In the spring  of 1973 before my Senior year, I made up my mind to bulk up a bit.  I was a small kid - skinny, five-foot ten-inches tall, and 165 pounds dripping wet.  That previous season as I held my head above water on that talented Varsity football team, one day Assistant Coach Mead was giving a rare monologue during our linemen drills.  

    "Boys, I tell ya. Farm kids these days don't have the forearms like the guys did back when they still plowed the fields with horses.  Wrestling those plow handles really put some muscles on those arms - just like Popeye," Coach Mead said quietly.  To my horror, he was looking right at me. 

    That next spring, I launched into a weight lifting and running regimen.  I picked up a cheap weight bench and barbells at K-Mart in Janesville.  Somehow, I kept the exercise routine intact, working out every day.  There was some incentive because the positions on the team were certainly there.  We did not have too many guys on the team anyway and we had lost quite a few seniors to graduation.  All I had to do was stay the course and I would have my dream of starting on the Varsity team.   Seven long years ago that little scrapper on the sandlot had dreamed of starting on a "real" football team.  I was finally at the precipice. 

    There was a brochure on the locker room bulletin board in the spring of my junior year.  It was in regards to a football camp offered at the UW-Whitwater campus.  I believe it cost 95 Bucks for a whole week.  We got to stay in a dorm room.  The only other guy from our team to take them up on their camp was our quarterback Jim.  He had been slung into the position because a fellow named Reid who was suppose to take the job, had a pesky injury and he declined to even play our senior year.  

    So, Jim and I joined the other 40 or so guys from around Southern Wisconsin that attended. It was a great experience.  I learned lots of defensive tricks.  The offensive linemen stuff was pretty status quo.  The weather was great for that week.  Later that summer, Jim and I entered our Varsity practice schedule with a leg up on the rest of our team.  What was interesting was that neither of us were marquee players touted by the papers.  And what was really cool was that by the end of the season, we both would have to be added to the "chosen ones" list. 

    There was a brief scare to the future of our season.  The teachers went on strike. Both Crummy and Mead were also teachers.  However, without skipping a beat, some administrators, held the summer practices for a week until the strike was resolved.  What was perhaps good was the fact we basically all became player coaches for a week.  It may have helped us later in the season when initiative had to be taken in tough games.   

    I had plotted all summer to get to the first practice early and lay claim to a dandy helmet with a heavy cage face mask.  For shoes I went back to K-Mart and bought a pair of lightweight soccer shoes with cleats.  I think those shoes set me back eight Bucks - a good deal of cash for mook like me. Remember, this was still an era that school districts provided the equipment for sports. Those shoes were light as hell and allowed me good mobility compared to the clown shoes I was sentenced to the year before.  The only problem is I got some bad bruises a couple of times because when stepped on by real football shoes it was punishing.  My light European soccer shoes had no thick protection on the top like regular American gridiron shoes.  By the end of the season they had a couple rolls of tape holding them together.  

    I would be number 63, the same number that Green Bay Packer Fuzzy Thurston wore back in the glory days.   

    Note: If you would like to see all six sections of this story together as a finished publication, go to the Cool Dadio Media Website's "Stories Page" by clicking on the following link.  A chance to play football . 

                        Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
    (each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)

    Army Sergeant Steven John Christofferson, 20, of Cudahy, Wisconsin died Monday, April 21, 2008, in Bayji, Iraq, in the Salahudin province, north of Baghdad. He was killed when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device (roadside bomb). Sergeant Christofferson was assigned to Company D, 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel noted Christofferson was one of two soldiers killed in the incident. Steven was a 2006 graduate of Cudahy High School. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention both of Steven's parents and grandfather had served in the military. His father was on active duty at the time of Steven's death. Christofferson had deployed to Iraq in September of 2007. Steven was remembered as a good athlete and played football and ran track. He was the oldest son. 
    The Website legacy.com noted his military Company as Delta and made mention of Mad Dog 5th Platoon. 
    The Website iraq.pigstye.net via information from WTMJ Channel 4, noted Steven was also a wrestler in school. Family was quoted as saying he joined the Army while still in high school. He had plans to someday open an auto shop. 
    The Website findgrave.com noted Steven was born on September 5, 1987. Sergeant Christofferson's military awards as including the National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Army Service Ribbon; Weapons Qualification, M4, expert; Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. 
    The site jsonline.com ran another article and mentioned Steven's great uncle Harlan Nefstead a Baptist minister officiated with the funeral rites. At the time of his death, Steven Christofferson was survived by his mother, Michell Christofferson; father, Jeffrey Christofferson; brothers, Dakota and Dillon Christofferson; grandfather Joe Gervasio; aunt Monique (Dennis) Nimphius; and great aunt and uncle Verna and Harlan Nefstead. Sergeant Steven Christofferson was the 91st Wisconsin military service person killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.

         As of this blog entry's posting date:

   0 American and Coalition casualties in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March 2011

    100,213 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
    
    9,903 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    4,444 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1521 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    867 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    32,051 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    10,749 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    104 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    29 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    147 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org;  Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.

 

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