Moose, Elk, Trout & the Best High School Football Fields in America

When I walk onto those football fields, aside from taking in the view, I’m thinking “this is where fun has happened in this town.”  This is one place where countless people in International Falls, Minnesota have had fun. This is where people 1,700 miles south in Marfa, Texas have been having fun for decades.  Same thing goes for those who grew up 998 miles east of Marfa in Philadelphia, Mississippi. That’s what I’m thinking about while walking from one end zone to the next. 

My Newspaper Route-Minnesota to Texas

A 10-year old with a pencil, a single piece of paper, and a lot of nerve walked down 6th street in Two Harbors, Minnesota towards Agate Bay. He nervously walked in the door of the local, small town newspaper, short story about a hockey game in hand. Glancing at the printing press in the back office he placed the story containing impressive penmanship on the counter. Fifty years later, I was writing about high school football games in Texas.

Every Day is Game Day: “Community Service” Excerpt

In the early years of implementing the FAMILY concept, Coach Nelson decided to rally his athletes around the nobility of helping families move from one home to another. What was the deep-seated motivation for choosing that option? Honestly, I never asked him. It didn’t seem like a big deal.

Fifteen months after writing my first sentence, I made one final phone call. During that call, the pathway for Dot A to connect with Dot B, then Dot C became clear. I didn’t know I was missing a piece of the FAMILY puzzle. I accidentally found it. Everything finally made sense.

You’ll understand later in this story.