It's one line in the Demon football record book, in the year by year scores.
1962 - 10/26 - NSU 52, Mexico Poly 6.
The home games in the results are in all capital letters. Like the previous year:
9/23 - NSU 55 MEXICO POLY 8.
I never noticed this before.
The Demons played in Mexico. In Mexico City, precisely. And Joe Beasley and his brother Donald, and their teammates on the 1962 Gulf States Conference championship team featuring future Pro Football Hall of Fame tight end Jackie Smith, had lifelong memories.
Tuesday evening, it was great to see Joe back in town. He works in the oil industry overseas, literally around the world. He comes home to Natchitoches as often as he can, and constantly adds to his legion of friends of all ages.
Several of us shared memories of NSU and local sports. A story in the Tuesday Alexandria paper profiled local sports icon J.D. Garrett, the longtime Natchitoches Central coach and former Grambling All-America football star, who is universally admired, and there were plenty of tales of Coach Garrett from his playing days through today.
That got us into a discussion of the late, great Charlie Tolar, whose dad Guy used to take Joe and Donald to watch Charlie and Charlie Hennigan play with Billy Cannon and George Blanda for the Houston Oilers. Then Joe and friends talked about watching Cannon, Tolar, Hennigan and others in the Northwestern Relays on the cinder track at old Demon Stadium.
Plenty of great tales to share as time allows - but for now, back to Mexico.
"We played in a huge stadium. The night before, they had 110,000 to watch soccer there," said Joe. "There were about 30-40,000 for our game and it seemed almost empty."
He remembered throwing a TD pass to Jackie Smith. He also remembered Big Red's incredible athleticism, and how he was really a track star who ran the short and long hurdles, the 400, the relays and excelled there. Jackie, said Joe, was an incredible punter as well.
Since I'm late getting to the Demons' baseball game tonight vs. La. Tech, we'll stop now. There's also a surprise birthday party for another of my favorite people to discuss soon. Probably not tomorrow, as I'm headed to Alexandria to play in the Countdown to Kickoff Classic golf scramble supporting Demon football. Anything to support the Demons!
Doug Ireland, SID
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Sunday, May 04, 2008
BuffaloBills.com update on Demetrius Bell
Each of the last three days, during the Buffalo Bills' rookie mini-camp ending today, I've visited one of the better NFL websites around, www.BuffaloBills.com, to get the latest on 2007 Demon All-America offensive tackle and NFL Draft seventh-round pick Demetrius Bell. Check out this from Saturday's practice report by BuffaloBills.com lead journalist Chris Brown:
"....The offensive linemen were again getting some extra attention from Dick Jauron. The Bills head coach spent a good amount of time observing them during pass protection technique work. Seventh-round pick Demetrius Bell is very raw, but is making progress.
“ 'I’ve learned a ton the past two days,” said Bell. “I’m learning a lot in the classroom and on the field. Coach said I’m making improvement and I think I’m making improvements, but I still feel I have a long way to go.'
"Bell is still going through some of his techniques a bit robotically, so coach Sean Kugler is encouraging him to let his natural ability take over. But when you’re thinking about footwork and hand placement so much it’s hard to do that right away. Bell’s potential is encouraging in light of his obvious athleticism...."
When I read this, deja vu set in. On the Wednesday before the draft, we had an interview opportunity with D-Bell for the area TV stations. I remember him saying that the difference in his 2006 and 2007 seasons was that in 2006, his crash course in offensive line play, he was thinking all the time about technique and assignments and never felt comfortable. Last fall, his senior season, he said he was confident about what he was doing and was having fun. Obviously, he played well.
Now that he's totally immersed in football, the learning curve should be shortened.
BTW, one reason he can completely focus on football is that he will be going through commencement exercises Friday.
Doug Ireland, SID
"....The offensive linemen were again getting some extra attention from Dick Jauron. The Bills head coach spent a good amount of time observing them during pass protection technique work. Seventh-round pick Demetrius Bell is very raw, but is making progress.
“ 'I’ve learned a ton the past two days,” said Bell. “I’m learning a lot in the classroom and on the field. Coach said I’m making improvement and I think I’m making improvements, but I still feel I have a long way to go.'
"Bell is still going through some of his techniques a bit robotically, so coach Sean Kugler is encouraging him to let his natural ability take over. But when you’re thinking about footwork and hand placement so much it’s hard to do that right away. Bell’s potential is encouraging in light of his obvious athleticism...."
When I read this, deja vu set in. On the Wednesday before the draft, we had an interview opportunity with D-Bell for the area TV stations. I remember him saying that the difference in his 2006 and 2007 seasons was that in 2006, his crash course in offensive line play, he was thinking all the time about technique and assignments and never felt comfortable. Last fall, his senior season, he said he was confident about what he was doing and was having fun. Obviously, he played well.
Now that he's totally immersed in football, the learning curve should be shortened.
BTW, one reason he can completely focus on football is that he will be going through commencement exercises Friday.
Doug Ireland, SID
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