09.01.05
Yard Football
Some of my fondest memories of Lucas were when he was probably 5-7 years old…I was about 12-14… My friend across the street in Millbrook (Kris Moore) and I would play with Lucas all the time in our yard…the rules were 1. we’d throw him the football like it was a kickoff and 2. we had to stay on our knees and he had to try and get by us while staying “inbounds” (between the sidewalk and some ditch or if it was the winter or nightime we’d be in the playroom)…He LOVED this game…it didn’t matter how hard he got hit he would get up and keep playing if it was particularly painful he wouldn’t be laughing but he’d never cry or scream for fear that we’d have to stop playing or someone else would make us stop…he’d usually laugh…Kris would usually add in some color commentary as if it were a real game…”and Bo Jackson is fielding the kick”…that is when we might let him score…when we were gonna hit him harder it would be like “Gene Jelks unwisely picks up the ball”…then we’d crush him but he’d want to go again and again anyway
It was mostly non-stop smiles and laughing until dinner time when we were doing this.
After we moved to Montgomery, Kris was always interested in how Lucas did in football, he was pretty proud of him when I talked to him a few years later “I knew he was gonna be a player”