In early May of '72 my Dad was transfered to Randolph AFB.  School wasn't out yet, but I had finished enough time at Forbes Junior High at Edwards AFB that I didn't have to finsh the last couple of weeks to pass to the 9th grade.  After more than a month at the Kon-Tiki hotel, we moved into 3B 3rd St West, the adjoining duplex to the Weikel's.  What a stroke of luck, the Weikel family was and is legendary at RAFB.  
 
Within a few days, David Weikel, the captain of the footbal team, took me up to the high school and introduced me to Coach Mickler.  I was a skinny kid, 6' 0" and 145 pounds with a sunken in chest and no confidence.  Coach Mickler looked me up and down and stated, "Well, it doesn't look like you will amount to much here".   I was devistated and fullfilled his predictions.  It wasn't untill my senior year when I "grew a pair" and my greatest claim to fame was "dogging" my fellow seniors as the most gung-ho guy on the practice squad(Seniors were not normally part of the practice squad, but I asked to be there so I could actually play football since I never got to play in a game).  I'm suprised various seniors did not "kill" me at some point in time.  One of my best buddies, Jim, threatened that on several occassions.  He went on to play college football, maybe I helped harden him to do that.  I'm proud of what I did.
 
Despite the negatives, I consider my entire high school athletic carreer a terrific experience in developing my ability to coach.  I coached youth athletics for about 20 years and always remembered how it felt to be an "also ran".  I pride myself in reaching out to the "no confidence" athletes like myself, and instilling a self worth which helped them to achieve more.  After all, athletics should be the developmental arena for real life.
 
Bear