October 24, 2025 • 49 mins
A quiet act of bravery can change the course of a life. For Bill Taft, it started with a decision to enlist rather than be drafted, a choice that led from Navy hangars and base gyms to school hallways, football sidelines, and a wrestling room he built from scratch. We sit down with Bill to chart a path defined by service, stamina, and a stubborn belief that preparation and care beat flash every time.
Bill shares his early years in a big Battle Creek family where older siblings sacrificed so the younger five could finish school. He takes us through Great Lakes boot camp, aircraft engine mechanics when props ruled the sky, district football titles on base, and the day a P2V2 flipped on approach and changed how he saw risk forever. Back home, he married, worked nights at Kellogg’s, and walked on at Western Michigan at 26, stealing the spotlight with breakaway runs and a work ethic that ignored excuses.
The heart of Bill’s legacy lives in classrooms and locker rooms. He started in Charlotte, then moved to Waverly as new buildings rose and programs found their footing. He grew football from hard seasons into respect, launched a wrestling program that reached fifth in the state in three years, and took over track to collect league championships with athletes he knew since junior high. Along the way, he set simple rules—fit the helmet, respect the work, be good to each other—and did the small things that matter, like washing uniforms on weekends so parents didn’t have to.
We also talk about family, loss, camping traditions, and the way a life can be arranged with intention—from trophies on shelves to a veterans’ resting place near the airport where departures mark fresh starts. Bill’s advice lands with weight: choose education, choose your path, and show up for people. If you’re searching for a real-world blueprint for leadership, coaching, and character, this conversation delivers the details—and the heart—to guide your next step.
If this story moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves sports or service stories, and leave a review with your favorite lesson from Coach Taft.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (01:00):
Today is Thursday, October 23rd.
We're talking with Bill Taft,who served in the United States
Navy.
So good afternoon, Bill.
Well, thank you, Bill.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
What can I do for you?
SPEAKER_01 (01:11):
Well, I'm glad that you had me out today.
So we're just gonna we're gonnatalk about your life a little
bit.
I'm gonna ask you somequestions.
Go right ahead.
So we'll uh we'll start with uhwhat's probably the easiest
question, and that is when andwhere were you born?
SPEAKER_00 (01:26):
Battle Creek, Michigan.
One of 12, well, one of 10 kidsthat lived.
Uh-huh.
I'm the oldest, but now I'm theoldest boy because the other one
lived to be 99.
I'm trying to outlive him.
SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
So what year were you born?
SPEAKER_00 (01:42):
2929.
SPEAKER_01 (01:46):
Okay.
So you're catching up then.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
96.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:50):
Right now.
96.
SPEAKER_01 (01:52):
So did you so you grew up in that area then?
SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
Battle Creek, yeah.
Went to Battle Creek Central,played there football, and I did
I ran track for them, and I wasstill in in the band.
Played there, playedSouthwestern Band too.
And I mixed it all together.
I was just run, run, run, youknow.
Well, what was it like growingup in a family with 10 kids?
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
That's a lot of kids.
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
I'll tell you how bad it was.
My oldest five that was stillwith us, they decided we're
we're gonna skip the high schooldiploma and stuff like that
because we gotta help mom anddad raise the younger five, of
which I was one.
All the younger five got to gettheir degree and graduate from
(02:36):
Battle Creek Central.
Our class was 475 people.
So a big class, you know.
So that that's how that cameabout.
SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
So you play you say you played sports in high
school?
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Oh, yeah.
Played football and ran track.
Okay.
Plus, I played the band.
You figure that one out.
You were a busy guy.
You were really busy.
You can talk all you want.
I was so busy I didn't know oneend.
But you know what?
I never missed work, nevermissed a class.
Never, I was just very lucky.
(03:13):
I had a good heart, I have agood body.
Yeah.
I take care of it.
I don't do any of theunnecessary things like most
people do.
Smoke and drink and all thatstuff.
I don't do none of that.
Yeah.
I'm a loner.
So when I was in high school,these guys kind of try to edge
me around, you know.
We we don't, you know, you'redifferent to the rest of us.
(03:35):
I says, that's right.
That's why I'm going to outliveall of you.
Well, if most of them are gonealready.
That's right.
