Latest / Then and Now with Coach Z / Ep. 018 | Bob Bunton Sr. & Bob Bunton Jr. | Then & Now

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Ep. 018 | Bob Bunton Sr. & Bob Bunton Jr. | Then & Now · Then and Now with Coach Z

0:00
OK, well, good afternoon everybody.
0:02
The then and now is now on the air and I have two distinguished
0:07
guests with me today. But before I introduce my
0:09
guests, I I have a shout out. Last week I talked about some of
0:13
the then, which is long, long ago for many of us.
0:17
That's the then. The now is what's going on
0:19
today. But the then I want to mention a
0:22
few more of the old basketball coaches, DC Wilcott and Denver
0:27
Miller and Dick Herman, Irv Limer, Tyke Yates, Howdy
0:31
Sanders, Dawson Pikey. Those guys were guys that had a
0:36
lot to do with my career when I started officiating a high
0:39
school basketball. And today I was asked by a a
0:44
good friend to go over to my alma mater to take a look at
0:47
University City of the high school and take a tour of the
0:51
building and meet all the coaches that I'm telling you.
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I was beyond impressed. All my friends who are still
0:57
with us and we're losing them too often, but the ones who are
1:00
with us, they need to go over there.
1:02
Those you guys and gals who went to U City, go over and see that
1:06
school. When you walk in there, you will
1:07
not notice it. Is it?
1:09
You will not even look at it and say, is this really U City?
1:13
They have everything in there and it's spic and span.
1:16
And I walk the halls with these coaches and the coaches I want
1:18
to mention that I met today. I met Mr. Will Franklin, who's
1:22
your football coach, and John Bass, who's their baseball
1:26
coach, Craig Morris, who's their softball coach, Ernest Carter,
1:31
who's the associate principal. And they tell me that Ernest
1:33
Carter keeps that building in real good shape.
1:37
They, those kids, understand Ernest Carter very well.
1:40
And then I met I didn't meet him.
1:42
I met him before Ken Kelly, who he does some officiating still.
1:47
He's a high school basketball official.
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And he told me that he had gone down to Columbia and was able to
1:53
work a state final. So that's great for him.
1:56
And then, and then there was a Rich Matthews, who's also a
1:58
staff member who went to Co College and got a got a sniffle
2:04
with the Buffalo when who was the gentleman who was at the
2:09
Buffalo coach all those years? The Saint Louis guy was the
2:12
started Country Day. Marv.
2:14
Marv. Marv Levy So that being said,
2:17
let me introduce these two gentlemen.
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You guys say hello. The first one I'll introduce
2:21
because he does have a senior already, Mr. Mr. Bob Bunton,
2:25
Senior. Glad to have you here, Sir.
2:27
Thank you, Sir. It's an honor.
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And his son, Bob Bunton, say hello.
2:34
Hey, guys. Thank you.
2:35
Thank you for having me. Well, anyway, starting off, the
2:39
buttons are legendary Parkway N people, and I did some research,
2:45
which is more than I did when I was going to University City
2:48
High School or Washington University.
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But eight buttons have played football over at Parkway N It's
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just unbelievable. Dad, I'll call you Dad today.
3:02
OK, Tell me about the start and how all these kids got started
3:07
in football. It's tremendous.
3:09
Well, you know, they, we were, I got started with the JFL after
3:13
it was a year old, which was the old junior Football League.
3:15
And then it brought the kids in. They were ball boys and all
3:18
that. And then they were fortunate
3:19
enough that Bob was and, and my other son Bill, they were there
3:24
when they were building Parkway. So I mean, they saw the Bill
3:27
that come up from the ground. And I mean, he, he never played
3:31
there and got college came back. So that's all he knows.
3:36
And North has been important to us, not only in in sports, but I
3:40
mean, it was a lot of friends, a lot of administrators, a lot of
3:43
coaches. And as I was telling you
3:45
earlier, all the kids had a had a passion to play football.
3:48
And it seemed to be just natural that to to play.
3:52
They were fortunate to have Denny Staub as a coach and then
3:54
he took over so. Yeah, well, Denny Staub was the
3:57
coach and he, I I think Bob, you told me a previously that Denny,
4:01
you played for him for one year, right?
4:03
I did well, my work started. Mike opened the building at
4:08
Parkway N that was 72. I was in like 6th, 7th grade so
4:14
and and dad's right, my brother and I used to go up there and
4:17
watch the building we built from the ground up.
4:20
It was right across the street. We moved into 7 Pines, the
4:24
neighborhood right there. So Mike opened the building up
4:27
and then he left in 76 and Denny Staub came in for my senior
4:34
year, which the football season 77.
4:37
And you know, Denny was just a a good man.
4:40
He became a great role model and Danny was there 23 years as a
4:46
head coach. I went away to Southeast
4:49
Missouri State, play baseball, but football was my passion.
4:52
Just wasn't very good at it. And then when I came back, I
4:56
coached with Denny Freight. I got a job right out of college
4:59
and I was his assistant for 18 years and then he retired and I
5:06
took over. Unbelievable.
5:08
Not only did you take over, you had some great success.
5:11
Well, we had some real good talent and really wonderful
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coaches. I mean we were truly to this
5:16
day, you know how it is. Was it Ledoux when you guys it
5:19
would? We were all brothers.
5:20
I mean we were great friends. We each had a passion.
5:23
A lot of them were N grads, which was fun.
5:27
I mean, because the kids felt our passion.
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You know, when we went out on a Friday night, it wasn't well,
5:33
coach knows this about football. No, it was hey man, this is for
5:37
Parkway N this and and the kids could relate to that.
5:40
So we managed to do that for a long time.
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I was 19 years as the head coach and again, a lot of us were we,
5:48
we, we had a real good staff that stayed together and that's
5:53
important. Well, you, you've had great
5:54
success, and I'm not going to take any credit for your success
5:58
as a coach, but when you were a young high school kid, you and
6:03
Steve, Nicole Aurette and Dave Silvestri and your brother, I
6:08
think it was Billy. I'm not sure.
