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Drooling on the Pillow

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

38-10 USC 

Those of you from New Jersey who are as old as I am may remember Brick Township as the dominant football power downstate. Three straight division championships, close to 40 straight wins. I was on the freshman team in 1962 and we were beating up everybody like red-headed stepchildren. Then we got to Freehold. They had a guy named Herman Hill. I don't know whatever happened to him, but he was a guy a few levels above anybody we'd seen. I played on the defensive line and I remember a dozen times lining him up for a tackle and hearing this whooshing sound and looking back to see Herman Hill scoring 80 yards behind me. We could score okay, but we could no more stop that guy than the Republican Guard could stop the 1st Marine Division.

Me: Oklahoma. Herman Hill: USC.

I wouldn't watch an Orange Bowl halftime show with a gun to my head, so I think I'm done for the night.

Ka-boomer Sooners.

ADDENDUM: I Googled Mr. Hill and was reminded I did know something of what happened to him. He wound up playing parts of two seasons with the Minneapolis Twins (24 ABs, 2 singles). Two things I didn't know. He was almost three years older than he should have been for playing freshman football. And in October 1970 he was traded to the Cardinals and in December 1970 he died (presumably playing winter ball) in Venezuela. Believe it or not, this web page lists the 10 major leaguers who have died in Venezuela. The only information I could find on how he died was this page which only reports that he drowned.
Posted by: Sluggo / 10:10 PM
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