by Roy Noland
Before we became the Tri-Valley Scotties, we were three independent schools: Adamsville High School, the Dresden Jefferson J-Hawks, and the Frazeysburg Red Raiders.
This is just one of many “Glory Days” of the past that were brought back to light by Danny Fulk’s grandson, Landon Wilson. Danny has told him, “If he ever found anything that pertained to Dresden in any way, see if you can buy it for me”.
Well, guess what he found? The game ball!
Landon Wilson was on his way to a Cincinnati Reds ball game, and he allowed himself enough time to stop by a Flea Market in Springfield to shop around for anything interesting. He found the game ball from the game we played 65 years ago. It’s amazing this ball exists after all these years. And how did it end up in a Flea Market in Springfield? But, we want to thank Landon for having a keen eye and bringing it back to his grandpa, Danny Fulks.
But Danny noticed there were several names on the ball; that’s how we know it’s for real. The names of the guys who played in the game. Ian Wilson (Landon’s brother) notified me that my name was on this football that his brother found in a Flea Market in Springfield.
One of the Glory Days or Nights of the past was between two proud schools. Now we weren’t having a very good season that year, 1960, we had won one game so far, one win, and eight losses, but on the other hand, Frazeysburg was having a glorious season, they were nine and zero. And to make things worse, we had to go play these guys up on their field!
We kicked off to them to start the game, and they ran it back for a touchdown, and it ran through my mind, “Oooh Nooo! Here we go again!” But, they kicked the ball off to us and we ground it out, then went on to tie up the game 6 – 6, hardly anybody had place kickers in those days, we always went for two points. So, we kicked off to them and they had us at 12 – 6 at the half.
Now. I left part of this story out, so I’ll tell it now.
It was a rainy week that week before the game, and we were having a great time grabbing anybody we could (the underclassmen) and throwing them in a mud puddle and not paying much attention to the coach who “bless his heart” Pete Hendricks was still trying to get us ready for the last game of the year. Finally, he said, “You guys are a bunch of [expletive] losers,” and walked off the field, leaving us all standing there looking at each other like “what just happened”. So, we didn’t have practice the rest of the week, and to top it off, the coach didn’t even ride the bus up to the game with us. So you can see what a psychological effect that had on us as a team, the coach had even given up on us!
Well, at halftime, Pete came into the dressing room, we didn’t know he was even at the game, and he was fired up, and made a game plan and said, “This is what we are going to do!” He resurrected us back from a “bunch of losers” to a bunch of guys who believed in themselves, and I believe we could have beaten any team in the MVL that night! We came back to beat Frazeysburg 24 – 12!
So anyway, this is how I remember that night, so many years ago, 65 years ago. And I’m sure there are many great stories that ought to be told about great football games since that night, but this is our story, and I’ll never forget it! Thanks, Pete Hendricks, wherever you are, we love you, coach!