Chapter 51

The rain didn’t let up until nearly noon, then the sun popped out. The skies were clear and the temperature was a lot cooler. This was more like football weather and the feeling just added to the talk of the day...

The Masonville eighth grade Mavericks and the big win yesterday.

It seemed that everyone had a copy of the Masonville hometown paper with them this morning. Ben even brought two copies of the Dallas Morning News to school with him.

There on the front page of the sports section was a big write-up of our game in Stratford yesterday. There were two photos of me, one taken when the football was presented to me at midfield and another as I ran down the sidelines.

“I just had a feeling you were going to have the breakout game of your life yesterday. After our team meeting, you were pumped like I’d never seen you before and you were really pumped when the whistle blew and the game started,” Ben told me when he handed me a copy of the Dallas paper to keep.

“Ben, I still feel like I’m pumped too. I’ve felt that way since the game was over, and this morning, I felt like I could run all day.”

“You should feel pumped. Listen to this. You were unofficially clocked by two of the Dallas sports writers on that sixty-two yard TD, running through a forty-yard stretch in 4.25 seconds.”

“Really? Where is that part?”

“Right here. They even clocked you at 10.20 on that hundred-yard kickoff return to start the game. Damn, Rick, you’re even faster than I thought you were and I already knew you could run!

“When Coach Dunavant sees this, he’ll want you to run track next spring.”

“I’ve been thinking about talking to him to see what he thinks of me trying out, just to keep in shape. I run each day when the weather is decent and I’m home.”

“Do it and I’ll try out for the relay teams with you...

“Hey, I bet you didn’t even see the lead about you on the front page, did you?”

“No, why?”

“Listen to this,” Ben said and read part of the write-up aloud as I kept looking for it.

‘Folks, for weeks now we had heard rumors about that wild bunch from Masonville, Texas. When we heard they were planning a raid on Stratford, Texas, we were there waiting for them. The Dalton Gang rode into town yesterday afternoon, and believe me, it not only started off ugly it got really brutal before it was over. When that gang arrived, we hunkered and witnessed the whole thing as the leader of the gang stole the show and put his name in the record books as he took over the town. We had heard rumors beforehand that he was one of the most feared young runners in the state and he proved it to us and the rest of the football world out there on the plains of Texas yesterday.

While accumulating a total of 479 yards rushing, this young Outlaw — the leader of The Dalton Gang — scored five touchdowns, returned the first kickoff of the game 100 yards for a touchdown, returned a punt for a touchdown, and amassed 673 yards of total offense for the game.

We’re not talking about team stats here folks, we’re talking about the stats of a young player our senior cameraman dubbed, ‘The Outlaw Express’ — Richard Mack ‘Rick’ Dalton, the leader of The Dalton Gang.

‘He’ll be on every football team’s Wanted Poster for the rest of his career and you can put all your reward money on that bet.’

“They dubbed you The Outlaw Express again in the sports section, saying that you ran like Eric Dickerson of the SMU Pony Express, back years ago.

I felt like I could have dressed out and played another game today, Ben had me so pumped.

After school was out, none of us wanted to go home just yet so we loaded up and rode over to The Corral.

Most of our players were just getting there with their girlfriends and the ones who weren’t came in before we left.

As people came and went, it wasn’t long before we’d table-hopped and table-swapped until we had one whole section of The Corral covered with the Maverick eighth grade football team and our girls.

I thought of the two game balls out in the SUV and told Ben I was going to get one to give the manager.

“Hold up just one minute there, Outlaw,” he drawled and I laughed at him

“I’m way ahead of you. I told Coach Clark about you promising the manager a game ball and he gave me a practice ball for all of us to sign. You should start keeping all your game balls, Dalton. One day, they’ll be worth a lot of money!”

“WOW!” was all I could say to that as the ball was passed around to be signed.

“I’ll call her over here, you present the ball to her — Outlaw,” Toro told me as he signed the ball last.

The kickoff for the JV game with the Clarkton Wildcats was set for 7:15 since the senior team had an away game this week. At 6:00, Bonnie and I started our rounds in Mom’s SUV to pick up our friends.

Our last stop was at Kalita’s, and Toro was already there with her. They’re a hot couple now. He with his hard, muscular body and strong legs — she with her strong legs and smoking hot, hard body.

