Of the six members of our group, two, since they were already shaving, seemed destined for leadership. Marv, the largest, collected a quarter from each of us, ostensibly for Rit dye, and gathered all the white gym shirts we had bought from Wolfe's Sporting Goods as part of an official Granite District junior high gym suit. Next Monday, he showed up with the shirts dyed a drab orange: we had become a team. Our teacher's desires for democracy in action were subverted when we picked our team name. The second bearded team member, Delby, suggested the Eagles, Marv agreed, and that was that. Once the matter of uniforms and our team name had been taken care of, we applied ourselves to the game: touch football. On offense, Delby, as the most persuasive of the big men, played quarterback. Marv, the obvious designated receiver, played end. This was the top third of the team.

Stan and I made up the bottom third. Stan had the usual combination of height and awkwardness that marks the onset of adolescence. He tired easily. Although I didn't know it at the time, my -- perhaps -- seeming lack of coordination was compounded by undetected myopia; I simply couldn't see well enough to be of much use. On offense, we were blocking backs whose only function was to delay the rush long enough for Delby to get set to throw.

LeRoy and Don made up the middle third of the team. LeRoy was a more mature version of Stan. He was tall and weak but had quick hands. He later played on the Central basketball team as a reserve. Don was so completely average that not only do I have a vague image of him today, that's all I had of him then. LeRoy took the other end spot and Don played center, taking the short outlet pass on those few occasions when the Bomb had no chance.

This inversion of the pro game, with the lighter players doing the blocking and the heavier ones the running, carried over into defense. Stan and I played the line and rushed the opposing quarterback while LeRoy and Don played the shallow passes and Marv and Delby the deep ones. Since the other teams played the same system, any change would pit strong men against weak ones. This arrangement also gave the interesting tasks to the athletically gifted, relegating Stan and me to running forward on defense and backward on offense.

Perhaps because he had named the team, Delby took an interest in its performance. "Damn it," he would shout from the backfield, as we defensive linemen allowed the quarterback to get off his pass unmolested, "Eagles are supposed to be winners."