Richard Blahut: “In high school I played 8 man football in the middle of Kansas. I went to high school at Sharon (the school has since been closed). In the fourth game of the year (my Senior year) we were playing one of our big rivals, Norwich. They usually beat us. My clear memory was tackling their big running back and I broke his leg. This injury ended his season. The tackle also ‘rung my bell’, but we didn’t talk about concussions back then. I have always felt bad about the kid getting hurt, but we did win the game. We also did well in our league and got second in State.
Here is the funny thing, years and years later I was back in Kansas visiting family when I had a heart attack. They life flighted me to Wichita. One of the medics on the chopper chatted with me, maybe to calm me down. We started talking about 8-man Kansas football and, believe it not, his brother played in that Sharon vs Norwich game. He remembered it. Small world, right? Good memories.”
If you want to share any type of sports memory, e-mail me at: t_komer@hotmail.com.