6:10
You guys, you came as young high school guys and they were my
6:15
counselors. And it, you know, what was great
6:17
about having them as my counselors #1 they were really
6:20
good, really good instructors. And I didn't have to pay them
6:23
much, but we had a lot of for work.
6:27
Much did. Did we have some fun down there?
6:29
We did but see, you were the I mean, still are an icon, but you
6:33
Oh my God, we're going to set yours baseball camp.
6:35
We're like we've you know, we're on our way to the majors, right?
6:39
I mean, we were all, not only we were better baseball players
6:43
than we were football, but when it was American Legion time and
6:49
you were humping, we got to know you even more.
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And we knew who you were as a basketball ref and everything.
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But when we got asked to do your camp, you, you missed out.
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We probably would have worked for free.
7:01
So we took that money you gave us.
7:03
You know what? Isn't it interesting?
7:04
Look at look at the success. Those were young kids there and
7:08
they love sports and they and they show.
7:10
Look what Nicole Red did down at Saint Louis U High.
7:13
And how about Sylvester? You made went to the big league.
7:17
And if you want to know how great David Silvestri was, I'll
7:21
give you his phone number. You can call Phil David.
7:26
David did not lack confidence. No, David did not.
7:29
David grew up with with Tim and they played together.
7:31
How about that infield at 12 years old?
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They had Scott Cooper third, David Silvestri chart and Tim at
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2nd. Well, it doesn't get better.
7:38
Well, it doesn't get any better. I mean, and, and Silvestri, I
7:42
mean, he was athletically very arrogant, but I loved him.
7:46
He was a great kid. Oh, I coached with Silvestri
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when my grandson, Noah Whitner, they had that real good class
7:53
over there at Central. So I coached him in the 6th, 7th
7:57
and 8th grade. And Silvestri and I, we, we
8:00
coached together and Oh my goodness.
8:03
Right. I went coaching youth football
8:05
when I saw David as an athlete. I, I wanted him on my football
8:08
team because he was the same age and his mother wouldn't let him
8:11
play football. And I thought, God, this kid
8:13
would dominate for God's sakes, but she wouldn't let him play.
8:17
She wouldn't let him play. I think somebody told me this
8:20
and you might know about somebody told me that in his
8:22
junior year over to Parkway Central.
8:25
He didn't make an error. Is that does that make sense?
8:28
Oh, I wouldn't doubt it, David. David, Well, obviously, I mean,
8:32
he played for the Yankees, the Expos, the US Olympic team.
8:37
I think he was in that group. I think with McGuire in them.
8:40
I could be wrong, but because David, he played legion ball at
8:47
Krieve Corps, but he left during the middle of his senior season
8:51
that summer because he went to the the US Olympics.
8:55
Right up up in Millington, up in Millington, TN.
8:58
So David left us, but oh, well. I mean, arguably David was the
9:04
best athlete to come out of Parkway Central.
9:06
I mean, David did play football in high school and David was, I
9:09
mean, he's good. David was meant to compete and
9:13
still a good friend. I haven't talked to him in a
9:15
while, but no, David was wasn't much coaching to do, you know.
9:20
No, this, this. Just show him where the field is
9:22
and he'll he'll take care. Now, David would stay after, you
9:25
know, in the summer Legion, you didn't practice that much.
9:28
But I'll never forget David would say Bob hit me some ground
9:31
balls and I would hit him right at him and that, oh, he'd be so
9:36
mad. No, I want to go left.
9:37
I want to go right. And you know, David just wanted
9:41
all kinds of extra work and he was driven.
9:44
I mean, David, I would, I would not want to compete against
9:47
Dave. Dave was hard nosed.
9:49
No. And you know, his son was a
9:50
pretty good high school basketball player.
9:52
Good. She was.
9:53
And David, I, I give him credit for this because I, I was not a
9:56
real good spectator, you know what I mean?
9:59
I really wasn't. And David, when I go to my
10:03
grandson, I went to every one of his basketball games.
10:06
David Silvestri would sit far, far, far away.
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So if he ever made a comment, you know, like what?
10:14
What's that coach? Nobody would hear him.
10:16
You know what I mean? That's good.
10:17
Yeah. He he showed a lot of respect
10:19
for that coaching staff over there.
10:21
So let me ask you this. Can you talk to me?
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I've always wanted to know the true story of what happened to
10:30
that kid down at Missouri. And you were really awesome
10:33
about that O'Neal kid when he lost his life.
10:35
Bob, what happened? It was July 12th of 2005, right
10:42
in the middle of the summer and the Mizzou staff, the the
10:46
assistants and and Coach Prinkle were not there.
10:50
It was a workout, I say voluntary workout, but it was
10:54
led by the strength coaches and it it was not a hot day.
11:01
It was mid 80s and it was really a strange day because I didn't
11:06
know this until later, but the Columbia Tribune was at Faro
11:11
Field to do a feature on summer workouts.
11:16
So tragically or even more tragically, this is all online
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this I mean the pictures they I mean the guy didn't know I I got
11:25
to be friends with the guy. There was many articles about
11:28
Aaron he just in the workout didn't feel well.
11:34
And as they found out later as an African American, he had a
11:38
sickle cell trait. And back then we, you know,
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we're always learning in athletics, right?
11:45
You go back in the day we took salt tablets.
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I mean, how dumb was that right? We were we we had to get
11:51
educated. Sickle cell trait was not
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coaches were not educated on that.
11:57
Since then they have they do treat and test kids, but it got
12:02
out of hand the sickle cell and you know, this is my opinion.
12:08
He didn't really get good treatment, meaning he was young.
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I don't think the staff knew him real well like we did and
12:19
there's a lot of players, I get that.
12:21
But I will say he did not get the treatment he should have
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gotten and everyone left the stadium back then.
