53maley021617

3 thoughts on “53maley021617”

1. Dwayne Maley was a great-great guy and a super-duper football coach as well! During my football playing seasons at Lincoln HS, we were never able to beat the Cavers. However during my senior year (1956), we did score our first touchdown against them on our first possession. The amazing Cleveland “Smiley” Jones immediately returned our kick off 98 yards to tie the score at 7 to 7. The game has been popularly noted as one of the most exciting games ever played by the two teams. The game ended, when time ran out with the ball in our possession on their two yard line, and a goal line dive play called for our MVP player Luther Hayes. A winner must rise and a loser must fall; just like life is football (yuk-yuk-yuk). However, a few years earlier, the Hoover vs San Diego game was equally as thrilling, as Leonard Carey, Caver defensive back, ran down John Adams inside the SDHS five yard line as the game ended. As matters of fact, I never played for Coach Maley, or even had an extended chat with him. Decades later, at a belated event honoring his 1955 SDHS football team, as the number one team in the nation, while accepting the trophy, Coach and I made eye contact, and he then told the gathering he admired me because I was the only player of an opposing team to ever congratulate him after a defeat. How ’bout that! On a more personal note, Coach Maley’s son Dennis and I became good friends over later years. As fate would have it, Coach and Dennis passed away within days of each other, and I had the honor to conclude their going away service with my “Laff It Up Song,” and in so doing, allow attendees to reflect on the many happy memories they shared.

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   1. Spoken well, as usual, by Robert C. Moss, Jr., my classmate at Lincoln High.

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      1. I think Leonard Kary made that “desperate, diving” tackle, as writer Jim Trinkle described of the play in 1954 game, in the third quarter and San Diego kept Hoover from scoring from the 2 and won the game, 7-0. Search “1954′ in the blog, partletonsports.com. There are several stories from that season, including this famous game.

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