Vandal Football Memories

Raymond Pert gave us this Sibling Assignment:


The surprising, shocking, soaring Idaho Vandals are off to a 7-2 start and, for me, it stirs memories of Vandal football in the late 60's through the early 80's.

How about you? Do you have a story to tell about a particular Vandal game and what happened that is memorable to you, either on or off the field?

Write it!

Soon IEG and Raymond Pert will have their posts here and here.

As I have written in the past, football has never really been my game. I never really understood, so have never grown to really appreciate and enjoy watching the sport.

But there are some moments during my college years at U of I that I do remember some things about the college football experience.

I was in the U of I Marching Band my freshman and sophomore years, which pretty much forced me to attend the U of I football games those two years.

Unfortunately, many of my memories involve a particular song we played during halftime (such as Ravel's Bolero), or reminders of the musty smelling Kibbie Dome when they were having roof problems, and you would get dripped on while practicing Marching Band in the Kibbie Dome.

As a sophomore in the U of I Marching Band, an exciting part was traveling to Seattle and getting to march at a Seattle Seahawks and Pittsburg Steelers football game. I still remember being only feet from Jim Zorn, and watching Mean Joe Green and Terry Bradshaw jog around the field before the game began. That was pretty exciting.

Another Vandal Football rememberance was sitting with PKR at one of the games, and having him try ( a big emphasis on TRY) to explain to me the nuances of the game. He would tell me what play was about the happen, tell me to watch certain players, and he could predict where they would be going (how could he do that?), but he might as well have been explaining some mathematical theory to me. I was totally clueless.

But the Vandals did have a successful year in 1982, and I remember because they played Eastern Kentucky, and their quarterback's name was Tuck Woolum. He must be some relation, because Woolum isn't the most common name on the planet. So I do remember that little piece of Vandal trivia.

I really haven't been that interested in Vandal football since college, until they started winning this year. I may even take some time to follow the BSU/Vandal game next weekend. What I wouldn't do to have the Vandals beat the Broncos.

Now that would be sweet!!