Sunday, August 21, 2011

Summer 1930, a tall brawny young man hugged his father goodbye and began walking from the Jack County Courthouse south on Highway 199.
 
The sun beat down on his dark hair and tanned skin.  Sweat stains circled under the arms of his light blue shirt.  His khaki pants were cinched up with a brown leather belt. A suitcase hung from his left hand and a beige duffle bag was draped on his right shoulder.

As several cars passed by, he held out a thumb as he continued his walk.

Just before he got to the bridge at Lost Creek, a truck pulled over.  The young man climbed inside and thanked the driver in a deep, loud voice.

"Where you headed, son?"
"Fort Worth, Sir.  Going to college… actually going to play football... at college."

The truck gear shift grinded and the cab shimmied under the weight of the load it was hauling as it pulled back onto the highway.
 
The young man stared out of the side window at the barren Jack County hills, rocks and Mesquite Trees as the town faded behind him in the distance.  He rested his arm in the side window and noticed how the sun sparkled on his gold class ring.  His parents had given it to him as a graduation present.

Two hours later, the young man found himself walking into downtown Fort Worth from where the truck driver had let him out. 

He hopped a trolley that went to the extreme southwesterly part of town.  It followed and crossed the Trinity River, skirted under a railroad tressel and climbed a long low hill.  As the trolley topped the hill, he could see several stately buildings lined along the roadway.  The buildings were three or four stories tall, had white columns and some had ivy growing on their facades.    

Several hundred yards west of the buildings was activity that got his attention.  A grandstand and attached building were almost hidden among a fortress of wooden scaffolding. This grandstand was much larger than any he had seen before.  Trucks were hauling dirt around the structure while three teams of mules pulled grading blades across the ground.  A steam shovel sculpted part of a bowl in front of the structure.  Crews of men were busy working on the upper portions of the structure, whitewashing the exterior of the attached building and framing-out what looked like a long narrow attached building along the the top of the structure.

As he got off the trolley, the young man walked between the stately buildings, past a library, reflecting pool and headed for the construction site in the distance.

**********

Flash forward to a pile of rubble some eighty years later.  A young engineer inspecting the demolition site of a stadium notices a faint yellow sparkle between two large pieces of crumbled concrete that had dug into the ground. With the toe of his boot, he digs the shiny object from the earth and picks it up.  Wiping away the caked dirt and dust, he realizes it is some sort of ring.  He rubbed it on his blue jeans, and then blew on it a couple of times.  It was a tarnished old class ring with a "J" inscribed on the face.

Local news outlets covered the early morning implosion.  The 80 year old stadium was to be replaced by a new, modern, state-of-the-art facility. 

The implosion got much air time across the country through the day and during a college football bowl selection show later in the evening.  With the local team being projected to be Rose Bowl bound, every college football show used video of the implosion to highlight their coverage of the team’s success.

As the aerial view of the implosion was shown in slow motion and studied further, it was discovered that a figure or some sort of apparition was slightly visible on almost every video and photograph of the falling structure.  The figure appeared to be standing in a previously demolished portion of the middle rows of the grandstand seating.  It was quickly engulfed by the dust cloud created by the implosion.   

News anchors and reporters joked about the apparition to be an old football ghost that was mourning the loss of the stadium.  The demolition contractor rationalized the angle of the sun, smoke and flashes caused by the explosives under the lower grandstand resulted in a shadowing effect that caused the apparition.

However, one journalism student from the university found much more interest in the ghostly image that was engulfed by the dust and debris cloud of the falling stadium.  This student was working in the sports information department, and she had stowed away in an office in the athletic building that was adjacent to the stadium.  Her secret observation perch allowed her to gain an advantageous perspective of the implosion.  She was obviously disobeying all safety rules associated with the demolition project, not to mention the rare possibility of endangering herself if a mishap had occurred with the implosion.