You your class reunions areprobably pretty small at this
point.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, see, I've been to three ofthem already.
My oldest daughter, she's 72.
She was a cheerleader for me.
My oldest boy is 70, just turned71, I believe.
(03:57):
And he was a football uh playeralso under me.
SPEAKER_02 (04:02):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (04:02):
So I had those kids around me all the time, see.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (04:05):
And then uh the rest of them, they had their little
thing to do in the school.
So they did it.
I never bothered them becausethey were in the same school I
taught.
So if they wanted me, they knowwho where I was at.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Yeah.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout uh you you got through
high school and you graduated.
And what did you do aftergraduation?
SPEAKER_00 (04:25):
I went right in the Navy.
So you joined the school.
I enlisted because my brotherwas drafted with five kids on
the way, or five kids with oneon the way.
Oh goodness.
So they sent him back for theNavy to go and have the wife
have her sixth child.
Well, if once you had it, hecame back to where he originally
stayed in Alabama.
(04:47):
Here, Russell, sorry.
The quota for the Navy is full.
Here's your rifle.
You're going to Germany, SeventhArmy, Patton's Army, and you'll
be over there until well, hewent over there in two years he
was shot.
Oh.
You know, searching buildingsand all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (05:06):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
They open up the basement door, and sure enough,
there was one guy at the bottomof the basement, store steps,
and bang, shot him.
So he spent two years in Germanyin the hospital.
He lost part of his intestineshere on the left above the leg,
and also a kidney.
Put him in the hospital therefor two years, then he sent him
(05:31):
to over to uh Indianapolis tothis hospital there.
So he spent two years in thehospital.
Now can you imagine a wife withsix kids?
And in order to fee to see herher husband, she'd have to drive
(05:51):
250 miles every every week oneway and then back 250.
So that's 500 miles she had hadto do.
Well, she didn't l outlive him.
She finally passed away, but thekids all grew up.
Uh-huh.
I'm from a large family, so likeI said, with youngest five all
got their degree, and the onlyway I was going to get a degree
(06:15):
the way I wanted it was toenlist.
Yeah.
I wasn't going to be pushedaround like Russell was.
Because I I know what would havehappened.
I'd have been on the carriers,I'd have been out in uh Korea
and all that stuff.
So I just I'll do it my way.
So I enlisted.
They treated me like it when Iwas in boot camp, it was like I
(06:37):
was the oldest officer in thatsquad.
Right.
That's the way they treated me.
I'm only 18 years old.
SPEAKER_02 (06:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
They really treated me good, of course.
I never give anybody any smile.
I did everything right up tosnuff.
We had those roll them, closeup, you know, and all that kind
of stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (06:56):
All that stuff you have to do in boot boot camp,
right?
Where'd you go to boot camp?
SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
Great Lakes.
SPEAKER_01 (07:00):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:01):
I was there for this.
I went in there in uh June anduh enlisted in Battle Creek.
Got over there in June and itdidn't leave there till
December.
SPEAKER_02 (07:12):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:13):
But I went area uh aircraft engine mechanic to
learn all that stuff about propsand we s they never had this
jets and all that stuff at thattime.
Right.
They had barely got them when Ileft, which would was 52.
But I did make up for by playingfootball and softball.
(07:35):
Okay.
I got all kinds of writings.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
So you played you played football in the Navy
then?
SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah.
We won the Naval DistrictChampionship, which is north of
Boston, on all the base teams.
We won it twice in a row.
I was a leading running back.
Uh-huh.
Then I get down here back homeand I go back to Western
Michigan.
I said, I might just as well goout for the football team, see
(08:03):
if I can make it.
I know I'm going to be awalk-on.
I'm not going to try to trampleover everybody else that's
already there.
I'll just make myself ready andif they need me, they'll use me.
So we're playing, we're playinguh Toledo, Ohio.
They're number one in ourleague.
Well, uh I hadn't played thatleague yet, so uh I just said,
(08:26):
well, I'll take whatever youoffer me.
So some of the schools werestate champions.
So that's that's five schools.
You might as well say we lostthat, see?
Yeah.
If I hadn't had that, my recordwould be super, you know.
Exactly.
So then I uh that took care ofthat.
So I uh after six uh after thethird week, we was up our third
(08:50):
month, I should say, third year.
