Dad and Football
My dad was a football fan. I’m not sure where he got it from. His dad only had a passing interest in football. Maybe it was his days as a football manager at Warren Easton High School. Dad passed his passion for football on to me. Louisiana is the “Sportsman’s Paradise”. While other fathers were taking their sons hunting and fishing, Dad and I went to or watched football games.
I essentially grew up at Tulane Stadium. Dad and I were there when John Gilliam ran the opening kickoff back for a TD in the first ever Saints game. We were also on the South End Zone exit ramp when Tom Dempsey kicked his 63yd field goal through the North End Zone goal posts to beat the Detroit Lions.
In 1970, Dad was a Saints season ticket holder. Since New Orleans was the host city of the Super Bowl that year, he was given an option to buy a $15 Super Bowl ticket. When game day arrived, it was overcast and drizzly and a bit cold. Dad scrounged up another ticket so Mom could go. Then, not much later, Grandma or Grandpa scrounged up two more. My sister, Sue, and I went with them. She was 12 and I was 13. We were in that North End Zone while our folks were in the South End Zone. Imagine that in this day and age. The highlight for us (Not Sue so much) was the pre-game ceremony. A hot air balloon was supposed to take off out of the stadium carrying a Viking and a Chief. It got about 4 feet off of the ground and went laterally straight into the North End Zone. It missed us by about 10 feet. Sue was screaming but I was laughing. No one was seriously hurt but there were some cuts and scrapes. When highlights from that game are shown, they usually show that. We’re just to the left of the balloon from the camera angle. Our 15 minutes.
Before the Saints and Super Bowls, Dad and I were at City Park Stadium to watch an exhibition game between the St Louis Cardinals and the Baltimore Colts. Neither team is in their city any more. In that game, we went to see Jerry Stovall, who was a defensive back for the Cards out of LSU. Dad loved LSU. Stovall went to school that night. That Unitas guy tore them up.
We also went to the last meaningful Warren Easton - Jesuit game at City Park Stadium in 1964. Warren Easton and Jesuit were huge rivals in the 30's, 40's, and 50's. Warren Easton was the largest and oldest public school in the city and Jesuit was the largest and oldest Catholic school in the city. The rivalry started to wane in the 60's but that was a great game won by Warren Easton, 20-19.
I took him to a few games when I was a Saints season ticket holder but none of them were memorable. Too bad.
Thanks, Dad.
Blog of the day here.
Quote from said blog: “At Saint Jean Cap Ferrat on the Cote d'Azur there are several lovely hideaways and seaside platforms probably built by the homeowners of the nearby houses, but accessible to the public via a walkway that runs all around the peninsula."
Lovely picture. -Rob
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I posted this on the CrabAppleLane Blog a few days ago. I wrote it because we had talked about these things a few times back in the days when Mom wouldn’t let me have a BB gun. Grandpa Ferrara had a Western Auto store back in the 60's. Western Auto the... Read More
Your loving tribute to Dad was beautiful, Robbie. I wish he were here to read it.
Yeah, me too.
That was beautiful, Robbie! You should post it on the family Blog too.
I was wondering if anyone knew the address of the old Tulane stadium. I know it is torn down. But i wanted to drive by the site. Please use the e-mail above. Thanks in advance
6400 Wilton St, New Orleans. See Wikipedia on tulane stadium
Willow Street.