11/19/2021
Growing Up in my Hometown Union City Indiana/Ohio, The First Year for Union City Wayne High School Football, writing by Larry Thomas Higgins
It was the start of 1962 school year when the rumor around school was that a Union City Wayne Indians Football Team was in the works for our school. It wasn’t long and a posting was on the bulletin board that try outs and scheduled meeting was going to be held after school in the gym. When the final bell rang for the end of school I ran to the gym to insure I had a seat. After everyone arrived in walked an individual who we assumed was going to give us instructions about Union City Wayne Indians Football. He introduced himself to us as Coach Tom Pryer. Coach Pryer was a very athletic looking young man who looked very young to be a Football Coach, however he very much looked like a football player, about 5’ 10” or 11” with very muscular legs and caves, and broad shoulders and very muscular physic, yes you could tell he was definitely a Football Player. Coach Pryer shared with us that the Tri-Eastern Conference is a nine-member IHSAA-Sanctioned Athletic Conference formed by five schools which was formed this year. The conference was formed with Cambridge City, Centerville, Knightstown, Liberty, and Union City. Coach Pryer shared that this being our first year it would be a building year with no Jr Varsity Team but a consolidated Jr and senor varsity team open to grades nine thru twelve. There was only one stipulation that all seniors played ahead of all others. Coach Pryer shared that no games were scheduled yet for this year but he was working on scheduling some games for that year. The start of practice was scheduled for the next day after school.
All the next day everyone was talking about football coming to our school, again I couldn’t wait for the final bell to ring to get to the gym. When arriving I looked around at all my classmates who were there to play football, there was Sam Bradburn, Paul Shimp, Bill Ferrell, Mike Mangas, Jay Noffsinger, Ronnie Mullen, Tom Dickie, Sam Dean, Bill Frazier, Tom Kaugher, Mike Arthur, just to name some that comes to mind, however virtually every jock in our high school was there to play football. We started with getting our football equipment issued, consisting of football cleats, pads, pants with thigh and knee pads, football helmets, my very first girdle, however this one was very heavily padded, a mouth piece with gummy stuff inside the mouth piece to protect our teeth, and lastly our football jerseys, I was assigned #61. The last thing that was given to us was our play-book and was advised to memorize it if we wanted to play in any of the upcoming games being scheduled. Now we were ready for practice.
Our practice field was located behind the High school at the center infield of the track and field location. Well it was now ours and we claimed it for football. Practice stared with one lap around the track, and then certain exercises just to get warmed up. We then were divided into offense and defense and taken to separate ends of the practice field. Well anyone that knew me back then knew that I was a strapping young lad of six feet and weighted approximately 155 lbs. soaking wet, so my options were very limited. I decided on wanting to play defense as a linebacker. On the defensive squad we were taught the basics of blocking, tackling, drive right & left, and some other basic defensive practices. We were taught two basic defenses that we would be using for defensive purposes, the gap 8 and the 5-4 defenses.
The gap 8 defense features an eight man defensive line, a single player in a middle linebacker/free safety position, and two corners. The defense features six down linemen positioned in the gaps. Two additional players are outside linebackers that are head up to inside shade on the tight ends. This defense uses bump and run coverage to prevent the quick, inside release. By reading the tight end’s movement, they can discern the type of play (pass or run) and the point of attack. Coach Pryer informed us that this was a very basic football defense; however it is a solid run stopping defense and a tough to block defense.
