Two A Days Summer Football Practice

Football practice for high school students begins today in SC. This bring back terrible memories... the smell, the heat, the yelling, sweating, heavy breathing and again... the smell.

We always wondered if this was the year we would win. Hillcrest did not have a great record of winning!

I can so remember these hot days on the scruffy fields of HHS. I had been working out to prepare by running, lifting weights and tossing the ball around. But no one told me of that running on all fours and pushing that damn sled.

I can hear Coaches Bradham, Pringles and Kolb just yelling over and over to quick lollygagging and be a man. Coach Pringles was telling us to forget our social lives...forget girls! He said, " there are as many girls in the world as there are pebbles on the beach." Amazing how we remember these little things 40 years or so later!

Guys like Don Roberts, Clarence Hodge, Charlie Stubbs, George Woodsby, Chappie McCowan, Kris Shekitka and Bruce Shelton were with me as members of my class just struggling, yelling, sweating and cussing ( under our breath) every one of those two a days.

I know some of you girls may be reading this and are thinking how crazy this was and they are glad they did not have to go through this. YOu are damn right.

As I write this I am also reminded of the smell of cut grass and my face in it! The smell of BO and that salve we put on ourselves for all the sore muscles we had permeated the air.

Best of all was the little store we had on the corner of 521 and 441 across from the school. They had the best, coldest drinks! What was the name of this place. What happened to it? I do not think it was there in '65 when I was whipped after practice.
Any other memories>
Bob

Lunch with Mrs Freeman

I was at a bakery today and when seeing the cinnamon buns, I could not help but think of Mrs. Freeman and some of those good foods. Some folks brought their lunch, but for the price of ours...maybe 25 cents what a deal.

Now I would like to just talk about some of the highlights of our lunches. Fried Chicken... Now that was good food. Am I right to think it was on Wednesdays? Cookies.. now I loved the peanut butter cookies that weighted about a pound. Many folks did not like the cooked tomatoes and rice, but it was one of my favorites... let's see... spaghetti, collards, yeast rolls and of course, cinnamon buns.

One of the unique things of Hillcrest in the 60's was having the K-5 kids in the hall waiting for lunch in the morning. Those kids ate about 10:00!! I remember walking the halls and seeing those kids lined up with their teachers scared to talk knowing their teacher would slap them if they talked to a teenager or anyone!

My daughter would love the green trays we used. Even at 30 she still does not like her food to touch. The sectioned trays would be great for her. I do remember that the athelites were given extra food in the line. This was good.

I taught school for a few years after college. I always made a habit of quickly knowing the cafeteria manager and the head custodian of the new schools. Having a good relationship with them could really make life better at any school.

I also remember that little bus that Ms Freeman drove.It was the first one and no one could move their bus, until she did. As a bus driver, I remembered that we sat their gunning our engines and just waiting. When she started for the gate entrance, everyone took off to be number two... We were crazy!