When I don't have anything worth saying about anything, I occasionally indulge in narcissistic sports nostalgia: i.e., making my favorite fading sports memories easier to find on the web.
This one took me years to hunt down, since it didn't even make SMU's Top 90 most memorable football moments, so you can see how unimportant it was. Apparently, practically nobody affiliated with Southern Methodist University cares about remembering it, but for some reason I do.
In 1976, SMU was 2-8 coming into their final game against 5-2-1 Arkansas. It was the last game for SMU's little wishbone quarterback Ricky Wesson, 5'9" and 163 pounds, who had started for the last three and half seasons. He wasn't much of a passer. These days he couldn't play quarterback anywhere except the military academies, but in those days there was a wide variety of offensive strategies in college football, and so there was room here and there for "good man in a foxhole" type undersized gamers.
In his finale against Arkansas, however, Wesson had the passing game of his life, throwing four touchdown passes (as well as rushing for 80 yards) to put SMU up 35-31.
Still, with a minute left, Arkansas was driving down the field past the overmatched SMU defense for a seemingly inevitable come-from-behind win. So, quarterback Wesson begged his coach Ron Meyer to put him in on defense at free safety. He made the interception in the end zone to save the game.
This one took me years to hunt down, since it didn't even make SMU's Top 90 most memorable football moments, so you can see how unimportant it was. Apparently, practically nobody affiliated with Southern Methodist University cares about remembering it, but for some reason I do.
In 1976, SMU was 2-8 coming into their final game against 5-2-1 Arkansas. It was the last game for SMU's little wishbone quarterback Ricky Wesson, 5'9" and 163 pounds, who had started for the last three and half seasons. He wasn't much of a passer. These days he couldn't play quarterback anywhere except the military academies, but in those days there was a wide variety of offensive strategies in college football, and so there was room here and there for "good man in a foxhole" type undersized gamers.
In his finale against Arkansas, however, Wesson had the passing game of his life, throwing four touchdown passes (as well as rushing for 80 yards) to put SMU up 35-31.
Still, with a minute left, Arkansas was driving down the field past the overmatched SMU defense for a seemingly inevitable come-from-behind win. So, quarterback Wesson begged his coach Ron Meyer to put him in on defense at free safety. He made the interception in the end zone to save the game.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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43 comments:
OT, but perhaps of interest to you:
Why Charter School Advocates are Excited by a New Study
A perhaps not so random favorite sports moment of mine.
I feel like I ought to add: RIP Jim McKay and Chris Schenkel.
Yes, I saw Dave Wottle's 800m run in a Lake Tahoe motel room with my parents 37 years ago.
Sounds like that kid had the game of a lifetime. ESPN should replay that game.
Surprisingly, after what seemed at the time like his last football game ever for this 163-pounder, he got in a few games in the NFL as a kick returner and two years in the Canadian Football League.
There were a lot of quarterbacks like that in college in the 1970s -- guys who were too small to play any other position, so they had to play quarterback. John Sciarra at UCLA was a favorite of mine. Now they are all Jimmy Clausens groomed from the cradle to be quarterbacks.
How about Sonny Sixkiller of Washington in the 1970s?
Some schools have lightweight varsity football teams now too, but where I went to school the weight limit was ridiculously low -- 150lbs, I think.
Flutie was a small QB who had a long career in the USFL, CFL, and NFL. He was a great all-around football player. I remember one NFL game where he took out a 250lb linebacker with a perfect block. Then there was his famous drop kick in his last season with the Pats.
Whatever happened to Wesson after his pro career ended? Did he go on to have a successful career in business? Become a coach?
Or another Pacific Northwestern QB of the 1970s: Samoa Samoa.
Steve, you appear to have been wrong about the authorship of "Dreams from my Father"
"Andersen, however, threw the reviewers one unexpected curve.
In a lengthy and detailed section on the Obama’s financial struggles in the early 1990s, Andersen relates how at the urging of Michelle, a “hopelessly blocked” Obama turned to “friend and neighbor” Bill Ayers to help him with his much acclaimed 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father.