12:30
The offices were across Providence Rd. and Aaron
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collapsed in the which was then the stadium locker room right
12:40
underneath the goal post. And a couple young freshman
12:44
players, red shirt sophomores helped him and he he collapsed
12:51
and there was no one around. And they found a landscaping
12:57
tractor, you know, like a Gator today, right?
13:01
And put him in the back, took him across the street to the
13:06
football offices and he went into cardiac arrest and then and
13:13
then I say took him across the street to the hospital.
13:17
To the hospital. Which was right?
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I mean, it overlooked the stadium, the North End.
13:23
And he died about less than an hour later at 19.
13:30
And then I got the call from Cornell Ford.
13:33
Cornell was on vacation. Coach was the recruiter, St.
13:37
Louis, a great guy, great friend.
13:41
And I remember picking up the phone and Cornell said, coach,
13:46
we've lost him. And that's why I and I remember
13:49
thinking, I don't understand, what are you saying?
13:53
And he said Aaron, Aaron died today.
13:55
And it went from there. And it was.
13:58
It was surreal. But you've done some awesome
14:03
stuff to remember that kid, haven't you, at North?
14:05
Let's talk about that. Well, you got to understand the
14:09
the history of Parkway N football.
14:11
Aaron was really the First Division one kid at that level
14:17
anyway that earned a scholarship.
14:21
And when he started out as a freshman, he was pretty much
14:26
basically ineligible at the end of his the first semester.
14:30
And honest to goodness, he came in to me right, right in the
14:35
middle of the the his freshman year and he said, coach, I want
14:39
to play college football and he goes I want to play for Miami.
14:44
That's when the Hurricanes were good, you know, the early 2000
14:48
and I said, well, and he was a young kid, right, So I didn't
14:51
really know him that well. And I said, hey, man, you may
14:54
not even be able to play high school football next year with
14:57
your grades. And, you know, he looked at me
15:00
and, and I think he learned a little bit more about me and I
15:03
and I got to know him better. And I said, hey, that's a great
15:06
goal, but you got to make grades, you know, from that
15:11
point on. And I'm telling you, he did it
15:14
on his own. It was Thanksgiving time of his
15:19
senior year and he had grown. I mean, he had grown into a
15:22
63215 running back, probably could have played well.
15:27
No, I know he could have played linebacker for us, but he was
15:30
too valuable If we lost Aaron, you know, and it was a running
15:34
back. We we were done.
15:37
So right about Thanksgiving break, I got a call from Cornell
15:41
Ford. They were sitting in the office
15:43
at Mizzou and he said, Hey, I want to put coach penkel on and
15:46
and coach said, I want you to know we're going to offer Aaron
15:49
a scholarship. Well, Aaron became the the hero
15:52
boy. I mean, he was that was it.
15:55
Are you kidding me? Or running backs going to
15:57
Mizzou. And Aaron was the greatest kid.
16:02
Take football, take athletics away.
16:04
He was 3 sport kid. Everybody loved him.
16:07
I mean, he was so low key and so unselfish and everybody, the
16:13
whole school really just rejoiced in him.
16:15
It was like, hey, Aaron O'Neill got a scholarship to Mizzou.
16:19
We Parkway N we're proud. And then, you know, a year and a
16:24
half later, it's like, what? You know, that was the story.
16:29
And yeah, we've we've retired his number.
16:32
His dad, Lonnie, is a wonderful friend.
16:34
His the whole family. His sister Shamika, in fact, her
16:38
daughter is now a freshman at Parkway North.
16:41
And I've gotten to meet all the grandkids.
16:43
And it was amazing. The kids in our program that did
16:47
go away to college, forget the level from NAIA on up.
16:52
They wanted to wear 25 in college.
16:54
And to this day, we just had a reunion.
16:58
Dad was there a couple weeks ago of our O Six team and our 2016
17:03
team. And Shamika showed up
17:06
unexpectedly. She was there with her daughter
17:08
and she came down to the tent area and some of the guys, the O
17:13
Six team knew her. The 16 guys didn't.
17:16
And I said, hey guys, it was about 20 of them.
17:18
I said, I want you to meet Erin O'Neill's sister Shamika,
17:22
instant rock star she was. I, I walked away.
17:25
They Oh my God, they wanted pictures with her.
17:28
And that's usually how it is with Shameka.
17:32
I mean, around North Erin O'Neill is still, we have a
17:35
retired locker of his. The way was in fact, Mizzou sent
17:41
the locker to us the day that he passed.
17:44
That's they kept it framed and. Yeah, that's that's, that's a
17:50
tragedy. But but, but at least he'll
17:55
never be forgotten over Parkway N He'll be.
17:57
He'll be remembered forever. You have an award for him,
18:00
right? They Yeah, well, our most
18:01
inspirational award is the Aaron O'Neill Award.
18:04
And then even Mizzou, they have a linebacker meeting room is
18:08
named in Aaron's honor. And.
18:10
And keep in mind this was a kid that never played for Mizzou.
18:14
Remember, he redshirted as a freshman, so he dressed for home
18:17
games, but he hadn't even started his second year at
18:21
Mizzou when he passed that summer.
18:23
Well, he was well well-being loved down there, obviously.
18:27
So Dad, they did a great job. National Football Foundation,
18:33
Tom Lombardi, can you tell us a little bit about that?
18:36
I know that you're very, very much interested in that
18:39
organization. Well, you tell me how long the
18:43
National Football Foundation was started in 1947 by 3 legends,
18:47
Douglas MacArthur, Earl Blake and and Grantland Rice, the
18:50
legendary writer. And that in in 1944, Tom
18:55
Lombardo, who's a local kid, went to Solan High School, went
19:00
his first year played at at Saint Louis University.
19:02
People think, no, they didn't have football.
19:03
Yeah, they did. They had pretty big time
19:05
football. The second year he got an
19:06
appointment to West Point. So he became the captain of the
19:10
best team in Army history. 1944. He had Mr. Inside, Mr. Outside
19:15
and those guys, MacArthur and Blake and that they want to
19:17
start an organization because it was the booming time where
19:20
athletics were really starting to, to get bigger and big and
19:22
support. They wanted to create an
19:24
organization of people that contributed significantly to
19:27
football. And, and that's what they did.
