Track

Man I look determined to beat the kid in the blue.
I never was very fast though.

I hate to date me but we are running on a cinder track!

Look at the kid in the left corner. "One size fits all" uniforms comes to mind.

I loved track. Fun sport.
I couldn't run but I could jump.
I did high jump until my Senior year. I would have done it then but I got a job and couldn't make practice.
I still have the same job. 27 years. Time sure flies.

IACS State Champs

We spent this weekend at the IACS State basketball finals.
My son's team one!
Here is a highlight reel.

Here is where my wife talks about it.

Soccer

It has been a busy fall for us.

Our youngest son, Joel, played soccer which meant we were on the road a lot.

Joel is number 21.

This pretty much how Elaine and I viewed his games. Eyes on Joel.



Megan, Adam, Levi, Hope, family and friends from Church often helped us cheer him on from the sidelines.

His team won their conference and entered into the State tournament with high hopes of being State champs.

Once in the tourney they played well.

They went further than their team had ever gone before.

Friday's night game ended in a tie which went into overtime.
This also ended in a tie.
So then it went into a shootout. Which ended in a tie!

So it went into a sudden death shoot out.

The teams opponents went first and they missed.

So it is our turn to kick and the Coach sent Joel to kick.

Watch the fun.


Here are some still shots of the winning goal .







Jersey over the head!

Clothes-lined by team mates and then piled on!

This put them into the final game and farther than the school has ever gotten in the state tournament.

Here are some highlights.





We were winning at half time 1-0 but lost the game 4-1.

After each game the team came and clapped for the fans and their support.

Thanks for the fun boys. Second at state is not to bad.

Joel had Sunday off and started basketball practice the following Monday.
Elaine and I get two weeks off and then it is back on the road.

Uncle Jack

This is my Uncle Jack visiting us when we lived on Lexington Ave.

I promised in a post HERE that I would post some clippings form his college days and when he was drafted to play for the Los Angles Rams.

Here they are.

This ones great. It starts like this:

"Despite his massive 6-3, 220-pound hulk. Kentucky tackle Jack Butler is nimble afoot and treads his way around accurately through a crowded football field to unwind around the ball carrier.
There are two reasons in his background for this.

1. The sophomore fom Tompkinsville is a square-dancing addict, hence agility.

2. He comes from a farming family of 10 - six boys and four girls - and hence a mob doesn't bother him at all."

They don't write articles like that anymore.




Just click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Sledding

Sledding during the blizzard of 78.

We went sledding every day for at least 2 weeks while we were out of school that winter.

Our favorite sleds were a pair of aluminum saucer sleds that we got for Christmas that year.
We literally wore them out.

One of the best things about them was that they would endure stunt sledding.

We would dare each other to go down treacherous hills, jump creeks, jump incredible ramps, and used them as shields.

With this enhanced slide below you can see where we actually landed on this particular jump.

Butler Olympics

You will see the Butler boys in a lot of sports on What My Dad Saw especially as we got older.

Here is our version of the Summer Olympics.

Chad starts us out with some volleyball.

Brett moves us on to diving.

While I come back with the famous "staple" dive.

On to track and field.
Brett puts in a ducky performance in the high jump.

Now my turn.

Notice the cinder track, foam in net landing area and the bent bar.

Me receiving the red ribbon for high jump.

I recognize Mr. Mishler and Paul Strugell in the picture.

Snow Again

Close up of great ramping action.

Snow again here in Indiana so here is another snow picture.

The date on the slide says January 1978.

I know when we had this sled run built we had a blast. The metal saucer sled was the best winter toy we owned. I don't know how many years we had them but it was a while.

Dad brought home silicone spray for them from work to make them go even faster for us.

After playing Evil Knievel and daring each other to do impossible runs, hitting hidden stumps and many hard landings, in or near the creek, the sleds got too dented for us to use as sleds anymore but still made good shields.

While the sleds lasted they gave us great memories.

My brothers and I were the best saucer sledders in the world that winter.

BasketBall

My kids have a basketball tournament this weekend in Anderson.

It is Friday night and most of the day Saturday. I know Brett's kids have basketball that starts soon as well.

So plenty of bleacher sitting for us. We have become our parents.

I think the games are harder on me now then they were when I played.

I sweat, get out of breath, heart pounds and I move around in my seat a lot because I am nervous. And that's just during the warm ups!

I wish I would have put that kind of effort into a game when I played, maybe I would have been better.

Hope the kids have a good year.

I haven't found any slides of Brett or Chad playing basketball but I did find some of me.
(I am the first born)

At first I thought these were fifth grade but the cheerleaders were from the middle school so it must be the sixth grade. (I smoked the kid on the jump ball!)

Can you name any of the other kids?