[Blue Hawk (Mizzou) Card]

My Dad used to tell about his first day of football practice here at Dickinson State. First item of business was kickoff practice for the kickoff team. New guys were on kick return. Dad catches the kick and . .  . runs through the veterans for a "touchdown."

And they really were veterans, in both senses. Many of them went to or returned to college after serving in Korea. So the coach reads them the riot act about letting a skinny little freshman run right through them.

So they run it again. As Dad told the story, as the ball was in the air he thought "this is not going to end well."

So he catches the kick again, heads up field and . . . they hit him so hard he does not wake up for two days.

Not hazing. Just a good clean hit. 

But things were different in the fifties. The day Dad finally woke up, he went to practice.

[Blue Hawk (Mizzou) Card]

My Dad used to tell about his first day of football practice here at Dickinson State. First item of business was kickoff practice for the kickoff team. New guys were on kick return. Dad catches the kick and . .  . runs through the veterans for a "touchdown."

And they really were veterans, in both senses. Many of them went to or returned to college after serving in Korea. So the coach reads them the riot act about letting a skinny little freshman run right through them.

So they run it again. As Dad told the story, as the ball was in the air he thought "this is not going to end well."

So he catches the kick again, heads up field and . . . they hit him so hard he does not wake up for two days.

Not hazing. Just a good clean hit. 

But things were different in the fifties. The day Dad finally woke up, he went to practice.