19:29
The foundation started and I think it was like 51 or 50,
19:31
something like that. They said we're going to have
19:33
chapters. So there's chapters, 120
19:36
chapters across the country. And so the the if you remember
19:42
the big red players they had they were part of the sports
19:44
Commission and they were upset here that Saint Louis good
19:48
didn't get to have more interest in high school football.
19:49
And some of them were, you know, from the Alabama, Texas and they
19:52
thought, what's these small crowds?
19:54
You know, you where we grew up. So they had a meeting and they
19:56
said somebody brought up by him might have been Larry Kinbaum
20:00
said, you know, a chapter of the National Football Foundation
20:02
might might help. So Danny Staab was the chairman
20:06
of Metropolitan Coaches or the president.
20:08
They sent him to a banquet. He came back, said, oh, yeah, it
20:11
would really be neat because basically what we do is a
20:13
chapter is recognize scholar athletes for their the three
20:17
things there, for their academic achievement, their football
20:19
success and then their personal character.
20:21
Good kids you when you read there.
20:24
Would read their resumes. You can't this this can't be
20:26
true that these kids can do all this stuff OK.
20:29
And it barely when you pick 11 kids, there's by four or five of
20:31
them are captains four or five more president of this.
20:34
They're not always the best football player, but they're
20:36
good. So anyway, Danny comes back says
20:38
yeah, it would help us. So then I think it was Ed Belton
20:42
Larry Kinbaum, Bill Coleman, God rest his soul.
20:44
Jim Otis and they they needed somebody to run it.
20:47
Well, Danny, you know, for me from there because we'd start
20:49
the booster club up there. He's I got a guy that made a
20:52
ticket and I went to a meeting. I was interviewed for this high
20:54
paying job. I mean, you know, in fact, they
20:57
double my pay every year and we start a chapter.
21:01
They sent me to Cincinnati to see a banquet and Lou Holtz was
21:05
a speaker. Ron, you know, I know people
21:08
talk about rock stars and all that.
21:10
When he came down the elevator, I thought God was coming down.
21:13
I mean, the room got quiet and everyone said there's Holtz and
21:16
he got off. And because we were a guest,
21:20
though, we we got to stand in line.
21:22
You had to pay 50 bucks to see it, but we didn't have to pay
21:24
that. And we shook hands with him and
21:25
all that. And I remember him as a speaker.
21:29
And any banquet you've ever been to, there's always kind of a
21:31
back noise. When Holtz got to speak, you
21:34
heard the mouse run across the room.
21:37
And supposedly the guy from the Football Foundation was, you
21:41
know, a good friend of mine. He said, here's the deal.
21:44
Holtz said they went up to him after he said, coach, what do we
21:47
owe you? And he said, what's the most you
21:50
ever paid? And they didn't really know.
21:53
So they they found a figure. He says, well, give me that
21:55
amount and don't tell anybody now get me on the plane because
21:58
their agreement was I'll come in to speak, but you come and get
22:00
me in South Bend. I'll come up after it's over,
22:02
get me on a plane, I'll go back. That was my introduction to the
22:05
foundation and that we started for 35 years and we've had some
22:09
unbelievable kids. And our responsibility as a
22:13
chapter of the mission is to recognize players, coaches, a DS
22:16
officials. We have the, you know, the Barth
22:19
Award, you know the I guess he was the 1st St.
22:23
Wilson to to do a Super Bowl, right?
22:26
Jean Jean was the first to do a Super Bowl.
22:28
Yeah. Ray Sonnenberg was the first to
22:31
be an NFL official. Ray Ray was, I think he was
22:37
about a 12 year veteran. And Ray Sonnenberg was was
22:42
what's really good about everything.
22:43
I mean, he's what a what a great man.
22:45
And he was, he was a Saint Louis University basketball player.
22:49
He played down there in Eddie Hickey days and and then Gene.
22:54
And then, you know, we've had a number of Saint Louis guys, you
22:56
know, Rich Hantech and Joe Maroo.
23:01
Yeah. Hantech and Joe Maroo and Barth,
23:07
what the heck you know. Check.
23:08
Steve presents the Barth Award every year.
23:11
Steve does. Yeah, Steve.
23:12
Steve was a very good college football official.
23:15
Steve Barth. Yeah.
23:16
Well, Bob, just now you mentioned Ed Velton and I, I, I
23:24
was fortunate enough to coach over and we do the freshman
23:27
football all those years. And I learned talking to Ed
23:29
Velton, I learned between him and Jerry Mayer, I learned
23:33
everything I needed to know about football because I didn't
23:36
know as much or even close to what those guys had in their
23:39
head. I thought Velton was as smart as
23:41
they come. What do you think?
23:43
I mean, I've learned I only heard of his legend because Jon
23:47
Snow was my good friend and they'd play and Snow would, we
23:50
know, complain every year. God only runs off tackle 15
23:52
times. And Ed would tell you what, I
23:53
got a £250 tackle and you're putting 180 LB.
23:56
I'm going to run until you replace him.
23:57
So he didn't have to do anything.
23:59
But I got to know Ed personally and he became a good friend.
24:03
And I used to laugh because we used to have a clinic over at
24:05
Rams Park and we just speaker and Ed could sit here as quiet
24:08
as you and I. You said football.
24:10
God darn, the damn veins would pop out in his neck and he'd go
24:13
nuts. Oh yeah.
24:15
Oh yeah. And and the young coaches just
24:18
idolized him. Well, his coaching staff, his
24:22
varsity staff, he had Mike Bromwich and Dale Collier and
24:29
Jim Wolf and Charlie Fitzgerald. Any one of those four and then
24:35
Jerry, any one of those guys could have become head coaches.