A single loud blast of an air horn shook the morning silence to signify the final minute of existence for the grand old structure.  Realizing eighty years of history was about to be removed before her eyes, the student raised her camera and began photographing the west grandstand and upper deck. 

Initial explosions of the lower structural members of the grandstand made the student jump.  Numerous bright flashes synchronized with explosions could be seen through the previously demolished portion of the grandstand.  The student’s intended continuous shutter flash of the entire event was distracted by what looked like the vague presence of a man standing in the shadows under the original grandstand. 

The student didn’t notice the figure until the explosions began.  As the flashes went through each portion of the understructure, the figure seemed to materialize before her eyes.  It appeared to be a tall, muscular man wearing a white shirt, tan or light brown pants… and holding something between his right hand and hip.  He didn’t appear to be afraid of the impending doom of the collapsing stadium, but seemed to observe in a fashion that was more or less fascinated by the whole event.

The demolition sectioned the lower deck, upper deck and press box from north to south in three separate stages.  A dust cloud and debris began to expand below the lower deck as the first section came down.  The apparition of the man became more visible to the student as the initial cloud began to overtake him.  Her heart was audible in her chest as she realized the man definitely looked to be a physical being.

A chill ran through the student’s body.  What had she just witnessed?  How could anyone have gotten into the stadium during the implosion?  Surely this person was killed by the falling debris?  Had she just been a witness to a possible suicide?

She thought… there is no way someone could get that close to the implosion.  Yet, here she was hidden in an office that was off limits during the event.

The student thought it to be important to share what she had seen, but knew it could mean losing her job in the athletic department and/or possibly even receiving disciplinary action from the university if anyone learned that she had stowed away in the building.

Like any good journalist, although distracted, she kept photographing the event well into the dispersing of the cloud of dust.  With the prevailing north wind, it only took about ten minutes before the air was clear enough to see the entire collapsed west side of the stadium. 

The upper deck constructed in the mid-50’s laid on top of the disintegrated lower deck like large, warped slabs of concrete.  The aluminum bleachers were mostly still attached and mangled from the fall.  Small pockets of dust still exited portions of the settling heap.

What had happened to the man she had seen in the implosion?  He was nowhere to be seen.  Her eyes welled with tears while her heart pulsed in her neck… there was no way he had survived the mountain of concrete, rebar and mangled pipe that laid smoldering in the morning sunlight.

*****************************

As he neared the construction site, the young man encountered a short, compact man who introduced himself as “Dutch”.  Dutch was an assistant coach at the university.  The young man extended his hand, and in a deep-toned voice said, “I’m Wallace”.  Dutch was expecting Wallace to play football the upcoming season, but didn’t expect him to arrive this early in the summer. 

Dutch helped Wallace get settled into a room in a nearby boarding house until the residence halls opened for the Fall Semester.  He also helped him get a job working at the new stadium as a construction worker.  The days were hot and long and the work was hard, but Wallace didn’t mind.  He had been raised on a farm in western Jack County.  He was used to doing hard work.

As the great structure was taking final shape, the work crews began to focus on getting the surrounding grounds graded, grass planted and fencing put up for the upcoming season.  Wallace worked on a crew that transported manure from the north side stock yards to the new field.  They spread manure all over that field.  The stench was almost more than anyone could handle, especially during a hot Texas summer.

Working the long summer days was excellent conditioning for Wallace.  He ate well at the boarding house and in the evenings he would walk back over the new stadium construction site and run up and down the grandstand multiple times.  He didn’t know it, but Dutch was noticing his work ethic, and Dutch approved.

As the stadium neared completion, many of the workers were let go.  It was getting close to the time for the Fall Semester to begin and Wallace spent his days hanging out at the athletic offices and running errands for coaches and instructors at the university.

One day near the beginning of the semester, Dutch sent Wallace up to the road to wait for a new student at the trolley stop.  It was hot, and at that time there weren’t many trees on the campus.  Wallace found shelter from the sun in the shade of a small oak tree.