Our football stadium currently seats seventy-five hundred and rumors are all over the school campus that there are plans to purchase the three vacant blocks across the street and build a new fifteen-thousand-seat stadium if our school moves up to Class 5-A next year.

Our enrollment is way up and we’ve even heard rumors of Masonville Public Schools consolidating with Mason County Consolidated School District by the end of the 2016 school year which would bump us up to a major, Class 6-A school. Mom told me that she had heard there were already plans in place to build a whole new high school and sports complex outside the city with a twenty-five thousand-seat football and track stadium plus two new gyms, in case we did consolidate.

Thanks to our three booster clubs in Masonville, student tickets are half price and student season tickets for the JV and senior home games are only twenty dollars whether there are five or six regular season home games each. This does not include the conference and district playoff games played here.

Adult ticket prices are seven dollars with rumors of that increasing to eight dollars if we consolidate and the new school and sports complex does happen. Adult season ticket prices are thirty dollars and that doesn’t include any playoff games. Season ticket holders do have first option for choice seats at the home playoff games.

I had never even been to a football game until I started playing. I never knew so many fans came out to watch the high school and JV games. We are at capacity each week, for the eighth grade, the JV and especially the senior high games where there is standing room only with people paying just to stand and watch from around outside the guardrails where there are no bleachers.

Clarkton is next on our schedule too. We play them here and since they’re only thirty miles away just across the county line, our game is already sold out. One of our guys has a cousin who attends school in Clarkton and he told us in the locker room the other day that the student tickets went on sale over there at 8:00 one morning and they were sold out before lunch.

With our fans and their fans, we should have a packed house next Thursday for our game at 4:00.

After we had made our way through the turnstiles and headed up the ramp to the bleachers, Tara was leading the way. She already knew which section Dr. and Mrs. McHenery sit in each week. By the time we’d made it to the steps, she was waving to them and we saw them stand and wave back.

I had only met Dr. McHenery once before when Shaun introduced me to him after one of his games. I met Mrs. McHenery that night too and she reminds me so much of my Mom.

No matter where she is, no matter what she’s doing, no matter what she’s wearing or if she has makeup on or not — she is beautiful!

Dr. McHenery is one of those men you look at and think, I want to grow up and be just like him. He’s tall and dark. He has a little gray hair above his temples and he looks like a movie star. Oh, and he’s mega-rich too but you’d never know it. He’s just down to earth and everyone likes him.

Shaun told Ben and me that his dad loves football and could talk about it day and night. He told us his dad has some of the old films of the NFL back when they were filmed in black and white, during the early years even before TV.

I’d love to watch some of those and I told Shaun that when he told us his dad had them.

One other thing about him that impresses everyone he meets, he never forgets a face or a name, no matter how long it has been. I wish he could teach me how to do that.

Mrs. McHenery pulled Tara close for a hug, then hugged Brandy, Emily, Bonnie and Kalita as they were introduced to her. While she was busy with the girls, Dr. McHenery stepped down one row to extend his hand.

“Rick, that was the most exciting football game I have ever watched. You young men played the game of a lifetime out there yesterday and you made your name known all over America with that performance of yours,” he told me as we shook.

“Thanks, Dr. McHenery. My performance was the result of our team coming together and playing to win. They made it easy for me and they deserve the praise. All I did was carry the ball when they made the holes for me.”

“That’s a good attitude to have Rick. Always praise your offensive and defensive linemen. They are the unsung heroes of any team, especially the really good teams that everyone talks about and writes stories about.

“You and Ben and Jason come sit next to me so we can talk. You’ll have the rest of your life to cuddle with those beautiful young girls of yours.”

I sat on one side of Dr. McHenery, with Ben and Toro on the other side as the teams were warming up.

“I know all of you have read the writeup in the Masonville paper by now, but have you seen The Dallas Morning News?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir. Ben brought me a copy and we looked at the write-up they had,” I told him.

“Did you know that the Associated Press picked up that article and the front page lead, and sent it out on the wire to major media outlets across America?”

“NO! We didn’t know that!” Ben said as he and Toro looked over at me and grinned.