24:39
They Collier of course did. He had a great success, but Ed
24:45
would be running off tackle and off tackle and off tackle.
24:50
And all of a sudden one of his assistants say, hey, Ed, we he
24:53
say, why would I want to change this?
24:55
Just get back to you, take care of the defense.
24:57
I mean, we're picking up six and seven yards.
24:59
Why should I change anything? And he was he was very, very
25:04
meticulous with his quarterbacks.
25:07
I mean, their handoffs had to be either at 3:00 and they better
25:14
do it right. And he never, Ed never looked
25:18
for the greatest athlete to be his quarterback.
25:21
He can look for the smartest kid who would run his offense.
25:26
You know, maybe one of those around, he told us one time.
25:29
But when Ed was getting ready to have heart surgery, I guess one
25:31
of his ex quarterbacks was the surgeon and Bobby.
25:34
Kapitsky. Is that who it was?
25:37
Well, Ed's telling us a story, and you know how he could do it.
25:39
He says, I'm laying and I'm thinking, oh, my God, I remember
25:41
the one time I really got on him.
25:45
He says when he came in, he says whatever he called him Bobby.
25:48
Hey, we're OK, aren't we? He says, you know.
25:51
Well, Bob Bunton, tell me there was 1 football game and if you
25:58
don't want to talk about it, I, I, I won't talk about it.
26:02
But your son was a great high school football player.
26:05
He was the offensive player of the year.
26:07
Was there an extra point that was missed in a big time game?
26:10
Explain that to me. Well, we still don't talk about
26:12
that. No, we were in oceans that.
26:16
Was tough. We had a great, We thought we
26:20
had a great team in the area. Didn't know what we were.
26:23
Suburban S was tough. You know what?
26:25
Then it was Kirkwood Central. Webster.
26:29
Eureka Yeah, We were picked to finish sixth out of eight teams
26:36
and we had a great group of kids.
26:38
They were tough and it was a tight group.
26:41
It was a kid and one of those just it hits right, Meaning my
26:45
son and I knew a lot of these guys before they even got to
26:49
North because they were around the house and, you know, just
26:52
typical kids and but they were they were close.
26:56
Well, we get to 10 and O We, we were still the only team in O 6
27:05
that was the only team to ever finish undefeated in the regular
27:07
season. And we were getting quite a bit
27:10
of attention then. And so we go up to we play
27:15
Jennings first round and we beat them at our place and we go to
27:21
11 and O and then we had to play back then.
27:24
You played the quarterfinals on a Monday night and we went to
27:27
Hannibal on a Monday night and beautiful setting.
27:31
I mean, the whole town there and we were ready.
27:35
We had told our kids you're going to see something a little
27:37
bit different. You know, the bleachers are
27:40
close and tight and they may say some things, but come on, that
27:43
that's good. Just motivates you even more to
27:45
play. But I said this kind of is our
27:48
state championship right here. And we felt good that if we win
27:52
that game, we had, we hosted the semifinal game, which was either
27:57
going to be Summit, who we had beaten 41 to 9 for Farmington,
28:02
who I mean, we just kind of thought they were all right.
28:06
But we knew Hannibal was tough up there.
28:08
And yeah, it was back and forth, back and forth.
28:13
The game goes into OT. My son Mike and I will just tell
28:17
you, I mean he said he was 5 yards away from the school
28:23
record held by Erin O'Neill Mike Rush for about I think 2:50 that
28:30
night. And I'm just saying, you know,
28:32
stats aren't always accurate. And anyway, we go to OT, they
28:39
score first, kick the extra point, we get the ball balls on
28:44
the 25, we have a little problem.
28:47
We get to 4th and inches at the 16.
28:53
And if we don't make it, it's over.
28:56
Game's over, right? Well, we made the first down and
28:59
then 2 plays later we scored. Well, everybody assumes, hey,
29:03
we're going double OT. Well, you know, when you're a
29:06
head coach, you think differently than everybody.
29:09
You think ahead. But I'm thinking, you know, this
29:12
isn't automatic and I'm not making an excuse.
29:16
For them. But I'm telling you what
29:18
happened on the headsets, I told the guys, everybody's
29:21
celebrating. Yeah, yeah.
29:23
And I said, guys, it's not over. Well, the ref was standing right
29:29
where our holder was at our quarterback, and I think he was
29:32
letting both teams get set. But it was a little bit long,
29:37
longer than I'm used to. And I said to Jimmy Parks, who
29:41
are yeah, on my headset to coach Parks, I said, Jimmy, we're
29:45
getting iced, We're getting iced.
29:47
Let's go. Well, Mike kicked it.
29:50
It was up. We thought it was good.
29:52
The ref said that it went about a foot wide over the upright, no
29:59
good. And then it looked like a
30:01
battlefield. We had kids laying everywhere,
30:04
season's over, careers over. It was one of the toughest
30:09
coaching moments I had ever had, you know, only because I know I
30:16
knew those kids better. They were all like my sons.
30:19
I mean, jeez, I get to this day, Randy Wiley is, I mean, Randy is
30:24
a good friend and my God, I I didn't think we'd ever get him
30:27
up. Mike was just, I mean, it was
30:29
just a tough athletic moment, you know, and we got beat 4241
30:35
and yeah, finished eleven and one.
30:39
Well, here, here's what I would like to know.
30:45
How does a father and a coach after a game like that and A and
30:50
a grandfather when you have time, you know, after that game,
30:55
things have not settled down 100%.
30:58
How do you talk to a young man? What do you say to him?
31:02
You know, well, tough. He was our statistician every
31:06
game. I was head coach, so dad was
31:07
there. He witnessed it too.
31:09
And oh man, I remember we got back from Hannibal and by the
31:16
time the kids got out of the lot, by the time that the kids,
31:18
we, we couldn't get the kids out of the Hannibal locker room.
31:21
I mean, they were still laying in there.
