I was born in 67. But know all the good football stories from either listening to my dad as a kid or sitting on a Cumberland bar stool as an adult. Last Turkey Day game was 73. I remember 72 and 73 well. Like yesterday.
My old man (Del Helmick) played on the FH 59 and 60 team as a RB. He went 9-1 both his last years. His only losses were to Alco. He still gets bummed over it. Tells the story of those games a 1000 times. Turkey Day was great.
And as I have posted here before, I am probably more proud of my mom. She graduated FH in 1962. Made varsity cheerleader as a freshman. 300 girls tried out and they only kept like 6.
You should be proud!
For me, to be a kid in Cumberland in the fifties and sixties was heaven.... and we knew it. You could safely go anywhere and every street seemed to have its own adventure. and man... back when Caporale's Bakery actually made good bread.... local longhorn cheese with the old garlic 'baloney' - what a
sammich! (trust me... nothing is the same). And then, of course, there was walking out to the airport to sneak into the race each year... great fun.
But I digress. Back to football.... Ugh, one would say it's not fair to compare then to now. But you cannot escape it as long there is an attempt to keep certain traditions alive when they are not even a vague mirror of themselves.
I will go to and enjoy a Fort Hill game because of the fan size and the band. Usually, I am out of there after halftime because of the competition. With Allegany I usually prefer MR or Northern/Southern away games since you never know if the band will show up at home - and even then they disperse after halftime and never play from the stands... or, at least, that is what I recall).
And... it's not just a band thing. It's that the band, the team et al is a community event. To see Allegany come out on the field unsupported defeats my reason for being there. Yet, I know one of the reasons is that the Campers lack such depth that they don't have enough parents to show a sufficient smattering in the stands. Yank the band and... well, sad.
I usually stay up around New Germany State Park. I will drive to Cumberland to see FH, but not Allegany... hard to believe, but true. Dunbar game was the exception.
Homecoming... not likely for me and this is for a host of reasons. The last time I went to a homecoming game, Gilmore was coaching.
