In September, 1952, I was stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was the first week of the football season. I got very little news about PCC football in the crummy Fayetteville newspaper but I knew that the Trojans were playing. All day Saturday, I agonized over the game. It was frustrating, knowing about what time the game was going on but not knowing the score. I knew the Trojans were expected to be pretty good because they had Frank Gifford. It wasn't like today. Making a phone call home was expensive and there were very few phones in the regimental area. You had to go to the main post and look for a pay phone.
Sunday morning I got up early and drove into Fayetteville and picked up a Sunday paper. I didn't open it until I got back to the barracks. I wanted to be relaxed when I looked for the scores. To my surprise, on the second page there was a prominent heading, "USC loses to....(whoever, I can't remember). I was so pissed, I slammed the paper down and sulked. It was still early so I decided to go to the mess hall and see if there was time to get some breakfast. On Sundays, they actually fried the eggs to your request. On the way down, I threw the stinking paper in a trash can.
While I was eating, it dawned on me! The Trojans weren't playing the team that the paper said they had lost to. THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA! I ran back to the trash can but the paper was gone. CRAP!! There were only five barracks in our company and not many guys around on Sunday morning so I conducted a search. I found the guy reading my paper in the barracks next to where the trash can was. I explained what had happened and he gave me the sports page. On the very last page I found the nationwide scores and there in the section for "far west" I found the score. The Trojans had won. I let out a war hoop and the guy who gave me the paper was so startled he jumped. It was a great Sunday as Sundays in the barracks go.
Sunday morning I got up early and drove into Fayetteville and picked up a Sunday paper. I didn't open it until I got back to the barracks. I wanted to be relaxed when I looked for the scores. To my surprise, on the second page there was a prominent heading, "USC loses to....(whoever, I can't remember). I was so pissed, I slammed the paper down and sulked. It was still early so I decided to go to the mess hall and see if there was time to get some breakfast. On Sundays, they actually fried the eggs to your request. On the way down, I threw the stinking paper in a trash can.
While I was eating, it dawned on me! The Trojans weren't playing the team that the paper said they had lost to. THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA! I ran back to the trash can but the paper was gone. CRAP!! There were only five barracks in our company and not many guys around on Sunday morning so I conducted a search. I found the guy reading my paper in the barracks next to where the trash can was. I explained what had happened and he gave me the sports page. On the very last page I found the nationwide scores and there in the section for "far west" I found the score. The Trojans had won. I let out a war hoop and the guy who gave me the paper was so startled he jumped. It was a great Sunday as Sundays in the barracks go.
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