The "Once & Done" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Reading in the newspaper and watching on TV stories about the start of this year's high school football season.  Big time of the year with the start of school and the first football game of the year.  Nothing seems to rouse up school spirit then the first football game.  The band is excited, the team is prepared and parents and friends all anticipate the opening kickoff on Friday night.  For me, football goes back to my freshman year in high school.  I decided, after never having played the sport before, to try out for the football team.  

Photo of my team when I was a freshman in high school.  I'm
#68 in the middle and my friend Jerry is #72 on the right.
Jerry was the center and I was a quarterback even though
the number on my jersey doesn't reflect a quarterback number.

At Manheim Township you were automati- cally on the team as long as you survived the practices and games.  As a freshman I realized I wasn't going to get to play Varsity football, but that all changed one hot Saturday afternoon in October 1958.  The game was a runaway for the Township Blue Streaks when the coach, Mr. Paul Weinrich, pointed to me and motioned for me to come stand next to him.  I grabbed my helmet and ran to his side.   It was the final minute of the game and we were ahead by plenty when he told me I was going in on defense on the next play for some player whom I don't remember his name.  

#72 on the left and #68 on the right.
Taken over 50 years later.

The play ended and I ran onto the field to what I thought was the middle linebacker spot.  The play began and someone knocked me to the turf as the guy with the ball passed by me.  That was the only high school game and play that I ever was involved in during my football career.  I was in way over my head since I weighed maybe 140 pounds and was a skinny 6 foot.  Not sure why I ever wanted to play football, but I found out after that season that it wasn't ever going to happen again.  I did get to play in a simulated game during halftime a few weeks before my fateful game, when the freshmen divided into two teams and I got to quarterback one of the teams for 4 downs.  My center was none other than my lifetime friend Jerry.  We started at the 10 yard line and in no time he led the way as I scored a touchdown.  Four years later Township had a new head coach in Gene Kruis and a championship team that went 9-0.  I watched from the stands as the team totally dominated that year.  Mr. Kruis was a magician and motivator as a coach.  He seemed to always find a way to win and much of it had to do with head games.  All began with the football program where he deducted about 20 to 30 pounds off of everyones weight and made everyone on the team a few inches shorter.  Told the team that when the other teams get our program they won't practice as hard since we are so undersized.  Worked!  

Legendary Township coach Gene Kruis.

Year after year it worked!  Or, maybe it was because he was such a good coach.  I eventually printed the programs for him when I returned to the school as a teacher and he still had allegedly small kids beating the crap out of the other team.  Well, today's paper had an article from their archives telling about a season opener in 1977.  Team had quite a few players back from a great team the year before including a guy by the name of Glenn Gallagher who went on to play quarterback for Clemson and ended up playing professional baseball.   Coach Kruis was complaining to the press that he had his work cut out for him, since his team was so undersized and would never be able to repeat their championship.  The newspaper picked Township to win their opener against York Suburban by a 26-20 score.  Yep, they did win, but 14-6 and went on to win the Section Championship once again.  Gene Kruis became a coaching legend at Manheim Township, with a record of 142-55-10, as well as in Lancaster County and Pennsylvania.  As good as he was in football, I was just as bad and my 1958 season was a once and done affair.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.