31:23
And I mean, it was tough. And then we had the hour and a
31:26
half bus ride. I didn't get home until about
31:30
3:30 and I walked upstairs to see how Mike was doing and it
31:38
was obviously dark and that and he's embarrassed when I tell him
31:42
this, but all I could hear was him sobbing.
31:45
And you know, and I'm thinking, jeez, I mean, I never, I had my
31:51
four boys that played for me, but they weren't lineman.
31:54
I was the line coach. So, you know, obviously Mike was
31:57
a little different because he became our kicker too.
32:00
And anyway, it was tough. It was real tough.
32:04
And boy, for all those kids, I mean, not just Mike, but I mean,
32:10
that took a long time to get. Over.
32:13
I wrote Mike a letter and I don't think he responded for
32:15
like 3 weeks and he finally called and you know it.
32:19
It's anybody. It's been around sports to some
32:21
extent. That's the beauty of sports that
32:24
happens every year to somebody, OK?
32:27
Sure it does. There was a a game years ago in
32:32
Shawnee Mission and they had the game one, it was a state final,
32:41
had the game one and the horn went off and the quarterback not
32:45
knowing for some reason didn't know the rule.
32:49
And he just kind of flipped the ball on the ground and an
32:53
opposing player picked it up and ran it in and and won.
32:58
So, you know, that goes on. But you know what?
33:01
Your son's moved on. He's leading a great life,
33:05
right? You know?
33:06
He's teaching and coaching and, you know, he's got a lot of
33:10
experience to tell a kid in a tough moment, you know, and you
33:14
just draw back on that. I mean, it at the time seemed
33:17
like one of the worst things that could happen.
33:20
But you, you learn from it. I probably was most proud of the
33:25
fact that, you know, I told you he rushed for 2:50.
33:29
Well, we always went back over the stats because, you know,
33:33
wasn't always accurate when, you know, no, But you go back and
33:38
you could say, yeah, here's two or three yards.
33:40
Well, he didn't want us to go back because he finished three
33:45
yards shy of Aaron O'Neill's record and he didn't want to
33:48
break it. And I probably as a dad was more
33:51
proud of that, that he would even think to do that, you know,
33:58
and instead of being the record holder for a single rush, single
34:04
rush record in a game at state, Aaron.
34:08
Well, you know what? That's the character of the
34:10
Button family, and I say that and I and what you know what, we
34:14
have not talked about the daughter, but I'm going to tell
34:18
you How I Met your sister. I was standing on the sidelines
34:23
down there at Southwest Missouri.
34:26
I'm getting ready to go out and throw up the basketball and I
34:29
hear this girl, Mr. Zetcher. There she was.
34:34
That's the doing. That was Tammy.
34:37
Yeah, that was Tammy. What was she doing down there?
34:40
She was doing some kind. Of school there, Yeah, she was
34:42
Some sports information. Yeah, so she was sitting there
34:45
at the at the table. Hi, Mr. Zetcher, I turned
34:47
around. Well, you have to understand
34:50
your role in all of this. We're here because of you.
34:53
But you, you have always, I mean, I've been the icon.
34:57
And I mean, yeah, in Saint Louis sports, you know, people don't
35:01
all, they always think of the players, which, you know, you
35:03
were talented in high school. But I'm saying, come on, you,
35:07
everybody knew who you were. Let me tell you something about
35:09
how and I, that's why I love this program because I, I, I'm
35:14
going to every week, I'm going to try to honor people who not
35:19
today. Everybody knows about today.
35:21
They got Internet. They, they, they can get all the
35:23
information what I want. I want them to remember the
35:25
buttons and the people of that nature.
35:29
Do you know that? I asked one of the gentleman
35:32
over at U City today. They were talking.
35:34
Shamsky had gone by there a couple years ago.
35:37
I think he got in the Hall of Fame and he was in town and he
35:40
and he went in the coach's office and wrote a real nice
35:42
note to the baseball coach and the coach still had it on his
35:45
desk. It's nice.
35:47
Do you know that they had not heard of Kenny Holtzman?
35:49
Think about that now. You're kidding me.
35:51
Now he's in their Hall of Fame. I said, well, let me just tell
35:57
you a little bit about Kenny Holtzman.
36:01
He's he's the icon out of University City High School
36:07
baseball. Shamsky was a great one.
36:10
Don't get me wrong. He was a big leaguer.
36:12
Holtzman was a big leaguer. Big and when did he graduate?
36:17
I said, well, you said he won a state championship one time in
36:21
1963. That's the year he graduated.
36:25
You guys need to know this stuff and these are young coaches and
36:28
I I said you guys you know really it's important to know
36:31
the history going back and the great people who went to that
36:34
school. You might remember this guy.
36:36
He's. He was mine like hero growing
36:38
up. Terry fails.
36:40
You remember that name or not, Terry Fails was a he was the
36:45
Globe Democrat football and basketball player of the year
36:50
back in the late for I think it was 48.
36:52
I think I was about 8 years old then.
36:54
And he was like my idol. You know, you're growing up and
36:57
Terry Fails, I get to go watch him.
36:59
Or, you know, if I'm a good boy, my parents don't let me go watch
37:02
Terry Fails play and everything else.
37:05
And people there probably don't know anything about Terry Fails.
37:10
Remember Bill Comfort? He was a good running back
37:13
there. See when did Bernie?
37:15
What was Bernie Feinstein? When when did he play there?
37:18
Bernie 50. 5650 something. Like that?
37:21
Yeah, well, I graduated in 57. Bernie graduated in 59.
37:25
OK, he was after. OK, he's good.
37:26
He's good. Good football player, Bernie.
37:28
He coached in our youth program. Did he?
37:30
Yeah. But we were fortunate, the good
37:32
ones. But do you know what the wrong
37:33
when you look back to to some extent, you know, you talking
37:36
about the game with Arthanet time goes on and and believe it
37:42
or not, there's probably some people saying listen, never
37:44
heard of Stan usual in it that that almost sounds like a
37:47
mortals. I mean, you know.
37:49
I'll tell you what, what you just said is an absolute fact.