The trolley was soon visible off in the distance through the heat waves that radiated off the old road bed.  It seemed to take forever to get to the stop in front of the university.

Wallace got up, dusted himself off and stood near the trolley.  Several people exited.  A large bear of a man could be seen gathering his belongings inside and moving toward the trolley door. 

Wallace was astonished at the size of this man.  He appeared seven feet tall… and to have shoulders three feet wide.  This was the biggest human being Wallace had ever seen.

As the giant stepped out into the daylight, Wallace realized his perception was distorted by the man’s clothing.  He was tall, probably 6’ 5”, but he was wearing a thick shaggy light brown coat.  Wallace wondered… “Why would anybody be wearing a coat in August?”

Wallace put out his hand and introduced himself.

The tall man took his hat off, wiped his brow with a white handkerchief.  He shucked off the coat and introduced himself, saying… “They call me, Slim.”  Revealing a frame that was 6’5” and only weighing about 140 lbs.

Wallace thought to himself… “I have never seen such a bag of bones before in my life.”

Wallace asked, “Why are you wearing that coat?”

“Well… I had to bring it with me for the winter and I had nothing big enough to carry it in, so I just put it on.”

“What kind of hide is it made of?” Wallace asked.

“Its imitation camel hair”, Slim proclaimed proudly.

Wallace smiled and looked Slim in the eye and said, “Imitation, Hell!  It smells like the real thing!”

**********

The journalism student had to stay hidden in the athletic office for about another hour until the demolition site was declared safe. 

Tucked under a desk, she continuously scanned through the viewer on the back of her camera, going over about one hundred photographs she had taken of the event.  Needless to say, the first exposures of the man standing under the grandstand were studied the most. 

As she enlarged his photograph on the viewer she could see more detail about him.  The smoky image became more realistic and seemed to solidify with each exposure.  He had dark hair and a tan complexion.  The white shirt he wore was a thick, three-quarter length sleeved football jersey.  His pants appeared to be khaki or light in color, with a dark wide stripe running from the belt line, down the back of each leg.  Because of the angle of her position, she could only partially see the number on his shirt.  It appeared to be the number 39.  It looked like he held a leather football helmet between his right hand and hip.

She kept scanning through the exposures that showed the debris cloud getting closer and closer to the man.  He didn’t flinch at all, but just seemed to be studying the whole event. 

Finally she scanned the other photographs she had taken.  Most revealed the falling structure, debris and the expanding dust cloud.  The grand old west grandstand and upper deck had come down just as the contractor said it would.  It now baked in the early morning sun. 

While examining photographs taken of the dissipating dust cloud she held her breath.  Her heart began to pound in her chest again.  Tears welled in her eyes.  There he was!  It was him!  The man in the earlier photos!  He was standing in the dissipating dust cloud just under the edge of the collapsed upper deck!  How had she not noticed him while taking these last photographs?  She could only see his upper torso.  His lower body was still hidden by part of the settling dust cloud.

She zoomed in on the clearest of these newly discovered photographs of the man.  He was positioned between the middle of the collapsed upper deck and a line of large metal dumpster bins that had been put in place near the lower bowl of the stadium.  He was facing her direction.  She could now clearly make out the number 39 on his shirt. 

The zoom feature on the viewer lost his image in her initial attempt to get a good look at him.  As she scanned the enlarged view, she gasped and dropped the camera.  Her hands were shaking and she began to sweat.  For a moment she could not catch her breath, and she felt a strange fear she had never felt before.

Trembling, she picked up her camera and dared to look at the zoomed photograph on the viewer.  She could see the man’s weathered face… his facial features… and piercing eyes… and he was looking directly at her!

As soon as the student heard doors closing and voices in the hall of the athletic building, she waiting until all was clear and slipped out of the empty office.  She hurried outside and across campus toward her residence hall.  She had to get these images on her computer so she could see them in more detail.

