Don't Blink

Don't Blink

40 years goes faster than you think

by: Coach Dave Taylor

 



The Barrington Broncos

Forty years ago this month, I started my wrestling career.  It was in November 1974 that my friends, Steve and Pat, suggested I drop out of the chess club and join the Barrington Bronco wrestling team.  I studied my options, with the intensity of world chess champion Gary Kasparov, and decided to give up the pawns, knights and bishops for a life of sweats, singlets and a jock strap.

 


In 1973, my family relocated to the Chicago area from western Pennsylvania.  I was a little freshman in high school when we arrived in the big city, and when I say little, I mean about 90 pounds of nothing.  Joining the chess club was the obvious choice.  My first group of friends (outside of my chess club friends) did not remain that way for very long.  When one of the boys showed up at my front door smelling of pot smoke, Mom and Dad suggested I find a new group of pals if I ever wanted to see daylight again.  That's when I met up with Pat and Steve.  Ironically, Pat lives in Maryland and his son will be a freshman in high school this year and is an outstanding wrestler.

The "Wrist and Half" worked 40 years ago too!

 

In the fall of 1974, as wrestling season was approaching, my new buds turned up the pressure with statements like "hey, you're from western PA, you were born to wrestle" and "I'll drive you home from practice".  Finally, they convinced me to join the team.  At the time, as a sophomore in high school, I had no idea how long I would stay involved in the sport.  In that first season, I was entirely too busy learning how to watch my weight and not get killed by the older, more experienced kids.  I had grown to a staggering 119 pounds and by mid season, I could hold my own.  As I look back at that point of my life, it amazes me how different the world is today than it was in 1974.

 

Here is a look at life in 1974 as I was beginning a 40 year career in my favorite sport.

• 1974 began with Larry Czonka winning the Super Bowl MVP award and ended with Franco Harris and the Pittsburgh Steelers winning their 1st of 6 Super Bowl Titles.
• Jimmy Fallon, Derek Jeter and Leonardo DiCaprio were born in 1974
• Duke Ellington, Bud Abbott, Dizzy Dean and Ed Sullivan died that year.
• The real Elvis was alive in 1974.  He died in 1977 at the conclusion of my high school wrestling career.
• The average new car cost only $3,750.00, the average new house cost $34,900 and the price of a stamp was only 8 cents.
• The average person's annual income was $13,000 and the average monthly rent was $185.
• Hank Aaron hit home run #714 to break Babe Ruth's record.  He would end the season hitting # 733 in his final at bat.
• Bob Gibson surpassed 3,000 strikeouts, Lou Brock surpassed 700 stolen bases and Nolan Ryan broke the 100 mph pitch barrier.
• There were no cell phones, personal computers or laptops way back in 1974.  The first pocket calculator was sold that year and cost nearly $50.
• There was no cable TV, CNN, HBO or ESPN.  We watched ABC, CBS or NBC and that was it.  The first VCR was released around this time, but were not readily available for a couple more years.  We also had to get out of the chair to change channels as remote controls were not available yet either.
• Also in 1974, the first MRI was performed and the first UPC code was used on a pack of chewing gum.
• There was an energy crisis in full swing that began in 1973 and caused long lines at gas stations and forced the government to begin daylight savings time in January in an effort to save energy.  The crisis also drove prices through the roof.  A gallon of gas jumped from 39 cents a gallon all the way to a whopping 55 cents a gallon in 1974.
• The stock market stood at 616 in 1974 and closed at 17,300 this past Friday.
• In 1974, Barack Obama was a 13 year old kid, going to middle school in Hawaii.  Brett Farve was a 5 year old little kid.  Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Big Ben would not even be a twinkle in their mother's eye for several more years.
• Even the great Cael Sanderson, 4X undefeated national champion and head wrestling coach at Penn State would also not be born for 5 more years.
• Happy Days premiered on TV and we all wanted to be as cool as Fonzie.  The 6 Million Dollar Man also premiered and we all wanted to be as tough as Steve Austin.
• The Cleveland Indians hosted a "10 cent beer night" during the season and the evening ended early with 1000s of drunk fans storming the field, causing the game to be cancelled.
• Muhammad Ali beat George Foreman in the famous "Rumble in the Jungle" championship fight in Zaire using the Rope-A-Dope in a fight that most people did not think he could win.
• Serial killer Ted Bundy killed the first of more than 30 women in a murderous spree that spread from coast to coast.
• The Pittsburgh Steelers hit the jackpot in the 1974 NFL draft, selecting Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster in the same year.  They are the only team to ever pick four future hall of fame players in a single draft.
• President Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal, Gerald Ford took office and pardoned Nixon of all wrong-doing.
• UCLA basketball's record setting 88-game win streak was snapped with a one point loss to Notre Dame.
• Newspaper heiress, Patty Hearst, was kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army and held for ransom.  Later that year, she joined the group to fight for their cause, changed her name and was photographed robbing a bank as a full member of the SLA.
• Pittsburgh Pirate Willie Stargell won The Roberto Clemente Award even though the Bucs were beaten in the NL Championship Series that year.
• "The Streak" by Ray Stevens and "Cat's In The Cradle" by Harry Chapin were top hits in 1974.  Four years later, I met Harry Chapin while he was playing a concert at my college.  One of my biggest regrets was turning down an offer to have dinner with Chapin so I could save my front row seat.
• The Vietnam War was ending as I was starting my life of wrestling.  Our direct involvement in combat was over, but the "Fall of Saigon" would not take place until the spring of 1975.

1974 was a great year and set the tone for the rest of my life.  Wrestling impacted where I went to college and, the Coach in the picture above, actually got me my first job, working in a garden center on the northwest side of Chicago.  Let's have a great season