From John Gray:
The very first beautiful fall day of practice and we full field scrimmage. A
friend of mine from the same high school, Tim Walsh, also came out for the
team. We were on the sidelines talking about how much fun the practice had
been so far, when we were both popped into the scrimmage. Somehow I get the
ball on the offensive wing on a pass from Tim (how the hell did he throw the
thing?), and I suffer my first stick check. It comes from a large defender
named Jimmy Earley, a senior on the B team. Jimmy was the guy who actually
recruited me to come play lacrosse instead of soccer. "You'll have a great
time John, I promise, as these guys are a lot of fun and it is faster than
football and besides you are too small for rugby." He was also from my high
school in PA, and was a star football player in high school with my star
football brother, also a senior at ND that year. My wounds? He put me on my
ass after he tomahawk chopped me and broke a blood vessel in my thumb when
his shaft crashed down on my hand as I stood flat footed trying to cradle the
ball with no success. He laughed. I laughed from the laying position. Tim
Walsh and I laughed all the way back to the dorms after the practice was
over. THIS WAS THE GAME FOR US !!
Recollections of the 1977 Season
Spring of 1977 the trip was down south to play Univ of Georgia, Atlanta club,
and several others. The Fighting Irish come into town and everyone is
gunning for them. Front page of the sports section after our first game, a
win, and an ND player gets his picture in the paper wheeling on an opponent.
Who is this? Me, a fourth or third line scum who had not even been issued a
pair of ND team socks yet. There I am, plain as day, with my cheesy looking,
non-regulation socks for which I caught all sorts of grief, especially from
super fast and smooth Junior middie Jay Williams. On the same trip, the
night we rolled into town we finally made it to the hotel where we had been
booked. Strange, there was not a front desk nor a front desk clerk at this
place. Hmmm. Turns out it was a hooker hotel. What a nice hello to us good
Catholic boys!! We were not happy but found another place to go.
The countless parties were always a fun time, as were the program and tam
sales days before football games. Tim Walsh and I used to find the drunkest
alums we could find in the mobile home areas to buy our wares and give us
beers before games. We rarely missed the last 3 quarters of any game!