Saturday, December 5, 2009

Following the Aggies

Many years ago when I was attending Utah Stae University, I attended every single game.  In short I became somewhat hooked on the excitement of Aggie games, football and basketball.  I've followed them ever since, always checking on the scores and hoping they did well against the Cougars and the Utes as well as all the other teams.  When I was at USU they had some exceptional teams.  I was there when Merlin Olsen was playing football along with a host of other future NFL players and even their coach ended up as the head football coach of the Denver Broncos.  I was there when the basketball team was rated number eight in the NCAA Division one polls and the seventh rated Utes came to Logan for a game in the old Nelson Field House.  I remember standing in line on a cold winter's day for hours to make sure I could even get into the Fieldhouse.  The game was won by the Utes by a single point. When I got home from my mission in Germany I picked up where I had left off.  The football team was not as fun to watch, but basketball was every bit as good.  These were the days of the great Wayne Estes.  I knew him personally and talked with him on many  occasions.  I was there that February night when he scored 48 points against the University of Denver.  I will never forget the shock of hearing that he had been elctorocuted after accidentlly running into a high power electric line after stopping to help the victums of an automobile accident at the corner of Fourth North and the USU Campus after the game.  He was scoring about 35 points per game and pulling down tons of rebounds.  He was incredible to watch and an incredible person.  My heart along with all who knew him  and follwed the Aggies was very heavy for a long time.  Many things have change since then.  The Spectrum took the place of the Nelson Field House.  The football stadium has been enlarged and modernized.  The studentbody has more than trippled in size.  One thing, however remains, once an Aggie always an Aggie.  The crowds were very much into the game back then and they still are.  USU and the Aggies make Logan a special place in the minds and hearts of thousands of people.  In no small measure, that is why we feel at home here after moving to Logan last year.  Tonight we went to the USU basketball game.  It was fun to be a part of the cheering crowd, even though the Aggies lost for the first time on their home court in more than thrity games,  It was also good to see Jared, now a sports reporter for the Deseret News, occupying one of the best seats in the house.  We love to read his articles and follow his writings no matter what he is covering.  He does very well at all he does and we are constantly getting compliments about his writing.  We are proud of him and his family and all they do.



Aggie Basketball Game.  Note the cheering fans and especially the "Distracter" , the fat guy with his shirt off, under the opposing teams basket.  Aggie fans will do anything to help their team win.

Jared, hard at work behind the scorers table reporting on the Aggie game.  Check out his articles in the Deseret News or at deseretenews.com.




2 comments:

meegz said...

Glad you had a good time -- must be proud to have your son working there!:)

Rene Weston-Eborn said...

We are proud of Jared too! He looks so professional.