Bellaire

Late to the discussion, but I played 4 years in F.U.N. Football for the Parker Cougars.  1963-1966.

The Freshman team consisted of 3rd and 4th graders.  My coach was Benny Valone and I can still see him kick at the ground and yell "Jimminy Crickets" when we made mistakes.  

The Varsity team consisted of 5th and 6th graders.  My coach was Fred Curry who had played as a lineman for Rice.  I think he was an insurance salesman and had all daughters.  We had coaches for every position, had trainers and doctors and played a very sophisticated game.  Plays called from the press box through the headsets.

Rumors were that the Oilers wanted to practice on the field, but were told no.  The turf was built for kids.  On the Varsity team you couldn't weigh more than 120 pounds at the start of the season.  

When I was 14 I worked at the stadium as part of the "chain gang" with the down markers.  The next year I was promoted to operate the electronic scoreboard and was official timekeeper.  Spent a lot of nights and all day on Saturdays there making some pretty good money for someone too young to get a regular part-time job.

Great memories.

Here's a bit of personal Meyer Speedway trivia.

When I took Drivers Ed at Westbury HS in 1970, we would attend the classroom phase at the school, of course. But for part of the Behind The Wheel phase, we would load up in a van and drive to Meyer Speedway, aka "The Range". The Drivers Ed cars were located there and we would proceed to practice basic driving skills to be followed by real street driving.

The temptation was everpresent to kick it on the straightaway, knowing it may be the only chance in your lifetime to be on a racetrack. However, if your speed began to exceed the acceptable limit, one look from the coach would quickly shatter your AJ Foyt fantasy.

I did the same thing in 1968.  All the cars were brand new Camaro's and the "coach" would sit in the stands and communicate with us through the FM radio in the cars.  We would practice entering freeways and exiting.  We were always telling him that our radios weren't picking up his commands.  So, we could fly down the straightaways.  

All of the Camaros had 350 hp engines and were automatics.  Except for one manual transmission that had a 454 in it.  There was only one guy in the class who already knew how to drive a stick shift, so I never got to drive that beast.

Great story to tell people that I learned to drive on an oval track.