Lost and Found Part 7
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Lost and Found Part 7 By Douglas Fox ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 61 =========== My final week of school was relaxed since I had my mornings free. Two mornings Josh Bruno, Chad King and I got together to review our teaching courses so we would be prepared for our finals. I wrapped up my last term paper for my Civil War History course. Dr. Williams gave us the option of writing a term paper or doing the essay final. I opted for the term paper. Either way I was going to write, so I might as well do my writing over the course of a couple weeks instead of trying to cram the work into an hour and fifty minutes during the finals period. Tuesday evening Coach Burton called all seniors to a meeting after dinner. The meeting was brief. Coach warned us about sport agent contacts. They were allowed to contact us this summer, now that we were starting on our fourth year of eligibility. We were not allowed to accept anything of value from a prospective agent, including meals or travel. Our family wasn’t allowed to accept anything of value either. We could not contract with an agent verbally or in writing. If we broke the NCAA’s rules we would automatically lose our final year of eligibility. Coach recommended that we entirely avoid contact with agents until after our final game. They would be a distraction to our football season. He asked us not to discuss agent contacts with the underclassmen or with each other. None of us needed the distraction or the potential jealousy among ourselves. I was pleased to see more thumb prints showing up on the “On to Phoenix” plaque in our locker room during the week. Chip, Brian, John Crosby, Bob Smith and Charlie Taylor came to me and my fellow captains for a ruling. Was attending summer semester and working on the passing game in their free time this summer considered ‘going above and beyond the call?’ Trevor, Damian and I agreed it was. The five proudly put their thumb prints to the glass. Coach Burton called me in Wednesday morning for a meeting. “Coach, I would like you to help out at one of our football camps this summer,” Coach Burton said when I sat down beside him on the couch in his office. “Sure, I’d enjoy chaperoning the kids again like I did last year,” I responded. “That was fun.” Lost and Found Page 1962 “Actually, I wasn’t looking for you to be a chaperon,” Coach Burton said. “You’re too valuable for that. I have dozens of team members who can handle that job. I would like you to be on the coaching staff for one of the camps.” “Sure, I would enjoy that too,” I replied. “Do you mind if I ask you a question? Why…” Coach Burton’s laughter stopped me. After a few seconds he managed to get himself under control. “I’ve known you for four years, Coach. All I ever hear from you is ‘Why do we do this?’, ‘How does this work?’ and ‘Why do we do that?’ I love it!” Coach Burton chuckled a little more. “You’re a hell of a football player and you’re going to be a hell of a coach, Kyle. The why is this – I like to encourage young men interested in my profession.” “Thank you for the help, Coach,” I said. “God forbid, if something should happen to you next season and you can’t play,” Coach Burton said. “…or if some nitwit team in the NFL that doesn’t know how to win a game if you spotted them twenty-eight points drafts you, DON’T play football. Come here. I will have a coaching job for you any time you ask for it.” “Wow! Thanks for telling me that, Coach,” I said. “I hope I stay healthy next season and get a good opportunity in the NFL, but it’s nice to know I have options if I don’t make it.” “You do have options,” Coach Burton said. “I’ll hire you five minutes after you get your sheepskin next May, if you need me to.” “Hopefully that won’t be necessary,” I replied. “When is the football camp you want me to help with?” “I’d like to use you at the Senior Camp on June 29 th to July 1 st .” Coach Burton said. “I’ll check with my brother and his boss to see how much time I can get off that weekend,” I said. “It’s the start of the scout camp’s Fourth of July week. Attendance is usually down a little. I may be able to get off on Sunday afternoon too.” “That would be helpful,” Coach said. “The university will cover a motel room and food for the weekend for you. I can give you a 25% raise in pay for the weekend over last year since you’re part of the coaching staff.” “The bump in pay is excellent, Coach,” I said. “I don’t know that you need to get me a motel room. Chip is keeping our apartment this summer. I can crash with him. Put my meal money on my eLion card and I’ll be happy, Coach.” “Done!” Coach Burton said. He rose and I followed his lead. We shook on the deal. Lost and Found Page 1963 “I’m looking forward to working with you, Coach,” I said. “I’m looking forward to it too,” Coach Burton answered before I left his office. I was pleased with the offer Coach made. With the bump in pay for coaching, I would make more from Friday afternoon until Sunday at football camp than I made in a week of Scout Camp. That’s sweet. ---------------------------------------------------------- The finals schedule was announced that week. My Adolescent Development final was on Monday, April 30 th at 2:30 pm. Dr. Ward’s SS Ed 412 final was on Tuesday, May 1 st at 8:00 am. My C I 412W final was Wednesday, May 2 nd at 12:20 pm. I wouldn’t be free to leave on Wednesday. Coach Burton called a coordinators and team captains meeting for 9:00 am on Thursday morning. Normally the NFL draft was a big deal on our campus. This year it wasn’t. Tyler Madden was our highest rated player. He was expected to go in the second or third round. Aidan Nagy, Max Rosen, Ben Walker, Mehmed Marsic, Andrew Perkins and Salim Rogers all hoped to be drafted. I did the final proofreading and printing for my history term paper Thursday night during the first round of the draft. I didn’t bother to watch. Tyler had no shot at being chosen then. Tyler headed home to Norristown after classes on Friday. He and Kayla would watch the draft there. Andrew Perkins decided to head home to Carlisle that weekend too. The rest of the potential draftees stayed on campus. They knew IF lightening struck them, it wouldn’t be until late on Saturday. My roommates and I planned to throw a big final party of the year on Saturday night. We were busy with preparations for the party and for our Saturday night dinner cookout. We had the draft on our TV. Lightning struck around 9:30 that evening when Roger Goodell stepped to the podium and announced, “The New York Giants, with the 57 th pick in the draft, select Tyler James Madden, free safety, of the Pennsylvania State University.” The four of us let out a big cheer for our friend. We waited half an hour and then tried to call him. The phone was busy. We didn’t reach Tyler until almost eleven o’clock. The four of us offered our congratulations as we passed the phone around the room. We left the TV tuned to ESPN Saturday while we studied and prepared for our cookout and party. Damian and I found some nice steaks at the grocery store. Chip and Trevor bought cheap, disposable grills to cook our steaks on. I prepared Potatoes Lyonnais for our dinner along with some early sweet peas we found at the store. Damian prepared a Black Forest Torte for our dessert. I invited Molly to join Trevor, Steph, Damian, Billy, Chip, Claire and me for dinner. We studied for Monday’s Adolescent Development final while my dishes cooked on Lost and Found Page 1964 Saturday afternoon. Chip and Trevor grilled the steaks perfectly. Everyone enjoyed my side dishes. Damian’s dessert was fantastic. We were doing the dishes after dinner when the TV caught our attention again. Former 49er hero Dwight Clark took the stage to announce their sixth pick. “The San Francisco 49ers, with the 174 th pick, chose placekicker Andrew Perkins of the Penn State Nittany Lions.” We cheered for our friend’s good fortune. Teams rarely drafted kickers, they normally signed them as free agents. The coaches in San Francisco must have decided that Andrew’s talents were worth the risk. I knew Aaron Morano had complained about their kicker last season. He missed two short field goals that cost the 49ers two games. I guess Andrew was supposed to fix that problem. We got through on Andrew’s cell phone just before our party started that evening. A dozen guys must have talked to Andrew and congratulated him before we hung up. No more Penn State players’ names were called that evening. Our party got going just about the time the draft finished.