Excerpts from my Brother's article
Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 9:04 am
Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina, is not known these days for its football prowess. Far from it. But a lifetime ago, before World War II, when the helmets were made of leather, the Blue Devils were a college football powerhouse. Good enough to go to the Rose Bowl in 1939. Good enough, in fact, that, a few years later, the Rose Bowl came to Duke.
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The far-from-home Rose Bowl of 1942 presaged the upheaval facing so much of America. The game was played amid the somber mood of the nation, as it prepared to go to war in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, not unlike the more recent days America faced following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Most of the players, and some of the coaches, would trade uniforms soon thereafter, moving from benign gridiron battles to the worldwide theaters of the American war effort. There would be tougher battles ahead, in far-less hospitable locales than Durham, North Carolina.
* * * * * *
The far-from-home Rose Bowl of 1942 presaged the upheaval facing so much of America. The game was played amid the somber mood of the nation, as it prepared to go to war in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, not unlike the more recent days America faced following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Most of the players, and some of the coaches, would trade uniforms soon thereafter, moving from benign gridiron battles to the worldwide theaters of the American war effort. There would be tougher battles ahead, in far-less hospitable locales than Durham, North Carolina.