Pastor John Recalls REA Football . . .

Bro. John in Training

Above, we see my brother, Bro. John, in his younger days training for REA Football! Or maybe not . . . but there was REA Football in Salem, Arkansas, as John explains in describing Salem football before the school program started (the year after my graduation, in 1975):

"Before that, we always played football at the electric company, either on evenings or on Saturdays. It was the Rural Electric Association back then, and there was a grass field where the parking lot is now. We played from light pole to light pole. It was tackle football and there was not a pad on us. There were a lot of broken noses. We had guys with a lot of heart and not much sense." (Kyle Mooty, "Greyhounds' program has traveled from REA to perfection," Area Wide News, November 14, 2012)

I was one of those without much sense, given my flying tackles. I must have banged a few brain cells silly! As I told my old classmate Jay Nemec, who forwarded the article with the quote from my brother John:

I remember REA football. So does my body!

It really does: the knees, the shoulders, the ankles, maybe all the corporeal hinges . . .