The 5-4 defense is where there are five defensive linemen, 3 defensive tackles, and 2 defensive ends, which are aligned directly across from each of the five offensive linemen. These players are often referred to as "down" lineman because they are positioned in a forward-leaning squat with one hand on the ground. While the main goal of the defensive linemen is to get past the blockers and tackle the quarterback or running back, they have successfully fulfilled their duties if they manage to occupy the offensive linemen long enough for another member of the defense to make a play on the ball carrier. The second layer of the 5-4 defense is the four linebackers consisting of two middle linebackers, two outside linebackers and positioned behind the down linemen. The middle linebackers are responsible for stopping running and passing plays over the middle of the field, while the outside linebackers are responsible for stuffing outside runs and short passes towards the outer portion of the field. The remaining two players are the cornerbacks, positioned across from the two wide receivers. In a 5-4 defense, the cornerbacks take on additional responsible, as there are no safeties to provide help if either of the receivers break free. Since the 5-4 defense removes the two safeties that are present in a more traditional defensive formation, it is best utilized when a running play is anticipated. The additional linebacker and defensive lineman help to overwhelm blockers and get to the ball carrier quickly. This is particularly useful for goal-line situations, in which the offense needs only a few yards to score a touchdown and often elects to hand the ball off to the running back. This 5-4 defense was explained in great detail by Coach Pryer and we practiced these two defenses day in and day out for the next several weeks both in practice and the end of practice scrimmages, until we could executed either defenses blindfolded.
I would like to share one drill that we were introduced to during our practice time, however not a daily ordeal but conducted by Coach Pryer from time to time, it was called “The Wheel”. Here is how “The Wheel” worked. All players gathered in the center of the field, when Coach Pryer blew his whistle everyone started running in place, if your name was called you were to run to the center of the wheel continuously running in place and rotating while running in place, Coach Pryer then would then point to a player and they would then run at full speed and block and tackle the player in the middle.
When my turn came I was hit and tackled over and over again until, yes until I was brought to tears. However, each and every time I got up and waited for the next block and tackle to come my way, crying all the time, however enduring the hurt because “The Wheel” was designed to toughen you up, which it did for me. Although it brought me to tears I got up and took it like a man, however each time a little slower and with less intensity each time. That first day of “The Wheel” it got me a place in the scrimmage for that day, my God playing in the scrimmage was worth every lick that I took and every bump and bruise that I encounter that day. After practice that day I was walking very gingerly back to the shower room when Coach Prayer trotted by me and said nice job today Larry and he then trotted on ahead of me, immediately the aches and pains went away and I to started trotting towards the showers.
That was pretty much how things went that fall until one day after practice Coach Pryer informed us that he had scheduled 4 games this first year, first game was a scrimmage game with Northmont High School, located north of Dayton, then we played Centerville, then Cambridge City, and finally we finished the season with Wi******er. All four of the games we played that year were against the opposing teams Jr Varsity team. We did win 2 of the 4 games that first year and we all enjoyed playing, and we all became better men and better athletes than the first day of practice.
Here are some highlights of those 4 games played this first year; we did win 2 of the 4. The first scrimmage we had was with Northmont, and that was, and was meant to be a learning experience. If they lost more than a game or two during the season it was a poor season, usually they were undefeated. They worked us over pretty good. We then followed up with Centerville and Cambridge City; we lost one of them by a point and won the other one. Then came Wi******er, which we won going away. As I remember, we scored 28 points before we had possession of the ball. We kicked off to them and on the second or third play, Tom Dickey, playing a defensive tackle, knifed thru and intercepted a lateral and went for a td. We kick off again and in a few plays Tom Kaugher intercepted a pass for a td. Again we kick off and, at that time, the kickoff was a free ball, and we recovered it in the end zone for the third td. Another kickoff, and in a few plays, another interception for the fourth td. Jay Noffsinger kicked the extra points. I do not know the final score, but that was quite a feat to have those scores without being on offense. That is a snapshot of some of the activity from the games we played this first year of football at Union City Wayne High School football, courtesy of Coach Tom Pryer.
At the end of my sophomore (10th) grade year my father moved our family, now a family of 4, to Greenville Ohio. Needless to say I was very angry, and became a very rebellious young man. My next writing, (Growing up in my Hometown of Union City Indiana/Ohio Part #8), will draw an end to my High School years at Union City Wayne High School. I would like to end this writing with thanking Coach Pryer for being a part of my freshman and sophomore years and coaching me in the game of football at Union City Wayne High School and in my hometown of Union City Indiana/Ohio. Coach Pryer and I communicate today on Facebook and he was very much a part of some of the information in this writing.
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