Column: Watching college football brings back fond memories of my youth

The college football season ended this week and I can’t stop crying.

I’m not crying because my team lost; I really don’t have a team. Mostly, I root against teams, some more than others.

I’m crying because I’m facing eight months without football. Whatever shall I do?

I trace my affection for the gridiron sport back to my days as a Costa Mesa High School student.

Coach Don Burns’ Mustangs played their first varsity football game 57 years ago. I was there. As a 15-year-old junior, I covered the game as sports editor of the school’s student newspaper, The Hitching Post.

It was the evening of Sept. 23, 1960 — Mesa’s third year of operation — and the team traveled south to play Ramona High near Escondido.

Ramona opened the season as the defending CIF small-schools champion. It was favored by three touchdowns over Mesa, which lacked a single player on its roster with varsity experience. But the inspired Mustangs pulled off a 14-6 stunner.

The Hitching Post trumpeted the victory with this front-page, banner headline: “Amazed Players, Fans See Beginners Upset Champs, 14-6.” I wrote the story.

But my two most memorable games occurred 51 weeks apart on Saturday, Dec. 14, 1963, and Saturday, Dec. 5, 1964.

The first was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena; the second at the Tangerine Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Today it’s called Camping World Stadium.

The games were labeled the Junior Rose Bowl and the Missile Bowl.

In the first game, Orange Coast College defeated Northeastern Oklahoma A&M, 21-0, for the national JC title. In the second, Fort Benning, Ga. defeated Fort Eustis, Va., 9-3, to win the armed forces championship. Both teams — OCC and Benning — logged 10-0 season records.

I was a sophomore at OCC when the Pirates played in the Junior Rose Bowl. A caravan of cars and buses left campus the morning of Dec. 14 bound for the Rose Bowl. More than 44,000 fans filed through the gates, and the game was carried on national television.

Several players from Mesa High’s first team were on that OCC roster, including receiver Gary Carr who caught a TD pass.

The victory, for me, was a thrill. I sat in the student section where we performed card stunts, watched a fabulous halftime show (with a “Wizard of Oz” theme) and, of course, savored the game.

I joined the Army three months later, and in July of ’64 I was transferred to Fort Benning.

In September I began following Benning’s football team, the Doughboys. They played their games 300 yards from my barracks in historic Doughboy Stadium.

Because of the military draft, the team was stocked with lots of ex-college players, including two-time All-American offensive guard and linebacker, Pat Dye.

Dye, from the University of Georgia, was armed forces player of the year in ’64. He went on to coach the Auburn Tigers.

My Doughboys were invited to the Missile Bowl, and I followed them to Orlando.

I secured a three-day pass from my first sergeant, but traveled alone. I couldn’t convince any of my buddies to shell out 20 bucks for roundtrip bus fare.

I boarded the coach in Columbus, Ga., at 3 p.m. Dec. 4, 1964, bound for Orlando, some 385 miles away. With many stops, we drove all night.

I realized we were in Florida shortly after sunrise when I spotted a familiar sight — orange groves! The kid from Orange County, California, was in Orange County, Florida.

We pulled into the Orlando Greyhound Station at 9 a.m. Saturday, and I managed to secure a room for $2 at the nearby YMCA. I locked my bags in the room and walked 2 miles to the stadium. Kickoff was at 1 p.m.

The Tangerine Bowl was then only slightly larger than OCC’s Pirate Stadium (now LeBard Stadium), with 10,000 seats. Today it seats 65,000, but its original bleachers still stand.

After the victory over Fort Eustis, I grabbed dinner at a nearby grill and walked back to my room.

I caught the Greyhound out of Orlando that Sunday morning for Columbus, arriving at my barracks before midnight.

It was the most memorable football weekend of my life.

Football, how I love it!

JIM CARNETT, who lives in Costa Mesa, worked for Orange Coast College for 37 years.