37:54
I asked a group of young kids one day when I was subbing.
37:57
I don't know what grade was a second or third grade.
38:00
I said, hey, how many of you, you know, you guys especially,
38:04
you know, they're all think they're baseball players.
38:06
You know, they wear their Cardinal hats and all.
38:07
Just Stan Musial. Yeah, well, you.
38:13
I blame their mother and father. Come on.
38:18
Your dad knows who Stan Muziel is.
38:20
He's never talked to you about Stan Muziel.
38:22
Ever. If not your.
38:25
Dad. No, it's it's once somebody is a
38:29
hero when time goes on. Ultimately, the.
38:34
Well, let me ask you this, Dad. Let me ask you this.
38:38
Musial, of course, is the baseball icon forever and ever
38:42
and ever in this city. I don't care Poo Holes or Ozzy
38:45
or it's Stan Musial and the others.
38:48
They're close behind, but they haven't caught them.
38:50
They never will. And not not in my opinion.
38:52
I think Jackie Smith is the iconic football player.
38:58
I think he's what football is like Musial is to baseball.
39:04
I agree, what a humble guy. Listen, he's come on my show.
39:09
He, he, he's beyond humble. How he got started and we don't
39:17
have the time now, but how he got started.
39:19
Do you know that he only played 55 high school football games?
39:25
It's that right? Well, was he was he got hurt.
39:28
You know me. Was he in track though or
39:30
something? Because he.
39:31
Well, they, yeah, they had a track.
39:33
They didn't have a track at his school.
39:35
It was all grass and they ran on grass.
39:38
And then at the very end there was like water and you had to
39:41
literally run through this water.
39:43
And he said that's how we ran every day, he said.
39:47
So when we left our school and went to a real track, he said we
39:51
had a big time advantage on those fellas.
39:54
And you know, he won the state championship in track.
39:57
He he, he ran. I think he might, might have won
40:01
the 100 and maybe the hurdles. And he's just a phenomenal
40:05
athlete. But he was telling me one time
40:07
that when him and Deardar played next to each other and he said
40:11
they decided this is when he this is when he was playing as a
40:13
tight end. And later on they saw how fast
40:17
he was. They kind of moved him a little
40:18
farther out because Jackie has such great speed.
40:21
So he said we they put in a a double team and he said I got
40:26
there a little late and Deardorff got me.
40:29
He said, I told the coach, I said no more double teams.
40:32
I don't want any. I don't ever want to feel
40:34
anything from that. Dan Deardorff again, he said I
40:36
never got. He said I thought a bulldozer
40:38
ran over me. Unbelievable.
40:40
Hi, guys. Great athlete, great athlete.
40:42
You know, there's time. Sometimes I'll be up late at
40:44
night and I'll start you tubing old.
40:47
I mean, we were season ticket holders, the Big Red and back in
40:50
those days of the Heart and Deardorff and Jackie Schmidt and
40:54
he was an amazing, I mean, people didn't realize how big he
40:58
was and how he could move. He had some long touchdown runs
41:03
and outran people for a big guy. Oh yeah.
41:05
Well, you know, he, he explained to me.
41:07
I didn't ask him. He came on a show when I was
41:10
still doing that radio show before they shut that radio down
41:13
the station. But he said that that pass that
41:17
he dropped in the in the Dallas game, You know, think about
41:22
this. He said that usually they ran
41:26
that play from about what they were doing from about 5 yards.
41:29
And then it was there. But he said we were about 15
41:31
yards out of 10, much farther, he says.
41:34
And I just ran by the defensive back.
41:37
It was like he wasn't there. And, you know, he said what
41:41
happened happened. But years later, it took
41:45
Staubach, a lot of years later, to admit that it was a really
41:49
poorly throwing pass. Not, not, not, not the kind of
41:52
passage Jackie Smith would normally not catch.
41:54
But it wasn't, it wasn't there. You know, he said he kind of had
41:57
to turn back, but he never, he never used that as an excuse and
42:02
just move on. He's class act and he's we have
42:07
him at a lunch once in a while and I tell them you'll you'll
42:11
start with we have like 8 of them and they'll give the
42:14
microphone and they'll tell them something big.
42:16
By the time you get to check. He says.
42:17
I don't know, I forgot all that stuff.
42:20
He's a wonderful man and you 2 guys are two wonderful human
42:25
beings. I'm I'm really so happy you
42:26
could come in today and a continued success.
42:31
Whatever you're doing, you're becoming a golfer now.
42:34
You're working at it, aren't you?
42:36
I'm working at it, let's keep it right there.
42:38
OK, OK. And you're keeping busy.
42:43
Trying talking to you. Well, thanks for coming in today
42:47
guys and it's. Been a pleasure knowing you for
42:50
a long, long time. Well, it's been great knowing
42:52
you. But one thing we didn't talk
42:54
about before we sign off, Bob, you were the president of the
42:57
123 Club for many years. And you know, I was asked, I'll
43:04
end with this. We'll have a little laugh.
43:05
So, you know, they vote, right? 67 used to be the magic number.
43:12
No more. You couldn't have 68 members,
43:14
only 67, Bob. And you know, it's an iconic
43:18
organization. I mean, you know, you, you know,
43:20
if you're a sports guy, you really would like to be in that
43:23
organization. You know, if you're not, you're,
43:24
you're not telling the truth. And I, you know, and I course
43:27
used to say, I think, I think we'll get, you're going to get
43:29
in. No.
43:32
So finally I got in. So I course says you made it.
43:36
I said, well, you know, I said I, I figured out how I made it.
43:39
All those guys who used to vote me out, they died.
43:45
They're gone. Well, when I first heard of the
43:47
organization, I I didn't. I grew up with Burns and Bragg
43:51
and all, you know, I knew how special that was.
43:53
And then he got in. I said, what would you have to
43:56
do? Count to 123 or what?
43:59
Count to 123. But weren't those meetings great
44:01
on Delmar when Kim was still there?
