I took Drivers Ed in June of 1966, the summer before my sophomore year. My clearest memory is Coach Conley's quick response to hit the brake on my first day of driving. No matter what you may have heard, we did not plunge into the Ridenbaugh Canal near the corner of Liberty and Franklin.
Bob Nowierski and I were invited -- I should say, coerced -- to intend "quarterback school" at Borah four days a week in June that same summer. Believe it or not, we did quarterback drills on the gymnasium floor. Coach Troxel the head varsity coach, put tape on the floor so we could run the quarterback sprint out series properly. I'm sure that no basketball coach would allow that today. But then, Coach Troxel was a legend. My sophomore year was his ninth year as head football coach and the Borah Lions had been champions all but one of those years.
Bob and I traveled different roads to Borah to be contenders for starting quarterback on the Borah sophomore team. Bob had played quarterback for Kiwanis Club, an Optimist (the sponsor of little league football in the Boise Valley) football team that maybe lost one or two games in four years. I played one year of quarterback for Boise Cascade in the seventh grade. We had a perfect record. We lost every game. In junior high, most of those Kiwanis Club players wound up at South Junior High. Bob was the quarterback and they did not lose a game in two years. We were their rival at West Junior High. We won about half our gamed in two years and I quarterbacked the West Mustangs for four games in the ninth grade. We won two and lost two. My most fun game was against Fairmont when I threw 2 touchdown passes to Bill Cady and he ran for one more. We ended the season the same way we ended the eight grade season, getting clobbered by South. The Bobcats were well coached, very physical, and as those of us in the class of 1969 all remember, Don Minter was really fast. So South and West would combine to be teammates on the Borah sophomore football team.
Some of you may remember the team physicals for high school athletes back in the day. One evening in August, dozens of sophomore athletes, fresh from summer vacation, showed up in the Borah locker room for the team physical. Oh, yes, get on the scales, blood pressure taken, check the reflexes, say "ah." The funnest part was when you had to turn your head and cough. Memories.
That evening I met the intimidating former South Bobcats who, along with the former West Mustangs, would make up the bulk of the sophomore team. I recall that it was somewhat an awkward get together and the former opponents didn't mingle much. One memory I have is being introduced to the twin brother giants from South, Greg and Jeff Phillips, who were at times referred to as the Bobbsey Twins. I think I first heard that from senior quarterback Gary Powell, my mentor. Greg and Jeff were about six foot three inches tall and over two hundred pounds. I remember being glad they were on our side.
Not many days after that we had our first practice. Bob and I were the only ones competing for quarterback, although Raoul Allen would occasionally take a few snaps from the center. Bob and I both had opportunities to lead the offense. Coach Hill was taking his time making a decision on the starter. A few days before our fist game against Nampa, Coach Hill seemed to settle on me. The next day I hurt my back. I don't know how I did it, but the injury relegated me to second team. My dad was friends with Doctor Rich Gardner who checked me out and gave me some exercises to do. I was not a happy camper because I had lost the starting job and I didn't get it back before the first game. I was mad at Bob Nowierski because he was now the starter. Why was I mad at Bob, as though it was his fault that I got hurt? Go figure. I was just a dumb sophomore.
The first three and a half games were frustrating, but just before halftime in our first match-up with Capital, something happened that changed the season for me. But that story is for another time.
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