I have always wished that I could travel back in time like Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd did in the movie titled "Back to the Future." I think it would be so much fun to go back to a specific time in my life and watch it all over again as an outside observer.
If the specially equipped car that was used for time travel in the movie really existed I would use it to revisit my high school days. The first event I would want to see is a football game during my senior year (fall of 1971) on a crisp fall evening. Once I arrived at the game I envision myself blending into the small town crowd as an anonymous person who is just there to watch the game.
Therefore, if that special car existed.........
.... this is where I would go......
I shared my dream with an old high school teammate named Steve Hinrichs and he agreed that a trip back to see one of our high school football games would be fun....depending on who you are talking to Steve is also known as "Squirrel", "Stork" and "City Stork.".....don't even ask me to explain these nicknames....just accept them and read on (for this story I will use the Stork nickname). Stork is a great friend of mine and one of the reasons I like to hang out with him is because he is the only guy I know who has a bigger head than me....he makes my over sized water head look normal....
During our converation about our old high school football playing days Stork surprised me by saying that he knew a way we could almost achieve our dream of going back in time.....my wild imagination took over as I tried to figure out what Stork had up his sleeve ........
Stork would not give me any details of his plan....all he said was that he would pick me up on Friday night, September 10th and our adventure would begin... questions ran through my mind....where was he going to take me?.....how can he possibly pull this off?.....
It appeared we were in some small town in the middle of nowhere.....I didn't recognize a thing.....
Dorothy pretty much summed up my feelings at the time....."Toto, I have a feeling we are not in Kansas anymore."......
As we walked from our car I could see that we were approaching a high school football game......the whole scene was very similar to the way Zumbrota looked when Stork and I played high school football there....everything was just like I remembered it.......the bright lights....the lush green grass......the smell of fall in the air...... the players' helmets glistening under the lights......the small set of bleachers....the fans surrounding the field.....the kids playing touch football behind the end zone...the little home made press box.....the cheerleaders.....and the clincher?...seeing our old high school football coach, Ken Belanger (KDB), on the field exhorting his team before the game........
Stork didn't say a word....he just let me take it all in....I'm sure he could see the amazement in my eyes...seeing KDB out there coaching did make me feel like we had traveled back in time....
Hearing KDB yelling encouragement to his team during pre-game warm ups certainly caused me to have some serious flashbacks to my high school playing days.....when the team started to do the rhythmic jumping jacks that KDB made famous in Zumbrota I was totally into it......
The football players on KDB's team certainly didn't look anything like my high school team.... most of the players are much bigger and stronger now....except for the kid wearing my old jersey #81....I was bigger than him....wasn't I?
I soon became mesmerized by KDB as I watched his every move...my goodness it was over 40 years ago that we were playing for him and here he is still coaching...he had the same vim and vigor that I remember him having when he was my coach...maybe even more now....
Stork finally filled in the blanks for me.....we were in a small town located in western Wisconsin named Frederic.....the date was still September 10, 2010......so the answer was no, we had not traveled back in time.....even though it seemed like we had....
Our old coach, KDB, was now the head coach of the high school football team in Frederic....he was already in his 10th year of coaching the Frederic Vikings.....he had retired from teaching and coaching in Zumbrota in 2000 after 35 years on the job.....that would be 45 years of coaching for those of you who are keeping score at home.
I had to give kudos to Stork for delivering on his promise.......he was my Christopher Lloyd....
Now that I understood everything I was ready to take it all in and enjoy the experience along with the local fans...
Once the game started it was amazing to see KDB pacing the sidelines with the same energy and passion that he had back in the 70's He looked the same, acted the same, had the exact same mannerisms and yelled at his players with the same gusto that I remember so well from my days playing for him.
It didn't take long for KDB to get me fired up again....I suddenly felt like I wanted to strap on the pads, take the field, line up and start knocking heads.....I felt an intense desire to go out on the field and deliver a "big hit" on someone just so I could hear the patented little growl that KDB always did when he heard the "pop" and "crack" of pads and helmets meeting with excessive force....aaaaawwwggggg
As I looked at the field, the fans and the players it truly felt like we had found a place where time had stood still.....what a great site it was.....I always thought that a small town football field under the lights looked like a big broadway stage.........there was nothing like the rush of adrenaline that I felt as our team emerged from the darkness and ran onto the brightly lit field....I felt like we were the actors who were about to give a grand performance on the "big stage".....it just flat out didn't get any better than that for a high school kid...
Now it was finally time for the game to start....this game pitted the Frederic Vikings against a team from Winter, WI .....a non-conference foe who Frederic had never played before......I was now ready for another episode of "Friday Night Lights".....
The game itself actually ended up providing several "firsts" for me. The following recap will show you what I mean......all the "firsts" are marked with an *
Game Recap
-First sign of trouble for the visiting team from Winter, WI - only 3 extra players on the bench*
-Second sign of trouble - 5 players on crutches are on the sidelines...ouch
-Third sign of trouble - Only 4 fans are in the bleachers behind the visitors bench*.
-Obviously there are no "helicopter parents" in Winter, WI.