44:04
Kim was still with us. Tucci and then Whitey would show
44:06
up, and Hummel and Hannifin. When Hannifin and and Herzog was
44:11
there, you didn't need anything else.
44:13
No. I mean, and they they would get
44:16
on Hannifin because they would talk about Clyde to glide.
44:19
Remember the the number one draft Bob DeMarco would start
44:24
ragging him and and Hanneman could hardly hold his his his
44:28
wits. Remember the day that, that
44:29
they, they took Hannifan out of there one day, Were you there
44:32
today that we thought he really had had something bad happened
44:34
to him? And, and they, they took him out
44:36
like, and Dan O'Neill, you know, he's as sarcastic as they come.
44:40
O'Neill was, was getting out of his car when they saw them
44:43
Wheeling Hannifan out, you know. And so O'Neill comes in, he says
44:48
what the hell they give him for lunch.
44:54
Oh, that's a group of guys. Huh.
44:56
O'Neill's got a strange mind O'Neill.
45:00
He's a very strange mind. I heard some good stories.
45:04
I, I, I was enjoyed those years and listening to those guys.
45:09
It's not the same. No, it's not it.
45:11
It's really changed. And, and and I, I hate to say
45:14
this, I'm a member. It hasn't changed for the good.
45:18
We've lost the iconic guys, the guys that made it so special.
45:22
We'll see. I used to tell I cars because
45:23
you know, I said I don't know what what I'm in this club.
45:26
OK, because when the IT took me 3 times you've talked about
45:29
voted out Bob. When we started this chapter 35
45:32
years ago, Bob Bragg was instrumental because he was a
45:35
member of the national organization.
45:37
So he says to me, hey, I want you to come to a meeting with me
45:39
down So and so and whatever you do, shut up.
45:41
Don't say anything. So so I mean, heck, I'm a nobody
45:44
in in sports and I'm you know, so I sat in this room.
45:47
They probably thought it was a mute and he introduced me.
45:49
I just said, you know, like this.
45:51
So I missed that one. I didn't get any votes on that
45:53
one. And then the second time I was
45:54
nominated, I'll never forget it. I guess Gus Otto was being
46:00
nominated and I was and they they had a business meeting say,
46:03
OK, you guys can leave the room. So we went out in the bar and
46:06
Mango Bryan sat there for a while and one guy came out and
46:08
said, hey, gosh, you want to come in Bob?
46:09
You can go home. So that was my second guy.
46:12
I got cut again. And when I finally got in, I
46:15
think I think I got in because of Martel and Bobby Christian
46:18
and those those guys because they were involved with the
46:19
football thing. But I used to, like I said, I
46:23
don't know what I'm doing in the first time when I walked into
46:25
the first meeting, right. I thought, you know, you talk
46:26
about as a kid growing up, these are all my God darn heroes.
46:30
Don Leonard used to scout when when these guys were all
46:32
playing. Yeah.
46:33
And he comes in and I introduce. Yeah.
46:35
I know you. I've never been at a baseball
46:37
game where I didn't see a button.
46:38
You know, I felt like I got a raise and pay.
46:40
I mean, it be he even knew the name and he was ever so kind and
46:44
so thoughtful and. And meeting Whitey and Hanifan,
46:47
I mean, they were just normal people.
46:49
Well, no. Eagles, Michigan State icon Al
46:51
OH. Well, you know.
46:54
When you say. You said I was the president
46:55
three years. No, what I did, Al Ferrari would
46:58
call me every night. And Bob, you can't do this and
47:01
you can't do this and you have to do this.
47:02
I'd say yes, Sir. So all I mean really.
47:05
And I loved him. Oh yeah.
47:06
But he. Yeah.
47:07
He became my because he, he believed a lot of traditions are
47:10
gone, like, and COVID didn't help, you know, because people
47:14
didn't introduce themselves and all that.
47:16
And back then, I don't care who you were, if you were Dan
47:19
Derdorf, you everyone walked around the room and shook hands
47:21
and all that. And you got to, you know,
47:24
introduce yourself. And but there was a lot of
47:27
humility with people back then. And I, like I said, I used to
47:31
tell icars we'd have the party and write these things up.
47:33
I said I have no clue what I'm doing here, OK?
47:36
Well, when you mention Icars, that's another one of the really
47:38
great guys, one of the great guys around.
47:41
And you know, he lost a daughter not too long ago and that was
47:44
just a a tragedy. And at the same time, he lost a
47:47
daughter, Rich Hantak lost his son.
47:50
So let's let's finish this on a on a happy note.
47:55
When does North play their next football game?
47:59
Let's see, that'll be Friday night and I think they play
48:02
Ledoux. They playing Ledoux?
48:03
That should be good. Ledoux is supposed to be pretty
48:05
good this year. N's got a pretty good season
48:08
going too, don't they? Yeah.
48:09
They're two and two and that should be a good game.
48:11
Well, good luck to both those teams right main thing play the
48:18
game. Let's hope no kids come out of
48:20
their hurt that's right that's all we want Well, thanks again
48:23
guys for being here and I'm going to have to sign off I'm
48:26
going to just thank you 2 for being here.
48:29
My daughter Jessica, she's here. She's going to critique this, I
48:33
guess, or she thinks she's going to, but.
48:35
Got a lot of work to do a. Lot of critiquing to do, but if
48:39
you people who are going to watch this and this will be
48:41
available and I'll send it to you, Bob, a week from tomorrow,
48:45
it'll be edited and everything, I'll send it to you and then you
48:48
can pass it on to your dad and people who are going to watch
48:52
it. You can watch it on YouTube or
48:54
you can go on Spotify, Apple or Facebook.
49:00
And if you like it, give it a thumbs up, give it a like and
49:04
then share it with some friends if you can.
49:07
And I'll leave you with this. This is a true statement.
49:10
With all the baloney we've talked, this is a one true
49:12
statement. This is the youngest we'll ever
49:15
be today.