**********

Wallace helped Slim get his belongings to the residence hall where they would be living during the Fall Semester.  It turns up they were to be roommates.  Both were planning on playing freshman sports… football, basketball and baseball.  Their friendship just seemed to be a natural thing.

Afterward Wallace and Slim headed down to the athletic offices.  There they talked to Dutch a while, then Coach Schmidt came in.  He studied the tall, lanky Slim with a skeptical look on his face.  There was no denying Slim would play basketball, but he was pretty lean for the football team.

“What position do you play, Slim?”  Coach Schmidt asked.

“Tackle.” Slim stated positively.

Now… even more skeptical, Coach Schmidt countered… “I don’t think we’ve ever had a 140 pound tackle here, maybe you’re more of a safety.”

Not too sure about Coach Schmidt’s comment, Slim said, “Well… they tried to play me at safety in high school, but I was so fast, that I kept running into the punter.”

Coach Schmidt, Dutch, Wallace and Slim all got a good laugh out of Slim’s response.

Dutch was coach of the freshman teams in all three sports at the university.  It didn’t take him long to realize that he had a really good group of athletes to work with.  They were all fast, strong and big.  This group would go on to win Southwest Conference Titles in all three sports during their college careers.


In her dorm room, the journalism student linked her camera to her computer.  There were a hundred or so photographs and it took a while for all to download.

She stood in her bathroom looking into the mirror.  Running cold water into her hands, she washed her face.  Had she really seen that happen today? 

The camera was finished downloading.  She sat down and began looking at the first batch of photos of the demolition and the materializing of the apparition in each frame.  It was like he appeared from out of thin air.  With each flash of the explosives he became more visible. 

Then she took a deep breath and clicked on the photographs of him near the end of the event… the photograph where he was looking at her.  Her hand shook as she double-clicked on the photo that had made her drop the camera earlier.

His face was looking right at her.  There was no doubt in her mind that he could see her photographing him.  It was like he knew she was hidden in the empty office.  She realized that she shared a common thread with this apparition.  They both had seen each other.  What did this mean?  Who was he?  What was he?

Final exams were taking place over the next week.  The student had to pull herself away from her new found obsession of studying the man in the photographs.  She so badly wanted to share what she had discovered with her class mates and friends, but knew she could not risk it.  Anybody seeing her photographs would immediately realize she had taken them from an unauthorized area. 

She would not go home until just before Christmas because of her job in the sports information office.  The break between Fall and Spring Semesters was almost five weeks.  Most of that time she would be working, helping on a publication the university was putting together about the history of the original stadium and the new stadium to be constructed.

This publication became an eye-opening experience for the journalism student.  It gave her access to many old photographs taken over the years of the stadium, football games, half time ceremonies and construction photographs of when the stadium was expanded.  She joked with co-workers about how she planned to write a thesis for graduate school about the history of the 80 year old structure.

One day while going through numerous photographs, she came across a photograph that made her stop and take notice.  It was taken during a half time ceremony in 1932 and was taken from the hill on the south end of the football field.  This location was about the same perspective of the office from where she took her photographs of the demolition.  One of the players in the photograph was wearing number 39 and looked much like the apparition she had photographed during the demolition.







Chapter 2

Complete removal of the imploded stadium took several weeks.  A webcam was made available on the university website so fans could monitor the status of the new stadium project.  Daily many people would check-in to watch construction equipment pick away at the fallen structure like crabs picking at a carcass on the beach.  Little by little demolition efforts eroded away the remains of the west side of the stadium.

Cleveland Jabb was a fan that checked the webcam on a daily basis.  Cleve was a business man in East Texas.  He had always been a fan of the university teams, and an admirer of the old stadium. 

Sometimes, Cleve would check the webcam at night during bouts of insomnia.  He would watch the live stream, sometimes noticing a security vehicle or campus police driving by.  One night, however… something else caught Cleve’s eye while checking in on the webcam site.

