Miner_Pride

I sure miss my friends in 1A.... in my experiences... depth is a huge in 1A.... getting kids ready to play in multiple positions... getting reps with varsity in real action early on.. .because inevitable someone gets hurt and that's usually a 2 way player... some 1A schools get to the end of the year barely looking like they did in week 1 or 2.

I truly enjoyed my yearly talked with Bo in the pre-game of Linton-ND, and then sometimes post game when we played at Elnora/Odon. Even in the most tense of atmosphere between the two programs Bo was a smiling face that shared laughs and football talk. I know he had been fighting health issues but I didn't know it had reached such a bad point. Rest in Peace Bo O'Neil.

Yeah it's a hard thing in smaller schools to deal with... and I'm sure in big schools too... it's just they have a lot more of a pool of good athletes. i know it's a tough call, and prolly doesn't help that we had happen what every parent and of course athlete fears happen when Grant Stamm had that broken ankle/leg or whatever it was on a late punt in sectionals against Tecumseh. He had gone to state finals in hurdles as you know...and was a shoe-in to go again, and maybe I'm wrong but he had scholarship for Purdue or ISU or something and was NOT going to play football... didn't as I recall come out until late and had to get practices in. But he was such a huge huge weapon and made huge plays catching the ball for Linton. But it definitely changed his path, altho I think he still recovered and ran hurdles and went to college. Its such a big thing to get college scholarship... but I do believe kids catch the hype sometimes and believe they have a path to 'stardom' or path to a Div 1 college in a certain sport "IF" they just focus on that sport and give everything else up. Yes, it can happen, but has happened so infrequently. We;ve had a few for sure... baseball and basketball... Football, with all the success on the field, hasn't produced anything like Div 1.. at least I don't think... because there just isn't the size. We've had several go on the Div 2 or smaller. I saw GAbe Eslinger (LB on the 2021 team) was offered at U of Indy. I think we'd have a lot more of that if kids were open to it. Hanover, DePauw, Franklin, Marion etc. But yeah the names you mentioned... wow! I can only imagine if kids did play football and vice versa ... the big three Football, Basketball and Baseball. I know I suffered burnout in high school and gave up baseball... not that I was a key ingredient LOL.. but heck I was an all-star all through little league!! Nearly gave up basketball because I just got tired of constant practice every day all the time. And that was then... the early 80s.. which is nothing like the dedication demanded now. And I do think that plays a big part in kids giving up on a sport or concentration on "A" sport. Summer is just insane... lifting and work outs for all three sports, clinics, camps, travel squads, individual work outs.... and you can't help but feel you get 'marked' if you aren't 100% in a sport. I think it's a lot to ask of a 15 year old... then you add a kid who maybe has to work to make money for himself....or herself.... I can sit here and dream about what Linton might have done with the likes of Joey, or Hale, or Slover, or Evan Austin, or Kip.. Walters...Pyne etc.... so many really, But I can understand the worry of parents.... Football is physical. Injuries happen. I asked Logan Webb this year before the first game of the year...."What made you want to play football"? He was a Junior, and had 2 seniors ahead of him at both his offensive and defensive position... He said "To Get Tougher". And I said that I hoped he enjoyed it and could contribute.. and he just nodded with a 'hope so". By season's end he had made several terrific plays at Wideout, saw a lot of DB action, and even punted for a few games because of injuries to the starter. I know this much.. you can't play football and fear injury. You won't ply full tilt... and then you will get hurt!

ahh the thoughts... I am positive Kip woulda been a tough kid in Football... just as I'm sure Joey Hart could be... and many others vice versa in any of the sports. I understand why but we can always speculate!!

I was gonna really do this.. LOL.... When we finally won the 1A Title... "The Little Train That Could".. .LOL

Well I have been knee deep in Linton research... in spurts. I get going hard core through old papers online and library research. So far I'm only back into the 50's.... But I have a lot of info. I've seen these same unknowns for years...if I uncover anything that helps you I will certainly pass it on.

INdeed... the King is still here. and hopefully still going strong. He has so many memories of Linton Football.. I can only hope he has these things written down or recorded... cause they are things you just won't find online.

I was actually a senior on the team when the field was renamed Roy Williams Field. ROY WILLIAMS (Deceased) Inducted: July 30, 1976 in Bloomington, IN Date of Birth: May 16, 1905 in Linton, IN High School Attended: Linton-Stockton Graduated: 1926 High School Honors: All-Wabash Valley Center 1925; All-State Center 1925; 1925 was an undefeated season; football coach was Gerald “Two Penny” Landis. College Attended: Franklin College 1926-1927 Indiana State University Graduated: 1933 College Honors: Did postgraduate work at Florida State University as head trainer in all sports. Coaching Experience: Assistant coach 1933-1939 and head coach 1940-1951 at Linton–Stockton HS, with record of 60-49-7; also served as Linton–Stockton HS Athletic Director 1953-1971. Coaching Honors: Team won five Conference Championships; Western Indiana Conference Championships 1947 and 1951; Southern Indiana Conference Champions 1945. Special Recognition: "Mr. Citizen Award" in 1972 from Linton Civitan Club; American Legion Award as "Outstanding Service to Youth of Our Community" 1972; Linton HS began awarding the Roy Williams Senior Male Athletic Award in 1970-1971; served as President of the Wabash Valley Association for 5 years; Past Grand Exalted Ruler of Linton Elks Lodge #866 1942-1943; member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity; athletic field at Linton-Stockton HS was renamed "Roy Williams Field" on August 29, 1980. Family: Wife, Charlotte; daughters, Ann and Jane. Coach Williams passed away February 6, 1984.

what do you need?!?!? Looks like you got a lot already!!