“There has always been something about the word Outlaw that sparks the interest of those who see it in print. When that story in the Dallas paper hits the wires, there will be readers who never watch football, talking about the young football team in Texas known as The Dalton Gang and their leader who has been dubbed The Outlaw Express.

“I have friends on my Twitter list in the medical profession who are doctors, surgeons and hospital executives from all over America, many of whom are sports fans just as I am. I’ve gotten over fifty tweets about the game already, asking if I know any of the members of The Dalton Gang personally and if I have pictures I can send.”

“Dr. McHenery, are you kidding?” I asked.

“No, Rick. You and the Mavericks will be known from coast to coast by the end of this season if you keep playing at the same level and win all your games, which everyone is expecting of you now.

“I consider myself an historian on American football — from teams your age to the pros. From the birth of college football in America to the forming of the National Football League in 1920 and on through the merger with the upstart, American Football League.

“Sports fans love sports heroes, and they love to read about their heroes and collect memorabilia. There will be school kids in Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, down in the Carolinas, out on the west coast, in New York and all over America by this time next year, wearing T-shirts with ‘The Dalton Gang’ printed on them. I heard this afternoon that the T-shirt shop downtown is filing for copyright protection on the logo and the name, if that tells you anything.”

“WOW!” the three of us said at once.

We were so involved in listening to Dr. McHenery, we looked around when everyone stood for the National Anthem, and the four of us jumped to our feet.

The place was standing room only and we were still standing when the teams took the field for the kickoff.

“Look, there goes Shaun!” Tara yelled.

“He’s going to receive the kickoff,” Dr. McHenery said and jumped up to stand in his seat.

As the ball sailed toward Shaun in the end zone, I knew exactly what he must be feeling right now. I thought at first he was going to take a knee, then he took off with his blockers making a lane up the middle. He cut across to the near sideline and ran it all the way back to the opposing fifteen yard line before they shoved him out of bounds. The crowd went wild and I thought Dr. and Mrs. McHenery were going to have heart attacks the way they were yelling and screaming.

“He told me yesterday afternoon that the coaches had asked him to move to wide receiver and I asked him if he thought that was a good move. He told me they were five deep at running back and their best wide receiver was out for the rest of the season with an ankle injury. I had no idea he would be receiving kickoffs too,” Dr. McHenery told us.

He sure was excited to see Shaun get to start and then nearly return the kick for a touchdown. I looked at him and saw tears in his eyes. I stood and watched as they ran down his face and for some reason, my eyes watered up.

I realized right then this was something I’d never get to experience — my dad watching me play football — tears flooded my eyes too. I shook my head, turning away to wipe my eyes on my shirt sleeve as we sat back down.

I made myself a silent promise as I sat and watched Dr. McHenery yell and shout his son’s name. I was going to play every game for the rest of my life as if my dad was there in person, watching me play.

I wiped my eyes again and suddenly I felt good about what I had just promised myself. I had never thought of Dad that way. For the first time in my life, I felt like I knew him and felt close to him when I saw another man cheering for his son down on the football field.

“They’ve called a flanker reverse!” Ben yelled and we stood as Shaun took the ball from the halfback and raced around end to score.

Dr. McHenery turned and grabbed me in a bear hug and I hugged him as tight as I could. I leaned back and he smiled at me through his tears.

“Dr. McHenery, he’s found his place on the team. He can stop worrying about it now,” I told him.

“I know, Rick. I know, and I can stop worrying about him trying to please me too. He can just play the game he loves instead of playing to impress me.”

Boy, the things a guy can learn, just listening to a father’s pride as he talks about his son.

Our JV team went on to win the game 42 to 13, still undefeated except for that one scrimmage game with the eighth grade Mavericks known as The Dalton Gang!

Shaun scored two more touchdowns on long bombs and the crowd was wild, cheering for a new hero who had stepped up to play another position and met the challenge when asked to, making a name for himself as he did.

“We usually just stay here and let Shaun make his way up to see us rather than fight that crowd trying to get out of here early,” Dr. McHenery told us.

The stands had cleared and there were only a few people milling around down on the field when we saw Shaun coming up the ramp.

Tara screamed and ran down two flight of steps to meet him, launching herself at him from three steps above as he held out his arms. Dr. and Mrs. McHenery laughed and pointed to them as he carried her back up the steps to where we were standing, waiting to congratulate him.