Best Sports Memory     
     If Marvin Olasky can write about his best sports memory in WORLD magazine, we can do so here. Anyway, mine is better than his.

   First, some that did NOT make the cut. We attended the 1958 Rose Bowl game. The parade was better. We attended the 1964 NFL Championship  (essentially the Super Bowl) when the Browns upset the Colts, 27-0. Super! 

   A cold, rainy World Series game in Detroit was memorable for being cold and rainy. Several visits to The - Quiet please - Masters tournament in the 1990s got us within a chip shot of several men who own green jackets. Suited us to a tee. 

   Hall of Fame football and baseball players, and world-class golfers have their due. But we vote for some high school kids on November 20, 1948. 

                                        * * *
    Our family had traveled from Pennsylvania to Grandma's home in Ohio. Dad's high school team, ranked No. 2 in the state, hosted its rival, No. 1. 

   Problem: There were 22,000 fans, including other Ohio coaches, filing into the stadium...and we didn't have tickets.

   Dad knew one of the school administrators. It got close to kick-off. And closer. Finally, the man produced one ticket, on condition that I sit on Dad's lap. SOLD!

   Better yet, two people didn't show up. We had three seats for the two of us at the 35 yard line (section G in TIGERS). 

   The good guys hadn't whipped the bad guys in five years, so passion was MAX! Amid the cigar smoke, we watched the home team prevail 21-12. 

   For a 9 year old whose hometown may have counted 10,000 residents, a state championship in this setting was the whole world. Still have a memento. 

     Jimmy