Behind the line: Feeding the Kids

Guest Posts on County 10 are provided by contributors and the opinions, thoughts, and comments within are their own and may not necessarily reflect those of County 10.

After my second knee injury (the first the left one as a freshman basketball player, dislocating my knee on a rebound, and the second as a junior when I was cut-blocked with a 200-pound running back on my shoulder, ripping the ACL and MCL on my right knee), I switched to the speech team during the winter months. My track career was over as well, but I played another year of football, going through a case of tape on that right knee.

Speech is every bit as competitive as athletics, even to the point of sweating out a round. I had an affinity for extemporaneous speaking. It was great, you didn’t have to memorize a script, you didn’t have to act, you just had to stay up on the news, have an innate ability to BS your way through an unfamiliar subject, and be confident. No problem with any of these for this kid.

At the Powell Round Table, our student teacher, my late friend, and Wind River teaching legend Nancy Jones was our sponsor.

We ate at Hansel and Gretels in Powell, a great place in the 1970s. As the bill arrived, Nancy pulled out a voucher and attempted to pay. The waitress wasn’t buying it. She didn’t believe the very youthful-looking Ms. Jones was the sponsor. She didn’t look any older than the rest of us.

The Riverton team was eating there as well, Mrs. Sackman, their legendary sponsor, saw the problem and came over to convince the waitress that Ms. Jones was legitimate. The gal believed Mrs. Sackman.

It’s all in a day’s work for a young teacher or coach.

Jump ahead a few years, and I’m taking my first track team to the state finals in Casper. We had a break in the meet for a few hours, and I took the team to check into a motel. They didn’t believe I was the sponsor either. The old lady at the front desk was sure we were high school kids trying to pull a fast one and have a party at the motel.

Luckily, the business office was still open in Lusk. I called the office, handed the phone to the suspicious desk clerk and Mrs. Fernau verified my identity.

Feeding teams on the road and managing teenagers on overnight stays in motel rooms hundreds of miles from home isn’t something they ever teach in college preparatory courses. It’s something you learn on the fly.

The following year, I took the Tiger track team to a meet in Douglas. It was decades before school districts gave coaches and sponsors a credit card; everything was paid for with vouchers.

Though we called ourselves the Lusk Tigers, we were actually Niobrara County School District #1. The voucher had NCSD in bold print on the top of it.

We fed the team at Pizza Hut in Douglas. The Natrona County Mustangs were there as well. I had 20 kids on the team. Natrona brought three full buses.

In those days, the meal per diem was $10, two dollars for breakfast, three for lunch, and five for dinner. It doesn’t seem like much now, but that’s about $19 for dinner in today’s dollars.

I dropped my voucher off to the cashier as I got the kids moving toward the bus. As I walked out, I was shocked, the total was over $600. That was more than our entire track budget, my salary included.

The cashier had mistakenly given our bill to the Natrona County coaches. Their voucher also said NCSD in bold letters at the top. My 20 kids from Niobrara County had been billed to Natrona.

I sprinted to the Natrona County bus. Found the head coach and he came in with me to straighten out the mess.

He joked that we should travel together all the time, he could afford a few more poles for his vaulters.

On the Saturday of the state track meet this year, Sue met me in Casper for a quick two-day vacation. We were headed to Lusk, then Chadron and Devil’s Tower. We ate at one of Sue’s favorite places, Olive Garden. The team from Burns sat down next to us. One of the girls asked the coach how much they could spend for dinner.

The coach said, “It’s 23 dollars, pay attention to the drinks.”

Not much as changed except the value of the dollar over the 45 years between my first meet and that Saturday evening.

As a high school athlete, we always enjoyed eating at the Washakie Grill in Worland on road trips to Basin, Byron, Cowley, Deaver, Burlington, or Ten Sleep.

As a coach, we almost always ate at the Big B in Basin. It was our athletic director, head football and track coach, and my assistant basketball coach, the late Harold Bailey’s favorite place to eat.

We always had roast beef, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans. Harold raved on the roast beef at the Big B.

In February 1988, we edged my former team, the same Lusk Tigers in the Class B state basketball semi-finals 56-55. We advanced to the state championship with the win, and the team, Harold, and I were in excellent spirits.

Harold stood up as Roy Maxson drove us away from the Events Center and said, “For once, I’ll let you guys pick where we eat.”

From the back of the bus we heard senior Daryl Fullerton shout out, “Let’s go to the Big B.”

The bus erupted in laughter, all except Harold. It ticked off Coach Bailey.

He gave the smiling, giggling boys, and me a quick lecture on the value of a dollar, quality for price, and all the other things you’d expect from an economics teacher. It was awesome.

Jump ahead another couple of decades, and I’m traveling with the Wyoming Indian track team at the state finals in Casper.

As we pulled away from Harry Geldien Stadium, we were in a debate over where to eat. Head coach Chico Her Many Horses was open to suggestions, assistant coach, the legendary “Boss Moss,” (Aleta Moss) had ideas, but the kids weren’t buying any of the suggestions.

I was in the mood for Chinese and lobbied the boys and girls on a great one on Center Street. They weren’t buying it.

After about five minutes of cajoling the kids, Chico broke in with this gem. (He is loved for his quick wit and memorable comments)

“Coach, give it up,” Chico said. “These kids will eat about anything, but they won’t touch cat.”

The bus erupted in laughter.

We ended up with Aleta taking the kids to the mall to eat whatever they wanted at the Food Court.

Chico, Tom Rogers, Taylor Her Many Horses, and I sat down in the Holiday Inn dining room while Aleta took the kids.

The interaction between Chico and a very intimidated 19-year-old college student who was waiting on us is for another story…