Andersen’s details are specific. The Obamas were convinced of “Ayers’s proven abilities as a writer.” Barack particularly liked the novelistic style of To Teach, a 1993 book by Ayers."
http://www.cashill.com/intellect_fraud/media_mum.htm
many NFL players could play both ways today, they just aren't allowed. only a few coaches insert their ideally suited players into particular situations regardless of what their normal position is.
mike furrey played receiver and safety for the browns on sunday, catching 4 passes from his own quarterback, and knocking down 1 pass from the bengals quarterback.
as for quarterbacks, this is a golden age of NFL quarterbacks, with an average level of play in the league ridiculously higher than ever. every quarterback is now simply expected to be great. ho hum, another 300 yard game with 60% completions. boring, boring routine. i don't think even old timers realize how much better these guys are than just 20 years ago. in the last few years you even had sports media goofs writing about a "quarterback crisis" and paul zimmerman, the senior sports illustrated writer who calls himself "Dr. Z", wrote a ludicrous (but now standard with regard to 80s sports nostalgia, it seems) article about how the quarterbacks in the 80s were "so much bettar!"
gem from zimmerman's article: mcnabb is a tough warrior, no one tougher than this guy. LOL! as injury prone mcnabb misses yet another string of games.
Flutie was a small QB who had a long career in the USFL, CFL, and NFL.
And then he endorsed Hillary! for Senate in 2000.
Regarding multi-dimensional and undersized football players, current Penn State safety Drew Astorino is a "heady" type that seems to provide big plays at the right time. He led his high school's football and basketball teams to PA state titles, scoring the winning touchdown in the 4th quarter and draining the winning basket with 2 seconds left on the clock.
Because of his size, he did not receive many scholarship offers, I think he verbally agreed to Akron or Kent State, but then Joe Paterno, (out of ethnic solidarity?) called the last day of recruiting season and offered a ride from the Nits. He has proven to be a hard hitter, a great leader, and very articulate.
Being an Eagles fan, the John Sciarra mention was a blast from the past. He was very valuable, able to fill in at QB and also a gem on special teams. I believe he held for placekicks and was always a threat to fake the kick and toss for a first down or score. Speaking of ethnic solidarity and nepotism, Louie Giamonna was a back-up running back for the Eagles back then. He was also Dick Vermeil's nephew.
Cool memory. One small nitpick:
"but in those days there was a wide variety of offensive strategies in college football."
I think football has evolved so much from those days. So much so, in fact, that it sort of invalidates this statement. Tons of schools that lack talent of the big boys are often the breeding grounds for new, experimental offenses as they try to out-think their opponents if they can't outmatch them.
Remember, Urban Meyer pioneered the spread at Bowling Green before he perfected it with Alex Smith at Utah before dominating with it at Florida. Paul Johnson is still have success with the Triple Option at Georgia Tech. It is truly the glory days for football innovation IMHO.
Re Dave Wottle's win: are the mid-distance races the only ones where white runners are still competitive?
BTW, on the SMU list the one that surprises me is #78: BYU's come from 20 point behind win in the last 4 minutes of the 1980 Holiday Bowl (with Jim McMahon quarterbacking). I'm surprised because they list a moment that, while memorable, wasn't exactly SMU's finest. I remember watching that game. I hated BYU, but it was a spectacular finish.
This is kind of OT, but to continue with the informal Chicago crime theme that's been running for a couple weeks, there's a hilarious photo essay in the Chicago Tribune of some civilians capturing and holding a thief.
Or another Pacific Northwestern QB of the 1970s: Samoa Samoa.
Do you perhaps mean The Throwin' Somoan, aka Jack Thompson?
I don't care if Wesson was 5'9 163; he should have played QB in the NFL
HE WAS SCREWED BECAUSE HE WAS WHITE!
-Jody
and Michigan could have won the Rose Bowl against Texas a few years ago if Steve Breaston (with what seemed like 300 all purpose yards in the game) had been put in to track Vince Young's scrambling in the 4th quarter, which seemed to account for most of Texas' yardage on its last two scoring drives. Against USC in the national title game, the inevitability of a go-ahead Texas touchdown bleeding the clock down to zero should have caused Pete Caroll to let the Longhorns score with 2 minutes left and then try to get the last score on the board with Reggie Bush and Co.
