Homecoming

I'm not sure why I got the job as football cinematographer but Coach Drozd himself asked me to do it and of course I accepted. It didn't bother me that I didn't have the slightest idea how to play football. I knew how to take pictures.

When I first met Coach Drozd, he was a bit pudgy. But by the time I was a senior, Coach decided I guess to take his own medicine and get into shape. As a lifeguard, I often saw him jogging up and down the beach.

So sometime in mid-October, we had our Homecoming football game. This being a Big Deal, it included a parade with floats, a dance, a pep rally, and, of course, the game itself.

The parade float had to be constructed first. A lot of the class showed up, and even this guy, Mel Longo, who was a friend of Susan Stanton's and so came to help.

Here's my girlfriend (and eventual wife) Mary Steinberg, and our friend Faye Norton.

Diana Bishop was there as well.

I suspect John Palmes was competing with Mel over Susan.

The Pep Rally featured encouragement from Eddie Drozd (the Coach's son, but also something important on the team—sorry, I'm not good with Sports Ball terminology) and quarterback Joe Oliveros. That's Varsity cheerleader Pam Pritchard behind them.

The actual game, if I recall right, was in Hastings, Florida. Hastings is only about 18 miles from St Augustine but of course we had to get there by bus. And apparently Coach Drozd and Coach Reddy Cox felt that was long enough to justify a nap.

As the football photographer, I got to ride with the team to the game…but not be in any of the pictures. The cheerleaders rode in a separate bus.

So, despite my not knowing anything at all about the actual rules of football, I was the cinematographer at the games; and, at this one, took still photos as well. I had no idea what I was doing.

Then these guys came out, and then there were some men in referee outfits, and a whistle was blown and I guess they started playing so I had to switch to the 16mm movie camera to film the plays. (This was, of course, years before home video.)

This is my pal Charlie Hartley. I'm pretty sure I remember taking photos of the whole team; but at the moment this is the only one that's turned up.

This would be the halftime break, I think. (It's not colorized because I really thought it had a more newspaper news photo feel this way. That's Coach Drozd and his son Eddie in the center.)

After the game was the Homecoming Dance, but that would be worth a page of its own…if I'd taken any pictures. Unfortunately, by that time, I was out of film.