Monday, March 7, 2016

Saved on the sideline

I believe the year was 1984,
and I was covering a high-school football playoff game between Hendersonville (NC) and T.C. Roberson at Roberson. It was cold, with snow falling gently.


At the end of the first half, Hendersonville halfback Sam Gash took the ball around right end and charged right toward me on the sideline. Gash suddenly stopped within inches of the sideline, turned to his left and hammered his way for 5 or 6 yards.

It was the last play of the half, but it was important to me. The players weren't going to dive out of the way, and I couldn't have evaded Gash. So he pretty much saved my life.

I've been run over a few times on the sideline, and I've avoided being run over a few times. But that's one "save" I remember well.

I never thought to ask him later if he'd realized I was there.

I don't know the particulars, but Gash wound up starting at fullback for Penn State in college and New England, Buffalo and Baltimore in the NFL. He was a two-time Pro Bowl selection.

And because of one play, he's one of my favorite players.

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More blog entries by Tom Gillispie
• Advice for be and would-be novelists

Anecdotes by Tom Gillispie


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(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)

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