Monday, September 17, 2001

Elam recalls tragedy

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Running back Jaime Ruelas (left) has stepped up and capably replaced former star Mark Cates in the Jerseys’ backfield. Guard Daniel Sanchez (right) has led the way on many of Reulas’ runs.

The crowd fell quiet, and Buccaneer Stadium reflected in a moment of mournful silence to join a nation in pain. Jim Elam felt that pain - again - and remembered.
   Was this Saturday night? Or was it Friday, Nov. 22, 1963?
   Saturday's 27-10 King victory over San Antonio Southwest was more than just the second game of the season, more than a tuneup for the Mustangs' matchup this Friday against Kingsville (Elam's alma mater), and more than his first win as coach at King.
   It also served as a bitter reminder to Jim Elam the football coach that life - and Texas high school football - must go on, a lesson he learned 38 years ago when he was Jim Elam the football player.
   Thirty-eight years ago, on the very night that President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Elam found himself at Buccaneer Stadium, a 17-year-old senior at H.M. King High School in Kingsville, readying to play Miller for the District 14-4A championship.
   It didn't feel quite right on that night. And it didn't feel quite right on Saturday, either.

Michelle Christenson/Caller-Times

Falfurrias linebacker-turned-guard Alan Lemus is an important part of the rushing game.

   You can debate the decision to go on with high school football even though the pro and college ranks - not to mention baseball and NASCAR - all you want. The Corpus Christi Independent School District made the call, for better or worse, and - for better or worse - games were played.
   Elam, for one, was glad they did.
   "It's important that we restore some sense of normalcy," Elam said. "Yes, it's a terrible situation, but life's got to go on and that's the way it's always been."
   Who could know better? That November 1963 night was hard: for the country, for the world, and for Elam, a 17-year-old wingback and cornerback for the Kingsville Brahmas.
   It was game day and Elam was returning to school after eating lunch with two of his friends when the news of Kennedy's assassination came over the radio, just as he pulled into the school's parking lot. School went on, as students and teachers and counselors all worked through one of the country's worst days.
   That night's game, however, had to be played. District 14-4A needed to crown a champion between North Zone champion Miller and South Zone champion Kingsville, to determine who would face Temple the next weekend in bi-district.
   Back then, games were not held on Saturdays. The district needed to submit a champion, and that meant the game had to go on.
   There wasn't a halftime show, and Elam finds it hard now to even remember the crowd. All he can remember is the game, which Miller won, 35-9. Kingsville had never beaten a team from Corpus Christi.
   "There was a lot of confusion for me, emotionally," he said. "You want to play. But is this really important to what took place?"
   The popular question for his generation is, 'Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?' For Elam, the memories are clear. He was at school, just as he was at school last week when he found out and spent Tuesday afternoon - and the rest of the week - with the TV on in his office.
   Those memories of the assassination, and the subsequent Kingsville-Miller game that night, are subjects that Elam does not like to talk about. They belong to him, tucked away safely. He didn't bring 1963 up with his players last week, he said.
   There are many differences in Nov. 22, 1963 and Sept. 11, 2001. Ours is a much more jaded society, a generation born from Hollywood movies and 24-hour news coverage. Elam's generation was more innocent, more protected, more naïve.
   "There was a different kind of emotion (in 1963)," Elam said. "The real question - at least in my mind - was what the heck's going to happen? At the time, I'm a 17-year-old kid and that was the first time I experienced a tragedy of that magnitude. It probably didn't fully sink in because we were so excited to play that game. That's probably the way a lot of the kids felt."
   But did Elam wish he hadn't played?
   "I don't know if I can answer that," Elam said. "In some ways, I was. In some ways, I wish I hadn't."
   That was a feeling he had in 1963. It surely was a thought shared by some at Buccaneer Stadium on Saturday night.
   Last week, the NFL said no. College football said no. Major League Baseball said no. Right or wrong, however, Texas high school football said yes.
   Saturday was a time to hit, a time to run, a time to cry, a time to remember and then - at least for 48 minutes - a time to forget.
   And a time to play.
  
  
  

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