was back to punt on fourth down. We knew he was punting because the coach said punt. The other team dropped everyone back for the return with a weak rush on the kicker.

Our guy was a burner with the sort of speed you can’t teach. He saw the coverage, read the field, and made a decision: they can’t catch me.

And they couldn’t. He ran for a first down and more. Even more impressive, he didn’t follow the coach’s orders and we came out better.

How is this even possible?

In those days we traveled to Eugene for games and played at Autzen Stadium.

Since then I’ve seen the Ducks play there, watched the Tigard Tigers win a state championship there, and felt the magic of the place that sent two college teams to the National Championship game.

The top image shows the senior class players who turned the tide for North Bend Bulldog Football.

We’re still senior class.