Hello, What a funny photo and incident to see. Graham Ford dealership was near where we played a sandlot football game against some teens from Downey. We had met them at a Lakewood Drive-In Restaurant parking lot after cruising around for a while. They parked next to us and we all talked hot rod/cruiser talk then moved to our respective high school activities and eventually sports teams. They told us they were on the varsity football team at Downey High School and lived closer to the Ford dealership. The topic of football was interesting as they knew as we did, that outside of the season, it was nothing to play sandlot football, touch, flag, or tackle. But, during the season, our coaches were adamant to keep “his players” healthy and ready for each Friday night football games. But, they could only talk about keeping fit and safe. So, we surfed, ran, swam and cruised our hot rods day in and out at night, too. So, the coach’s words were “yes, coach”…nodding away. So, the teenage conversation was headed to football talk and when they found out three of us were on the varsity football team, a challenge was put on the “talking table,” so to speak. They wanted to know if we wanted to play a sandlot football game. Probably, for pride, as they knew Long Beach Poly H.S. was a football powerhouse during our times. But, a small sandlot football game was what we, too, liked and said ok. Our annual Bixby Knolls sandlot football game was always held on Thanksgiving weekend for the last three years of H.S. The H.S. clubs all gathered to challenge each other in a tackle football game(s) without pads on a Junior H.S. grass field in Bixby Knolls. It drew hundreds of local teens and a lot of younger, local kids on bicycles. Jnaki Those games involved a lot of varsity football players on each H.S. club group and that made the games fun. So, this game against a bunch of teens from Downey was going to be the first time we ventured outside of normal varsity football games and our club sandlot games. When we got there, they wanted to play 7 on 7 tackle football on a smaller Junior H.S. field. We were ok with that and the blocking, tackling and running modified H.S.. team plays, worked well for us. There were a lot of teens laying on the ground from both sides, but our “air attack” was the key and we won handily. The funny part was that in our senior year, we had to play against Downey High School and after we won the real varsity game, we acknowledged each other with a friendly handshake at the end of the game. Fun times as a teenager… YRMV #88
The Jalopy Journal