ACtually I still have most of the files if not all from my SW7 days. Seems like it was www.SW7.org or net.... maybe... I tried to color coordinate too much LOL... I wanted to use everyone's school colors... logos.... and I wasn't good at sizing LOL.. like I said... learning as I go!!

HOw I would love to sit and talk all you listed about all this. I used a program to do all the Southwest 7 page stuff... I wouldn't say it was major LOL. I think is was Frontpage... and I learned by making mistakes over and over. I knew there had to be easier ways to do it... and I was trying to learn as I went. I just couldn't and still can't afford the hosting costs. And it's been so long since and things have changed so much. I have thought of Wiki stuff...Not sure how I would make it look like I see it in my mind using Facebook. I know there are a lot of things that can be done. I my mind I just see a page where you have options... a lot like Rudy's page...but naturally just Linton LOL. click on a year-- and there is the season; click on a game-- see stats, scoring etc..--- have season by season stats... career numbers... all time roster... you know.. the normal stuff. Opponents... history .. players... And I have so much of this already... well from mid 90's... but already have done so much research online finding newspaper articles in 50's and 60's etc... I want a place online to have this all in one place. I know it's time consuming, because it already eats up so much of my spare time as it is! I don't care about all the work because I see the end result in my mind and know it's worth it.

Yeah it was sorta bang bang. Linton wanted out of having to play UNion (Dugger)...and to be honest, a couple others.. Wood Memorial etc... in order to be in the SW7... so we left. Then Scotty Helms basically followed suit with ND... not sure how long it all happened.. because there was discussion about Tecumseh at the time joining SW7 but staying in PAC for all else.. any way... we all know how it panned out. Union soon was done (and now I see coming back into IHSAA) Wood Memorial isn't doing football.Tecumseh is where they are. I liked being in a conference, but I know nothing really helped winning 75-0 year in and out. out of the remaining SW conf teams we actually play them all other than NC... and it would seem there mighta been some good games with them back in 2017 and 2018.

I think the whole Live Video Streaming thing is going to be an issue top to bottom for every school.

I guess my interest is piqued about this Thunderbird team playing for a Regional Title Friday in Farmersburg. Those in our area know 2018 was a stellar year for the Green and White... winning their 1st Sectional Title I think...ever... going 9-2 losing to North Vermillion in that Regional game. It was a two year run... they were 10-2 the year before (both losses to Eastern Greene, the year EG went to state final game). That was a 19-4 run under Travis Nolting who then headed to Greenfield Central. Since that class graduated it's been rough treading with a combined 3-16 the last 2 years heading into 2021. I've known Joe Kutch for a long time, and see he because head coach mid season at NC last year. Since we (Linton) haven't had them on schedule since 2016, and we aren't in the same class... I don't know much about NC other than a casual glance at scores. Course I saw they started out 0-4, and figured it might be still a tough grind... but lo and behold I took notice when they beat Perry Central 18-14 in opening week of Sectional 40. Looking back I saw they had wins over 8-3 Park Tudor, and a win over Riverton Parke (who had later beaten Covington in a surprise).. So I kept my eye on the Tbird... and sure enough they went on to beat Tecumseh.. which coulda gone either way... but I was shocked at how they went to French Lick and put a licking on the then 9-1 Blackhawks of Springs Valley. huh? Are things just gelling all of a sudden with Coach Kutch and the players? Was someone out half the season suddenly suit up and kick them to another level. Don't get me wrong.. I'm happy to see the success... I'm just amazed at it. This is what you tell your kids all season when they are losing.... keep working, and keep trying to be better each week. Cause it CAN all come together at the right time. They got a tough one coming up it looks like... 10-2 Tri--- who's losses were to South Putnam (8-3) and Centerville (2A 10-1). But then Valley was 9-1 going into their meeting. I'm just interested... who is shining for the Thunderbirds? They were always a ground n pound wishbone type team. All I can say in congrats on the turnaround... and I know things gotta be exciting for the NC community!!

How I wish I still had my online site. That was back when I was considered SID of the old Southwest 7 Conference of small 1A schools...My entire stipend was the cost of paying for the internet host. Once LInton left, then North Daviess left... that position disappeared and while I tried for a while to keep up the info on both SW7 and the-then Sectional 40 teams in 1A... it was too much on that level. So I went down to just Linton. I do however keep up with a lot of 1A and 2A information... I've dropped the ball a little the last couple years... but I do have a huge amount of things on spreadsheets and databases. My goal was to have a Linton Football website for history sake.. like Heritage Hills etc... and I thought I might have Linton school on board to host.. but that's been a few years back.