It was just after midnight on the Tuesday, two weeks after the implosion of the stadium.  Cleve had found himself awake earlier than normal this night.  His dogs decided they needed to go outside.  So he spent some time at the computer while waiting for them.

The only lights visible on the webcam were surrounding parking lots and security lights, which left the field and demolished stadium barely visible at night online. The quality of the picture was also not very good.  While checking the site during the daytime hours, it was not uncommon to notice people using parts of the east grandstand for exercise.  Occasionally a student could be seen running or hiking up and down the stadium steps.

However, this evening, Cleve noticed what looked to be a man in a white shirt running on the football field.  He figured it to be some student or maybe even a scavenging memorabilia collector sneaking into the stadium to hopefully find any kind of treasure amongst the demolished west grandstand.

The man would stand, pause... go into a three-point stance then fire upward as if he were playing football.  Only, he moved different than football players of this era.  His movements were more mechanical and deliberate.

As Cleve became intrigued by the image and its antics, something even stranger happened.  He began to notice the man was not alone on the field.  Other players were out there, too.  The longer Cleve watched, the more he could see two football teams playing a game on the field in the dark.  There were even some players standing on the sidelines.

Cleve found himself delighted at these students who dared to play football in a restricted area in the middle of the night.

The students were very organized for a pick-up football game, wearing what appeared to be uniforms.  Cleve figured these had to be some kind of campus intramural football teams.  Their actions were much different than he had witnessed in his life.  They primarily did running plays and passed very little.  Most of the pick-up an intramural games Cleve had participated in during his younger days involved almost 100% passing.  He also noticed that some of these players looked to be pretty good athletes.

Before Cleve realized it, three hours had gone by.  As he checked the clock on the corner of his computer screen, he thought to himself, “I have never played a pick-up football game that lasted over an hour or two.  These guys are serious about their football.  They’ve been going at it at least three hours and show no signs of stopping.  And… it is the middle of the night!” 

In the background of the webcam view, a security vehicle could be seen spotlighting the remains of the west grandstand.  Cleve sat up and took extra interest to see how fast the students would scatter when they saw the security vehicle. 

The vehicle circled behind the south end zone bleachers and pointed the spotlight out onto the football field.  The players stopped their game and starred at the security detail as if annoyed by its interruption of their game.  Cleve thought to himself, “These kids are not even going to run.  This is probably going to get good, now.” 

Something strange happened as the light scanned across the football field.  The players were gone in an instant.  Cleve felt cheated that he was so focused on the security vehicle that he missed the students running away.  “How did they hide so fast?” he thought to himself. 

The security vehicle drove on and out of sight of the webcam.  Cleve was tired and had to get some sleep.  He logged off the webcam site and went to bed.  The next day he shared with his wife about what he had witnessed on the webcam site.  She thought he liked football way too much to be watching some kind of amateur game on a webcam in the middle of the night.

**********

Wallace and Slim seemed to be inseparable buddies.  They roomed together during their freshman year and two other years.  They both were education majors and shared many of the same classes at the university. Both played football, basketball and baseball together.  Slim ran track, too.  He was tall and lanky, but his long strides got him down the track really fast.  Basketball was their best sport, but as Wallace told a local sports writer, “Football is my favorite sport in the Fall.  Basketball is my favorite sport in the Winter, and baseball is my favorite sport in the Spring.  Track… well, track just helps me stay in shape between basketball and baseball.”  Wallace and Slim had big personalities… were pranksters, and were well known and respected on campus.

During the 1930 football season, the freshman team completed its season beating John Tarleton College 12 to 0, North Texas Agricultural College 7 to 0 and tied with Terril Prep, 0 to 0. 

Basketball also showed promise for the freshman team.  They again beat John Tarleton College, winner of its conference and Terril Prep.  The freshman team also was co-champions of a local city league in Fort Worth that year. 