We got to be uh six and zero,six zero.
Gave me that pack up there,Coach of the Year right there,
that little one with football onit.
But downtown in Lansing, theygot it all inscribed in the big
football.
My name, William Howard Taft Sr.
SPEAKER_01 (09:11):
So I want to go back though to your time in the Navy.
How long were you in the Navyfor?
Four years.
Four years.
Right to the day.
So you enlisted in 48.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
Pardon?
I started in 48 and got out in52.
SPEAKER_01 (09:23):
Okay, and so what so I know you played football, I
know you played softball.
Right.
What what else did you do whileyou were in the Navy?
SPEAKER_00 (09:30):
Well, well, here's what they did.
They was gonna keep me under nocircumstances they're gonna keep
me there, see?
Because I could have there's twoI got pictures where there's two
uh uh uh carriers right there atthe base.
Yeah, and those two carrierswent to Korea, believe it or
not, and they've had to changethe top for the landing of the
planes.
(09:51):
So I knew I was gonna be onthere because they told me I was
gonna be on there.
SPEAKER_02 (09:55):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
So I'll tell you what they did.
I was in uh FASRON 101, FASRONFleet Aircraft Service Squadron
101, and that had those uhP2V2s.
Big plane, wood glide, all thatkind of stuff.
You're gonna get this teamready, they're coming up from
(10:17):
Florida.
They're all chiefs from eachindividual part of the squadron
and part of the base and so on.
They're coming to go toReykjavik, Iceland.
Now you don't have six, youdon't have more than you're you
don't have over six months left.
So you're not going to goReykjavik.
(10:38):
You're gonna help these guys geton that plane, get out of fly,
you know.
So they got out there a hundredmiles at sea, at Atlantic Sea,
Atlantic Ocean, turned around,came back, lousy weather, rainy,
doubt, dark, uh couldn't see toowell.
SPEAKER_01 (10:59):
Yeah, at this time they didn't have a lot of the
fancy stuff on there, right?
SPEAKER_00 (11:03):
So yes, they'd turn around.
So they uh he tried to bring itin on one engine.
He used up half his runway,trying to land it.
Well, he knew it'd never stopbefore he got to the end of the
runway, right?
Yeah.
So I guess he got a littlenervous.
He pulled back out, he said,we're gonna try to go around
(11:23):
again and use more of thatrunway.
Pull the throttle back, thatplane goes.
Upside down right there.
All those guys died in thatairplane.
Caught fire and they burnedright up.
I don't forget those things.
No.
Another thing we had, we had abiggest robbery in the United
(11:45):
States at that time.
They came to our base and robbedour banker that was bringing us
money, and they came off toNarrangans at Bay, which is
right across from Newport, uh,to quats it.
They took a boat over and gotoff.
And here's the guy with a vaultwith all the money.
They got all that money, gotback in their boat, and away
(12:06):
they went, and 20 years later ittook them to catch it.
Took them 20 years to catchthem, huh?
Oh, I bet they spent that moneythough.
Oh, I'm I'm sure they did.
SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
So what base were you at then?
SPEAKER_00 (12:17):
Quanza Point.
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Okay.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (12:20):
Rhode Island.
SPEAKER_01 (12:21):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (12:22):
Nice small base, was it?
Well, it's a nice air base.
Yeah.
Right on this is NarragansettBay here.
So we're here, and there and uhNewport was right here, and this
is the ocean here.
Okay.
So this is Providence back here.
So I got there in December aftertaking about four days of
(12:45):
getting there, you know.
Right.
I had to take a bus out thereand get it.
And they uh welcomed me in, andthe more they talked to me, the
more they seem to like me.
So here's what we're gonna dofor you, William.
You're gonna take care becauseyou play football for me, we're
gonna assign the gymnasium toyou.
So all you gotta do is be inthere during the day.
(13:07):
You don't even have to come nearthe squadron.
We'll check you out.
You come in, you take care ofthat gym, and anybody comes in
for whatever they want, swimmingor maybe uh weightlifting or
something like that.
You just oversee all that stuffand make sure that there's
papers and all that stuff iscleaned up.
Well, that gave me a good chanceto be a punter, see?
