“Never could get Herd football out of my system”

Fairfield Stadium got a much-needed facelift in 1970. (Photo/marshall.edu)

        When I quit playing college football prior to the start of the ’71 season, I figured that I would have little or no affinity for Thundering Herd football. Oh sure, I attended home games, but other than that, didn’t keep up with it very much.

       My college career didn’t end the way I had hoped it would. Perhaps I should have hung in there a little longer and stayed the course. It wouldn’t have worked simply because I had no desire to compete—my heart just wasn’t in it. And there was no reason for me to pretend otherwise.

       As I would discover a little later, my personal feelings about football really didn’t matter all that much. It would be only a matter of time before I would reside right in the midst of those Saturday afternoons in the fall in which football dominated the mindset of a college campus and its surrounding community.

       When I say in the midst, I mean it the most literal sense.

       About eighteen months before graduation, I decided it was time for me to find another apartment. Eventually, I chose this location in this quiet neighborhood across town from campus. It was a brick house that had been divided into three apartments.

       When I read the newspaper ad about this place, I didn’t pay close attention to the address. So, I was surprised when I met the landlord for a visit and saw that the house was located across the street from Fairfield Stadium. Not only that, but from my bedroom window on the third floor, I could see most of the playing field.

       When I lived in that apartment on Charleston Avenue, it was like having a free ticket to every home football game for the Herd. All I had to do was open the windows, take a sit-down on my bed and watch the action in the comfort of my abode.

       Just goes to show that for whatever reason, I never could get Herd football out of my system.