75 lb Colts

I was thinking about some of the interesting moments in my football career. I was looking at an old picture of the 75 pound Atlanta Colts and thought about a moment in one of the games that year. We were playing one of the teams in or near Decatur. I think we were playing Clairmont. Toward the middle of the second quarter, our center, Deming Fish, was getting his clock cleaned by the opposing lineman. At one point, the defensive lineman got past Deming and tackled our quarterback, Tommy Schreiber. After the play was over, we huddled up and our tailback, Tommy Dutton, was giving Deming grief for letting his man get into the backfield, and said, "Come on, Deming, block!"

At this point, one of the referees entered the huddle and said, "Alright boys. Let's not have any of that language." Tommy understood what he was referring to and said, "No, sir, Deming is his name."

I don't think the referee understood what Tommy was trying to say, but Tommy quit yelling at Deming Fish for the rest of the game.

When I played on the 75 pound Colts, we had a pretty good team, but lost just enough games to disqualify us for the playoffs. After the playoffs were over, we played the first bowl game we ever had at Murphy Candler for the travelling teams and beat a team from Chicago. Our quarterback was the MVP of the game. After the game, they had a ceremony in which our coach received the winner's trophy, and Tommy Schreiber received a medal around his neck. When it came time for him to receive his medal, they called him forward and Tommy knelt before the official to receive his award like some knight of old.

I always thought Tommy was a little bit of a prima donna. Later, when I tackled him in the Dunwoody Chamblee game for a big loss, when I was a senior, I really enjoyed it.