SPEAKER_02 (13:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
Because I was a kid when I carried that football
around at home at Battle Creek,I was kicking that ball all over
the cr the uh area.
Uh-huh.
So that's what made me stay withit.
Well, uh, we play in PatuxentRiver, that's uh uh District 2,
that's in uh down down the onthe uh on the outside of the
(13:54):
state of Michigan.
Or state of United States.
Yeah, down by New Jersey, is it?
Yeah, no, it's farther souththan that.
Anyway.
Uh we had to play Potux River.
They were like the number oneteam from that area.
That's District 2.
Uh-huh.
So they came out to play us.
Well, they had a little betterteam.
(14:15):
We did, so uh, I ended up onwhere the goal posts are gonna
kick away from the goalpostbecause that's had I was a
punter, see?
Yeah.
Sixty some yards later, spiral.
See, I taught myself to kickthat ball as a spiral.
Well, it went over all theirheads, they couldn't believe it.
(14:38):
Yeah.
First thing I heard from thiscommander said, How would you
like to go to Alabama and playon a college team?
I'll get you all the books, allthe paperwork and everything.
I said, I'd like to do that, butI'm already challenged by my
first girlfriend that wants toget married.
I was never wanting to chasearound with all kinds of girls.
(15:00):
I mean, I got pictures of them,but I that's as far as I went.
So they kept me there in thegym.
Uh-oh.
Get it off.
Sorry.
Oh, no problem.
(15:21):
So I made the team.
I walked on at Western, and Iwas 26.
So you got out of the Navy andthen got married.
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
Got married.
And got a job at Kellogg's.
Okay.
Now, did you meet your wife inBattle Creek then?
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (15:39):
Okay.
Yeah, she was she was fromKalamazoo, see, and I met her.
I get home, my sister says, Whydon't why don't we go to Fort
Custers and dance out there?
And you can wear your Navyuniform.
Uh-huh.
I did that.
The girl came up to me.
I danced with her a coupletimes.
I heard her say, gosh, I I'dlike to marry that guy.
(16:02):
Well, I got got to know her alittle better.
So after I got to Quonsett, Idecided I'm gonna go when I went
to back to uh Western Michigan,sorry, I decided I'm gonna walk
out and see if I can't make thefootball team.
Well, I made it.
(16:22):
I was the second fastest guy inall the kids out there, 18, 19,
20 years old.
I was 26.
So I just said, they're ahead ofme.
I'm not gonna try to push forcemyself.
If they want me, I'll be ready.
I'll be ready.
So we're gonna play this teamdown in Ohio, Toledo, Ohio.
(16:47):
They came to our place, andguess what?
The first time we handed theball, 63 yards later, I've gone.
Who the heck is that 27-year-oldman?
Running like that.
And we beat him.
SPEAKER_02 (17:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
We beat Toledo, yeah.
I scored twice my other half onthe other side.
Uh he scored two twice.
Uh-huh.
Uh how can you beat it?
Can't beat it.
So So you were you were workingat Kellogg at the time, though,
right?
Oh, yeah, every night.
(17:24):
You were working the nights.
Uh, from 10 at night until sixevery morning.
And then you would drive toWestern.
The back roads.
Because there was no 94 at thattime.
Today I could take 94 andprobably take me from Battle
Creek probably 30 minutes.
Yeah.
Because you can drive out therepretty good.
Yeah.
But no, I uh I had to do all thethings that were hard to do.
(17:46):
Right.
That's a that's a long day.
Oh, and then you're playingfootball too.
I went out for the footballteam, made it, so then after
practice, I'd run in, take ashower, jump in my car, drive
home, get it home.
I said, I'm not very hungry.
Don't make me a lot of lunch.
I've got to go lay down, wake meup by nine o'clock, so I'd be
(18:07):
out at the job at ten with withmy stomach.
You know.
Never had a mess day or nothing.
So how long did you four yearsof this?
Huh?
Four years.
Four straight years.
Wow.
That's a lot of time.
What'd you get your degree in?
Uh easiest thing I can think ofat that time.
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
Yeah.
I think we all do that.
SPEAKER_00 (18:32):
Well, I wanted to be in sports.
Yeah.
Number one.
Number two, I got it in uh whatdo they call that?
Uh I had my own classes andeverything in the classroom.