Steve, maybe you ought to go back into the screenwriting business. "Rudy" was a pretty successful film. Cast a really skinny actor, and make him a sap. Add nice girlfriend, coaches who discourage him, family trauma. . .
Great story, and topical -- I'm in a meeting with an SMU alum who appreciated the story.
Whenever you post about this guy I always comment with my remembrences of Eddie LeBaron. He was an NFL pro - perhaps even a star - and he was a full two inches shorter than your guy at 5'7". So there.
He was so short he had to jump so he could see over the line. His forward passes were literally "jump shots". Yeah, they don't make NFL quarterbacks like that anymore.
BTW this was about the same time that I would watch Dolph Schayes on TV. He was famous for not having a jump shot. He was 6'8" and couldn't dunk. He was the last guy in the NBA, I think, who used the two hand set shot.
Where is he now?
http://www.cusa-fans.com/articles/cusa-football-2008/smu-football-wesson_040408.html
"As a pro, Wesson played one season for the Kansas City Chiefs, then two years with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Canada. After his playing career, Wesson returned to SMU and completed his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. He’s worked for the United States Postal Service for 22 years and lives in Dallas."
eh, the comments on that TNR article are very telling.
The only thing I hate more than braindead liberals are braindead liberals who think they are "conservative". TNR is a disgrace.
Sounds Greek to me. I don't know anything about American football except that Tom Brady is shagging Gisele Bundchen. Anyway, can anyone explain to me why a sport that is played with the hands is called by Americans "FOOTball"? And then why do Americans refuse to call the sport that actually is played with the feet "football"? Riddle me that.
eh asks:
"Do you perhaps mean The Throwin' Samoan, aka Jack Thompson?"
Actually, Samoa Samoa was the Throwin' Samoan's successor at quarterback at Washington State.
Oddly enough, Samoa Samoa was a Presbyterian of German and English descent from Decatur, Illinois.
Nah, just kidding about the last part. But there really was a quarterback named Samoa Samoa.
"Re Dave Wottle's win: are the mid-distance races the only ones where white runners are still competitive?"
there are some decent white runners at every distance. but demographics will end that in a couple decades.
i used to think that, in the US, white runners were only discriminated against in sprinting, but now i'm not so sure. nick symmonds, the fastest american 800 runner at the moment, was offered zero DI scholarships out of high school, yet represented the US in the 2009 world championship and took 6th in the final. he received exactly the same treatment as andrew rock, a 400 runner, who was also offered zero DI scholarships out of high school, yet went on to represent the US at the 2005 world championship, taking 2nd in the final.
Speaking of SMU, was Craig James the last white running back in the NFL who "ran black"? Up here in the CFL there was Gil "The Thrill" Fenerty - he ran pretty black. Rob Carpenter of the Giants ran black, but he wasn't that good. Anyone else?
That is a pretty good story, kinda hard to deny it was his day.
Re Dave Wottle's win: are the mid-distance races the only ones where white runners are still competitive?
No the races at distances no one wants to watch (ultrarunning) are where whites are dominant. Last I heard, anyway, since no one watches. :)
"How about Sonny Sixkiller"
He was no Prince McJunkins III. Best line about a QB: Doug Williams, who it was said could overthrow the Ayatollah.
can anyone explain to me why a sport that is played with the hands is called by Americans "FOOTball"? And then why do Americans refuse to call the sport that actually is played with the feet "football"? Riddle me that.
No, but I can introduce you to the wonders of the intarwebs:
Wikipedia
I always figured maybe it was 'cause the ball's almost a foot long.
If you want to change the subject to white runningbacks, Stanford has an exceptional one, Toby Gerhart (sp?). Maybe Steve knows about him since he's from SoCal.
Speaking of SMU and the old Southwest Conference, why was it so corrupt? It seemed that half the football programs were on probation at all times, with the exception of the Rice Owls. One thing about Rice, I believe it has the smallest student body in all of Div 1 athletics yet it's football stadium had a capacity of over 70k. Did they ever fill that thing?
