As a sports writer, there are many, many funny stories that have happened in my life.
Splitting my pants, catching a cheerleader that was falling from a stunt, watching a very vocal daddy chain gang member from a private school in Little Rock get his leg broke from a tackle — maybe that one wasn’t funny…maybe — a dancing football official and than one that came at a Harrison track and field meet.
It is great watching track and field athletes. Some of these athletes are at the prime of their athletic lives while others will move on to the next level in their athletic lives.
Thursday night, there were a pair of athletes that showed fans the great potential that they have in track and field.
However, my best memory at a track and field event came at Harrison some years ago.
Different schools host their track meet in different ways. Some allow athletes to be in the middle of the football field. Some make the athletes stay clear of the field unless they are competing in their events.
Some will not let the athletes into the center field period. They check in outside the track and then move onto the track during their event.
A few years back, Harrison was cleaning up the football field from all of the athletes that had assembled at the informal gathering place there.
It was beginning to be a bit of a problem as the relays were being ran. So, the public address man was moving the athletes off the field.
The kids were slowly and I mean slowly moving as they were instructed.
With the slow approach to moving, that made it more of a priority for the public address person to clear them all out.
The athletes were off the field and all that remained were coaches. However, to the upstairs people, it appeared that that all students had not left the field.
The PA guy was a little more demanding of all athletes leaving the field. He stated that included everyone that was not a coach.
Well in the world of track and field, some high school coaches are not veteran coaches that has seen more than a few sunrises. Track is a usually a low priority and the new coaches are placed in it. High schools don’t go looking for a track coach. They look for a football coach. They look for a basketball coach and after they hire them they also throw in “you are also the golf coach, volleyball coach, tennis coach or track coach.”
As the PA guy was getting more upset of the one student that was left on the field, I looked around to see where this student was. I was thinking that this one student had a big future in front of him. It might have been in jail with his defiance, but he had nerve.
I couldn’t see a student anywhere.
Then it struck me. One of the coaches was just out of college and he looked very young. So, I called a person in the press box and asked if the student was wearing a blue shirt and was standing around the 30 yard line.
Sure enough he was. I informed them that he was a coach despite looking like a ninth-grader.
They laughed and I laughed. To this day I remind the coach every time that I see him that he needs to leave the football field.
He is getting a little better with the joking. But the first couple of years, he was still a little upset with it.
The track and field season is coming to a close as the state events are only a few weeks away. The one memory will always be one of my favorites.
Jeff Brasel is the sports and managing editor and general manager of the Newton County Times. E-mail him at sports@newtoncountytimes.com or follow him at X.com/jeffbrasel.