The freshman baseball team had victories over Weatherford Junior College, Decatur Baptist College, and North Texas Agricultural College.  Hillsboro Junior College was the only team to beat the frosh team.

During the 1930 Varsity Football Season, the Horned Frogs won 9 games, lost 2 and tied 1.  They challenged for the Southwest Conference Championship, but two late season losses to Texas and Baylor left them in third place. 

Football in the 1930’s was played very different than today.  Few realize it, but the 1930 football season began with a double-header on the weekend of September 19th and 20th.  On the Saturday opener, TCU beat North Texas Teachers College in Denton, 47 to 0.  The following Sunday afternoon, the Frogs beat East Texas Teachers College in Fort Worth, 40 to 0. 

The third game of the season and final game at old Clark Field resulted in TCU beating Coach Cecil Griggs’ Austin College Kangaroos, 33 to 7.

The Simmons Cowboys and TCU Horned Frogs met at Breckridge, Texas in a rain-soaked mud bath the next week.  With terrible conditions, neither team could get their running attacks going.  The game became a punting duel and ended in a 0 to 0 tie.  Simmons College did not gain one first down, but utilized the mud to thwart the Frogs attempts to move the ball.

October 11, 1930, approximately 15,000 fans came out and witnessed the grand opening of the new football stadium against the Arkansas Razorbacks.  Grassy Hinton scored six touchdowns as the Christians marched all over the Porkers in the dedication of the new football home.

Additional victories were recorded at the new stadium over Texas Technological College and Abilene Christian College that first year.

The final two home games were losses to Texas, 0 to 7, and Baylor University, 14 to 35.  An overflow homecoming crowd of 20,000 attended the Texas game.  An injury to Cy Leland and Grassy Hinton missing the game left the Frogs on the short end of the stick.  In the Baylor game, All-American Boche Koch lead the Bears to a 35 to 0 score before TCU knew what hit them. 

These losses left TCU short on their attempt to be SWC Football Champions two years in a row.

The season was closed-out with a satisfying 13 to 0 victory over arch rival, Southern Methodist University in Dallas.  This game was played at Ownby Stadium after it had endured 20 hours of rain prior to game time.  By the time the game was over, it was difficult to tell which team was which. 

The first season of football was in the books for the new stadium in Fort Worth. 

*********

Cleve’s obsession with the webcam hit a new level as he found the midnight football games to be a nightly event he became addicted to.  It was crazy these kids would be out all night playing football.  He wanted to go Fort Worth and witness a game himself just to say he had been a part of it.

He got his chance two weeks later.  Cleve and his wife, Tina visited Fort Worth on a business trip.  After spending time at the Stockyards, downtown and dining at the Petroleum Club, they retired to their hotel room in the Worthington Hotel.  As the clock neared midnight, Cleve and Tina drove over to the stadium construction site to see if they could catch the game.

Most of the stadium gates were closed, but one gate on the west side near the athletic offices was open.  Cleve and Nina quietly snuck inside, not making a sound.  As they walked around the southerly end of the construction barricades, they could hear the game going on.  The students were there!  Maybe now Cleve would find out why these late night games were taking place. 

When Cleve and Tina got within view of the field they didn’t see anybody.  The field was empty and they could no longer hear the game going on. As they stood there in confusion, Cleve noticed a young lady sitting alone in the bleachers on the east side of the field.  They made their way over to her.

The young lady looked like death warmed over.  As Cleve and Tina approached her, they first figured this person to be homeless.  The lady was not afraid of them, but watched them both approach as if she was glad to see them.

As they got closer, the young lady touched her finger to her lips, shushing them.  She patted the bench where she was sitting, inviting them both to sit down.  As Cleve attempted an introduction, the young lady made a greater exaggerated shushing motion towards him.  “Be quiet and still!” she said.  

