SPORTS IN THE BLOOD

        Growing up around Dad, sports were in our blood. If it wasn’t, his enthusiasm for BYU football, BYU basketball, anything BYU, would have rubbed off on us. Unfortunately, his participation in sports ended with a terrible knee injury while playing football for Morgan High School. He was a rising star and his coaches and fans were shocked to see him carried off the field, never to play again.

        My earliest sports memories began while curled up behind our old wooden radio console, listening to BYU football and basketball. There, looking up at the orange filaments burning bright, I

Old time console radio

would listen to the broadcasters excited voices through crackling static. Sometimes the signal would fade causing the volume to waver. A slight adjustment to the tuning knob sometimes helped, but a swift kick to the side of the console was just as helpful.

BYU Football

        The time finally came when I was invited to a real football game high atop the old hillside stadium. Our seats were the old wooden benches, up high in the middle. My excitement for the game was expressed with my feet which kicked wildly during intense moments. The fans sitting in front of us would scowl at Dad and yell, “Could you do something about that kid? He’s kicking my wife!” Before I could do any more damage, Dad finally had to move all of us down the row until there was an empty spot in front of me.

The old BYU football stadium stands.

        Behind the goal posts in the north end zone was a set of bleachers called Cosmo’s Knothole Gang. For twenty-five cents kids could climb through a wooden cutout of Cosmo’s open mouth and

The "Old" Cosmo.

enjoy the game with their friends. Many of my pals liked watching the game from there. Running up and down the steep stadium steps was a silver metal hand rail with raised humps connecting sections of pipe. Those youngsters brave enough to slide down the railing affectionately named it the Nutcracker Suite.

The Phantom

        BYU rarely won a game until Eldon Fortie showed up. He was a running quarter back with elusive moves. He was so hard to tackle he was nicknamed “The Phantom.” He kept the crowd and the team in the winning column. We all looked forward to playing the hated Utes. They had mocked us for years, but Elton Fortie and company were about the change all that. And they did.

Eldon Fortie #40, All American. Quarterback for BYU.

        By the end of the game the Utes were totally frustrated, trying unsuccessfully to tackle Fortie’s magic legs. Following one of BYU’s many touchdowns a rotten beast wearing a Ute uniform blindsided our super hero. He was clipped in the end zone well after the play was over. The perpetrator got kicked out of the game but Fortie was carried off on a stretcher with a career ending leg injury. It was a very sad day for BYU fans. The Phantom was the first BYU football player to make the All American squad.