-Winter's first possession - 3 plays and punt
-Frederic returns the punt for a TD...a fake hand off between two return men.....vintage KDB play from the Zumbrota playbook in 1971.
-The blocking wall set up perfectly and the Frederic return man ran untouched for 60 yards....TOUCHDOWN.....VIKINGS!
-I yelled at KDB on the sidelines and asked the question.."that stuff still works?"....KDB just gave me that big grin of his....
-Score: Frederic 7 - Winter 0
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Score: Frederic 14 - Winter 0
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-Winter receives the kick-off....three plays and another punt
-Frederic runs the punt back for yet another touchdown.....no hand off this time.....
Score: Frederic 21 - Winter 0
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-Winter receives the kick-off....three plays and punt again
-Frederic runs the punt back to the 10 yard line....fake hand off this time...almost 3 punt returns for touchdowns in row....unbelievable!!!
-Frederic scores another touchdown on their first play from scrimmage...a run off tackle....untouched into the end zone....
-Score: Frederic 28 - Winter 0
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-Frederic had run only one play from scrimmage and they still led 28-0.....that's one amazing stat*.
-Frederic's starters were done for the night at the end of the first quarter
-Frederic's second and third string players continued the carnage for the rest of the night....the arms of the referees must have become very tired by the end of the game......
-Halftime score: Frederic 52- Winter 0*.
-Final Score: Frederic 66 - Winter 6........yes, Winter did actually get a touchdown late in the 4th quarter
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-Due to the score the "mercy rule" was put into effect which means the game clock never stops....the entire second half was therefore played with running time*
-Frederic could have scored 100 points ....
-Frederic improves their record to 3 - 0 on the season (as of September 10th)
-I have watched a lot of games and I've never seen a game that was this one sided*.......
-Felt sorry for the Winter players....I was pulling for them to score.
Note: Stork and I later found out that this game was really a recipe for disaster....the perfect storm so to speak...Frederic is considered a title contender in a very good conference and Winter (population 344) was a non-conference opponent who just started a football program in their school 3 years ago....... so I guess I need to cut them some slack.
Photo Gallery - these are "real" pictures of the big night in Frederic
I apologize for the poor pictures ....user error?....poor lighting?....bad camera?.....D - all of the above!
It was parents night so Stork and I attended the party in the school cafeteria after the game.....we listened to KDB address the parents at the party and in the words of Yogi Berra "It was like deja-vu all over again"...a little bit scary in a way.....Rod Serling was standing in the corner smiling...(for those of you too young to remember, Rod was the host of the 1960's TV show called the "Twilight Zone"....still one of my all time favorite TV shows)....felt like I was in a Twilight Zone episode that night
KDB introduced us to some of his players and he of course told them about the days when we played for him in Zumbrota....needless to say the players were not impressed......we were like dinosaurs to these players.....
Stork and I were able to put things in perspective when we asked ourselves...."What would we have thought back in 1971 if our football coach introduced us to two guys who played for him in 1932?'.....we decided that our reaction would have been just the same as these current Frederic players...."those old guys played football???"....."you're kidding, right?"
KDB Fun Facts
-Wisconsin native....Luther College grad and football player
-Arrived in Zumbrota in the fall of 1966....right out of college....math teacher and head football coach
-Won my friends over right away.... he opened the gym every weekend so we could play basketball
-Great teacher, coach and mentor for me through junior high and high school (I was in 7th grade in 1966)
-Fall of 1971 (senior year)...undefeated ...9-0...Hiawatha Valley League Champs....(no playoffs then)
-Head football coach at Zumbrota High School for 35 years
-Overall record at Zumbrota: 183 - 146 (.556 winning percentage)
-Prep Bowl runner up in 1985 with his son, Ken Jr., playing QB
-Ken Jr. is now a big time professor at Colgate...Ivy league school in up state New York
-Retired from teaching and coaching in Zumbrota in the spring of 2000
-Hired as the head football coach in Frederic for the 2001 season (located 35 miles NE of Taylors Falls, MN)
-Coaches football in the fall...travels in the winter.....a big time track meet "starter" in the spring....travels in the summer
-Now in his 10th year at Frederic.....45th year of coaching overall
-Turned around a losing program....Frederic hadn't won a game in the two seasons prior to his start
-Overall record at Frederic through 2009: 55 - 32. (.581 winning percentage)
-No plans to retire from coaching....loves it too much....his intense passion and his incredible energy have remained the same after all of these years.....doesn't know the meaning of the term "burnt out"
-Joe Paterno is KDB's idol..Joe is coaching at age 83....no reason to think KDB won't be coaching at 83
-44 year overall record (through 2009 season): 238 - 178 (.572 winning percentage)
Summary
Fun night....great memories.....unbelievable game.....KDB is amazing........no need to travel back to 1971 now........ got my Friday Night Lights fix......
The overall evening sent me a mixed message..... On one hand I feel so old when I look at the high school players and realize how many years have passed since I was in their shoes....... On the other hand I feel young when I see the ageless KDB still going strong at age 66...he gives me hope and as we all know "hope is a good thing!"
