I love telling stories. As I get older my desire to share memories continues to increase. A lot, but not all, of those tales of the past center around sporting events.
Sometimes when I began sharing some of the the things I’ve seen or experienced, the eyes of the younger folks I’m speaking to seem to glass over like they either have no idea what I’m talking about or they are thinking — “Dude, you are seriously old!”
To understand what the younger generation might be hearing when I began to share my memories, I decided to put myself in their place. Here is how it works. If I told somebody about something that happened in 1978 when I was 20 years old, that would be like somebody telling a 20-year-old Austin something that happened 44 years earlier in 1934. I’m sure I would be thinking, “I’m talking to an actual dinosaur.”
I picked out eight stories I have told as examples — four sports and four non-sports. Here we go!
— On July 27, 1974 at the age of 15, I had the opportunity to attend a Major League Baseball game at Fulton-County Stadium in Atlanta and saw the great Hank Aaron hit a home run. That would be like somebody telling the then 15-year old Austin that 48 years earlier they saw Babe Ruth hit a homer. By the way, he actually did hit one against the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park exactly 48 years to the date.
— On Nov. 5, 1976 (while I was a freshman at the University of Southern Mississippi) some friends and I drove down to the “Big Easy” to watch the New Orleans Jazz take on the San Antonio Sports in an NBA match-up. The reason we went was to watch “Pistol Pete” Maravich play in person. He scored 20 of his 24 points in the second quarter as the Jazz won. That would be like somebody telling an 18-year-old about an NBA legend they saw play in person in 1930 — except that would be impossible. The NBA wasn’t even formed until 1946. Think about that one!
— In April of 1986, at the age of 27, I was sports editor of The Meridian Star and was on assignment at The Masters in Augusta, Ga. That was the year that the great Jack Nicklaus came from five strokes behind to beat Australian star Greg Norman by a shot. That would be the same as someone telling me that very same year that 36 years earlier in 1950 Jimmy Demaret had been six strokes behind Australian Jim Ferrier entering the final round but rallied to win by two strokes.
— On Oct. 10, 1981, I was a sports writer for the Vicksburg Evening Post and was sent to Oxford to cover a college football game between Ole Miss and the University of Georgia. A sophomore running back by the name of Herschel Walker had one of the most amazing games I’ve ever seen in person as the Bulldogs rolled over the Rebels. That would be like somebody sitting next to me in the press box in Oxford leaning over and telling the then 23-year-old me how he had covered the 1940 season of Mississippi State football that saw the Maroons (yes, that is what they were called) go 10-0-1 and culminating that season with an Orange Bowl win over Georgetown 14-7. Yes, that Georgetown. And, by the way, in 1940 Georgia Tech, Tulane, and Sewanee were all members of the Southeastern Conference.
— On July 20, 1969 I was 10-years-old. I vividly remember being at my grandparents house in the Mississippi Delta watching man land on the moon for the very first time. Me sharing that memory would be comparable to someone telling me their memories of the first plane that ever crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1919.
— The first Presidential election I ever voted in was the 1976 contest between Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Gerald Ford. I’ve always enjoyed the the opportunity and privilege to vote and love talking about how it felt to finally at the age of 18 to be able to vote for president. That would be similar to someone telling me in the fall of 1976 how they voted in the election that saw Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeat Herbert Hoover in 1932 to win the first of his three terms as president.
— I very distinctly remember in early 1973 sirens going off all over the town of Louisville Miss., and the firetrucks driving up and down the streets with their horns blowing and lights flashing celebrating the end of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. That would be like someone leaning over to a 14-year-old Austin and recounting what it was like for World War I to come to an end. Yes, I said World War I.
—I love sharing stories about being in the first grade in 1964. What it was like “way back then.” I wonder how big my eyes would have been if someone had told 6-year-old me about when they were in the first grade in 1906 in a one-room schoolhouse without indoor plumbing, most-likely no electricity, and virtually no books.
As you can see, how a person tells or receives a story is all about the perspective.
By all means, all of us “old folks” need to keep telling our stories, we just shouldn’t be surprised when our listeners don’t quite get it at the time. But at the same time, those of my generation should seek out those in their 80s and 90s and cling to every word of every story they have to tell us.
You never know what amazing tale you might hear that will make your eyes widen with amazement.
Austin Bishop, AKA The Old Sports Dude, has been covering high school, college, amateur, and professional sports since 1975. He is currently pastor of Great Commission Assembly of God in Philadelphia, Miss. He may be contacted by email at starsportsboss@yahoo.com or by phone at 601-938-2471.
