LOOKIN' BACK

Yesterday Joe Paterno tied Eddie Robinson (Grambling coach forever) as the winning-est college football coach in history. Not to take anything away from Joe but I seriously doubt he is in the same league as Eddie.

Back in the mid-80's I was honored by my employer to go to the south and recruit employees from five of the all black agricultural colleges. I had always been a Grambling fan and was always amazed at the number of players Eddie seemed to graduate to the pro's. I always thought it would be really neat to meet and talk to him. Well as luck would have it we arrived on the Grambling campus the night they were playing a football game. I can't remember who they were playing but I talked one of other guys that was with me on the trip to go down to Eddie Robinson stadium (it was brand new at the time) and look at the field.

When we arrived at the field the entry gates were locked. While we were looking over the field there was an old guy down on the sidelines pacing up and down the field. I told the guy that was with me that I thought that was Eddie Robinson. He said nah it can't be, he has got to be getting ready for the game. I told him I was sure it was Eddie and climbed over one of the gates. He asked me what I thought I was doing and I told him I was going to meet Eddie Robinson. I opened the gate and invited him to go with me. To my surprise he came into the stadium.

Now picture this---two white guys had just broken into Eddie Robinson Stadium on the all black (at the time) campus of Grambling University. We walked directly down the stairs toward where this guy was pacing and after a few hundred stairs we reached the edge of the field. The guy walked over to us and asked what we thought we were doing. I asked him if he was Eddie Robinson and he answered in the affirmative. I told him it had always been a dream of mine to meet him personally.

We visited about football and his old teams and the players I was familiar with from the pros. It was fun to have this guy welcoming us to his field even though by rights we had no business being there. It is one of the days in my life that really stands above most of the others. During the discussion I told him that I was always amazed at the numbers of kids he placed in the pros (over 200 in the NFL---not counting coaches he raised).

He smiled at me and said "THAT DOESN'T EVEN COMPARE TO THE NUMBERS OF KIDS I HAVE PLACED IN LIFE."

I dunno Joe---I think it would be really hard for you to top EDDIE ROBINSON. In my book EDDIE WILL ALWAYS BE THE GREATEST.

INKLINGS THIS IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF THE RULES NOT APPLYING!

30-29-4

Wow do I feel old. Yesterday was my birthday and I have always said I wasn't going to get older than thirty---hence the title. I got a call the night before from one of my retired friends from work. He wanted to know if I would go with him to a town to the west for a trail management meeting in the morning and then go to lunch with him and another retired friend.

We have celebrated our birthdays together like this for several years. There are four of us with birthdays within five days that all worked together. YUP---the scales (Libra) had a lot of influence when we were all working. One friend was at the senior games while her other half participated in the shotgun competition so we missed seeing and visiting with her. I bet he won the shooting competition but time will tell on that.

I took my truck in for servicing and potentially a lot of expensive work on the right front axle, a safety inspection, and re-licensing. When I stopped to get it last night the service was complete and the work on the axle wasn't necessary so I felt really good about that. It still cost quite a bit of money but guess that is the price you have to pay to have a vehicle.

For dinner last night I took Inklings to a steak house here in the valley---interesting that we both had fish for dinner.

AFTER ALL WAS SAID AND DONE---I HAD A GREAT BIRTHDAY!

42 YEARS AGO TODAY

42 years ago today I married the woman of my dreams---and I am still having the same dream. I have now been married over twice as long as I was single.

Inklings posted that I should have known our marriage would not be normal on the second day of our marriage---when we took her 18 month old baby brother home with us because her mom and dad were in a different town and no one was watching him. We saw him nearly get hit by a semi on main street.

Was an interesting night---he had an ear ache and cried all night---Inklings sat up with him all night---just like she did after we got kids of our own.

We raised seven children and have eighteen grand children. Nine of our grand children have lived with us for an extended period during part of their lives. We sure do miss them.

IT'S BEEN A HELLUVA RIDE.