Too Old, Too Small, and Danny Rumbaugh


In fifth grade, I gave up soccer to try football. I was one of the smallest kids on the field, but I was fast, and in my first game I scored four or five touchdowns. I thought I had found my sport.
Then I learned I was several days too old for the younger division and was forced to move up to the older league. Overnight, I went from starting running back to benchwarmer.
The following weekend, we played the best team in the league, led by a much bigger and more talented player named Danny Rumbaugh. Late in the game, Danny broke loose on a kickoff return, and somehow I was the only player with a chance to stop him. Despite being completely outmatched, I dove at his legs and brought him down.
Danny landed on top of me and, furious that the smallest kid on the field had stopped him, punched me in the face.
Fortunately, I was still wearing my helmet.
Danny injured his hand badly enough to leave the game and eventually needed stitches.
I never became the football star I imagined I would be. But more than thirty years later, I still remember that one tackle.
 The experience taught me something I didn't understand as a kid: sometimes our most meaningful moments don't come when we're the best or the biggest. They come when we're scared, outmatched, and choose to step forward anyway.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Know Your Limits

Image
By: Opa AKA Big Poppa Huff AKA Dave Hoffman Know your limits. I am not a handyman. I take great care of sick patients. I can really cook. I can run and lift heavy weights. I am not a handyman. Many years ago my wife  decided she wanted to cover up the orange painted walls in our kitchen with a light colored wall paper. She announced that she going to hire a handyman to do the job. I felt an insult to my manliness. I said wait, I can do the wallpapering, after all how difficult could it be? Pick out the wallpaper and and I will take care of it on my next day off of work. At the time I was working in the local emergency room but I was mentally preparing to put up wallpaper. This was long before You-tube instructional videos, but I thought it would be easy, wet the wallpaper, slap it on the wall, then trim the top and bottom. How would I do the trimming? I had the Eureka moment, I would borrow a metal scalpel handle with removable metal blades, perfect! The big day arrived. I was...
Read more

The Bird Clock - A Running Joke

Image
 By: Dad AKA Matt      I was a young boy, about 11 or 12, when my dad gifted me the Bird Clock, in all its glory.  I don't remember what I was hoping for that Christmas, but it definitely was not the ugliest, most annoying clock ever created.  Looking back, I should have known something was up.  My dad seemed particularly interested when I was opening that gift.  He had the biggest smile on his face, in contrast to my look of confusion. Every hour, on the hour, this clock promised to produce a different bird call at max volume.  This was a promise that it delivered upon all day, every day.  My dad immediately volunteered to hang it in my bedroom.  It lasted about a day and a half before I removed it and hid it somewhere in the house.  About 3 days later, my dad found it and hung it back up. It found a new and improved hiding spot immediately.  This pattern continued until I finished my senior year of high school and packed...
Read more

The Untold Story

Image
By: Dad AKA Matt This is not an easy post to write simply because I wasn't sure how to approach it. My family and I created this blog to share stories from our lives that teach, uplift, and make you laugh. This narrative is one of the best stories that was almost never told.  That's right, the title is a slight misnomer. Personally, I've only heard the story  just one time.  When my grandfather  shared it, I was  flabbergasted. He revealed the story in the blink of an eye, I nearly missed it and had to ask quite a few questions to make sure I was really understanding what I heard! Years later, my brother Zack and I reminisced about why such a great story was never brought up again.  Now, as a father trying to instill my personal values unto my sons, I think I know why.  Nonetheless,the story is NOT the focal point nor the moral of this post.  It is the WHY that holds the value. and is the true takeaway. My grandfather, Pop Fegley, loved to ...
Read more