As a committed white nationalist I am pretty much limited to watching rugby these days. Now there are plenty of non-white players, esp. Pac Islanders, in Rugby. But it seems that whites are pretty competitive. It's kind of like the tight end in football -- you have 11 or 15 tight ends out on a rugby pitch. These guys have to be able to do everything. Your big, athletic white guy is the prototype of that athlete. Yeah, there is specialization in Rugby, but to a far far far lesser degree than in American football.
10 years later SMU became the first and only football program to receive the death penalty. THE DEATH PENALTY! I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the notion of a college football program so corrupt it was forced to disband for two seasons. Maybe they weren't corrupt enough and didn't pay off the right people. How else to explain that SMU is STILL the only school to have received the death penalty?
SMU's death penalty didn't make the Top 90? I guess it would have been #91.
Why was it a "death penalty" if SMU was allowed to play football again? Sort of a "near death" experience or something, huh? Did SMU see a light in the distance through the darkness that it felt drawn to,as it experienced a strange sense of calm, looking down on its body on the operating table?
I'm finishing up something on Toby Gerhart.
Why was the old Southwest Conference so corrupt that it went extinct after all the NCAA penalties were handed down?
I think the oil boom of the 1970s injected too much money into Texas, so just about every college's boosters started buying players left and right.
Yes, Rice built a cheap but huge 70,000 seat stadium around 1950. An early Super Bowl was played there, although it's hard to imagine such a spartan stadium hosting a Super Bowl now. When I went there, Rice averaged about 13,000 per game unless we played Texas or Texas A&M. They would often fill the stadium with hostile fans.
In 2006 the stadium was downsized to about 44,000 by closing off the end zone seats and some other changes.
can anyone explain to me why a sport that is played with the hands is called by Americans "FOOTball"? And then why do Americans refuse to call the sport that actually is played with the feet "football"? Riddle me that.
No discussion of American football is ever complete until some lazy poster (usually a non-Anglo-Saxon) asks the most asked question in the history of sports internet discussions.
The most likely answer is that it is played on foot, not horseback, with just a ball, no bat or racket. That said, the original American football, and possibly rugby used the foot to kick the ball more than they do today.
BTW none of the Anglo countries other than the UK calls it 'football'. In the Rep. of Ireland (the Catholic part), Canada, NZ, Australia, and the USA they each use the word to describe their own local football codes (in the case of NZ that means rugby union). Even in England itself there are sports governing bodies called the Rugby Football Union and the Rugby Football League.
Sort of a "near death" experience or something, huh?
SMU now plays in Conference USA, which is the college football equivalent of purgatory.
@Matra
You analogy sucks because in basketball they also run around with only a ball and not other apparatus, and yet it's not called football or runningball or whatever. And in sports where they use bats they also use their feet to run, so these sports could also be called football as well as batball or whatever. Calling "soccer" football makes sense because your feet are the main means of moving the ball, but it makes no sense calling American football by the name because the feet are only involved in running, which also happens in pretty much every other sport. A better name would be handball - yes I know taken.
"Why is it called football?"
The sport wasn't named yesterday, geniuses!
Back under the original football codes, there was no forward pass, but a lot of running and kicking.
"Sounds Greek to me. I don't know anything about American football except that Tom Brady is shagging Gisele Bundchen. Anyway, can anyone explain to me why a sport that is played with the hands is called by Americans "FOOTball"? And then why do Americans refuse to call the sport that actually is played with the feet "football"? Riddle me that."
Because like Association Football, Rugby Football Union, Rugby Football League, Australian Football, and Canadian Football it's descended from the English sport of football?
Ice Hockey is called hockey, even though it's totally different from field hockey. What is a hockey?
"No discussion of American football is ever complete until some lazy poster (usually a non-Anglo-Saxon) asks the most asked question in the history of sports internet discussions. "
Non Anglo-Saxon? He did say shagging.
"And in sports where they use bats they also use their feet to run, so these sports could also be called football as well as batball or whatever. "
They could also be called cricket or rounders. All kinds of reasons why a sport has a name.
got this late Steve- but that was what i was imploring ASU coach Snyde ( i think) to do back in the 1997 rose bowl..... let plumme play db!!!
Dan in DC
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