So they did as she asked.  Tina and Cleve made eye contact with each other, shaking their heads in disbelief that they were sitting in the stadium with some kind of homeless lady in the middle of the night.  She was probably crazy.  They weren’t feeling too sane at this time, either. 

However… as they sat there, a faint sound could be heard coming from the football field.  It sounded like a grunting and hitting sound.  It almost sounded like a radio was playing softly on the field.  Then a faint whistle could be heard.  Cleve looked at Tina and wondered if he was going crazy.  Tina put her hand on Cleve’s arm and pointed toward the field.  As Cleve looked where she was pointing he began to see vague images. It was the team!  The same team he had been watching for the past two weeks on the stadium webcam.  They were there!  But how did they get out there without him seeing them enter the field.

“Oh my God!” Tina said out loud. 

The young lady immediately shushed her, saying, “If you are quiet and be still, they won’t go away.”

“What is going on?”  Cleve asked.

Again the young lady shushed in an exaggerated whisper… “Quiet!”  Then she faintly whispered, “I’ve been out here every night for the past two weeks watching them play.  When security comes around, shining a spot light on the field they disappear.  Sometimes they come back, though.”

The young lady seemed to be in a trance.  She couldn’t take her eyes off the field.  She had a note pad and used a dim reading book light to jot down notes from time to time.  Cleve realized she was not a homeless person, but a student.

The longer Cleve and Tina sat there, the more distinct some of the voices became.

Cleve didn’t realize it, but his eyes were watering extremely heavily, almost like he was crying.  Tina’s eyes were doing the same.  What was happening?  What were they witnessing?

After sitting for an extended period of time completely still and silent, the view of the field and football players became vivid and looked to be real.  The whole scene took on a vague gray color to it.  It was like watching an old movie in 3D. 

“See… if you are still and quiet, you can hear what they say.  You can see their faces when they get close” the young lady said.

Cleve and Tina said nothing.  They moved nothing but their eyes.  They both had goose bumps on their arms.

One player in particular could be heard over the others.  He was tall and had dark hair.  His voice was loud and very distinctive.  “Hey!  Hoooiee!  Haw!”  He seemed to use some kind of language that only cattle or barnyard animals would understand.  It sounded like he was driving a team of mules.  As he chased, caught and tackled, he continuously made loud calls and shouts.  His antics seemed to unnerve the opposing team and several fights almost broke out during the time Cleve and Tina watched.

A tall thin player in the defensive backfield called to the loud player, saying “Hog… left!  Coming left!”

As the ball snapped and the ball carrier pushed around his right side, the loud player on defense quickly moved to his left, cut through a block and hit the ball carrier yelling a loud “Whoowah!”  The loud player tackled the ball carrier very hard and drove him into the ground with a vengeance. 

As the pile dispersed, a shoving match broke out between the ball carrier and the loud player.  The loud player didn’t care, but only broke-out into loud laughter and smiled at the ball carrier.  Another fight almost broke out as the players got up.  Cleve couldn’t make out what the loud player had said, but it had something to do with where the tackled player was from. 

Cleve and Tina soon found themselves also in a trance, watching the game before them.  Hours passed in what seemed like mere minutes.  The team wearing white jerseys and the loud player were manhandling the team in the dark uniforms.

Then… in an instant the field was cleared.  The young lady jumped up and quietly encouraged Cleve and Tina to follow her quickly.  As they hid inside a portal in the east side grandstand, a large campus police officer could be seen walking along the other side of the football field, scanning the area with a flashlight. 

Cleve, Tina and the young lady stayed out of sight.  The police officer could be heard talking on his radio, saying… “Well… I haven’t found anybody out here, but judging by the condition of the field someone has been out here.  Or…maybe we have some wild hogs coming into the stadium from the creek down the hill.  This field is all chewed up.”

The officer scanned the east grandstand with is flashlight.  He then made his way behind the construction site and drove away.

**********