We had uh all the equipment inthe gym.
Uh-huh.
You know, and as uh accidentshappened, they got rid of that
stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:53):
So and I'm fighting a half a gym with another woman
that because she has half thegym too.
So finally they they're outthere building that school now.
They finally built me awrestling room, and right above
there, that picture is a picturethey took of me and assigned
(19:16):
that said that I was the onethat originated the wrestling
team there, and I had it forfour years.
We ended up fifth estate.
So this was this was aftercollege, though, when you went
to teach at the school?
Yeah, I got my degree, but Iwent to Charlotte first.
So you went to teach inCharlotte?
Same thing.
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:37):
Uh, not not so much phys ed, though.
It was uh more or less aclassroom, uh geography.
SPEAKER_01 (19:43):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
Uh junior high.
All right.
And did you coach in Charlotte?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:47):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:47):
I had junior high, but I had an undefeated JV team
when I left here because hewouldn't give me the job.
So this guy, he hired the eighthman that he interviewed, took
the job.
He was that most valuable playerfrom central Michigan.
Uh-huh.
Uh his name was uh, well, it'snot necessary.
(20:08):
He uh didn't win a ballgame.
Yeah.
Then he quit.
After I left there, I had myhome and everything right there
settling.
I'm glad.
I'm glad it happened becausethat moved me into this new
school, see?
SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
Right.
So you went from Charlotte toWaverly.
To Waverly, okay.
And this was in the 60s though?
Yeah.
Yeah, so they were just buildingWaverly.
SPEAKER_00 (20:31):
Well, see, they built a school in 6061.
Yeah.
I got there in 62, okay.
But I went to the middle schoolor junior high on Michigan
Avenue.
SPEAKER_02 (20:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:41):
Okay, I was there for two years.
So I got to elevated up to thehead varsity football coach, but
that made me uh uh let's see, Iwas uh three years there.
I was about 30.
Uh-huh.
So I elevated me there, and Ilike I said, we had those five
(21:05):
schools that I had to fightagainst, and rough schedule.
I think we won one, then we wonthree, and then we won six.
The three years.
Wow.
After that, they gave me thatthing up there, which is a a
smaller replica of the big one.
It's downtown in downtowncoaches.
(21:25):
Uh-huh.
So they presented that big one,signed it, showed it to me, and
gave me that little one upthere.
So that meant I had a full daythere.
Right.
So all of a sudden he put me inthere, and that's when I ran
that 63 yards.
They couldn't believe it.
Even the coaches said, What hedid with me, he said, hey Bill,
(21:49):
he says.
So this is back at Western,though, when you ranch.
He says to me, he says, Bill, wegot a thing we want to do with
your age.
We got to have you run 30 yardsthis way, as hard as you can go.
Then you can lop back here.
Then you turn around again.
Yeah.
Lop back here.
Again.
We went there eight or ninetimes.
(22:10):
He was checking my condition andme and my body and my and I was
sick out of shape at that time.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
So you end up at uh Waverly Schools, right?
Yeah.
Um you were telling me uh youcoached football there.
Yep.
But then I had wrestling there.
Right.
And start the program.
You started the program, theythey built the wrestling room
and all that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:34):
And that's what that thing is up there for.
They originally gave that to me.
SPEAKER_01 (22:39):
And and then in the middle of all that, they
something happened with thetrack coach.
SPEAKER_00 (22:43):
Yeah, he we were down one point.
I see the basketball team was,so they're playing it at East
Lansing.
So the ball goes to the EastLansing far court, he bounces it
once to the near court, bouncedit once, and wall the ball went
through the ring.
But see, there was no light onit backboard yet.
(23:05):
Otherwise, it'd been too latebecause the light would have
been on before the ball gotthere.
SPEAKER_02 (23:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:10):
Well, he went in there fighting those officials.
He says, You guys are all wetand all whatever he said, I
don't know.
He was a religious man, but II'm so sorry for Jim.
He was a heck of a nice guy.
But I was his assistant, see.
So as soon as they wrote thatletter, they elevated me to the
track coach.
No matter where we went with thesame kids that I had back in
(23:33):
junior high, we won everythingwe could do.
I'm talking uh tournaments andstuff like that.
Different schools run Lancingand everything.
We won this finally we won theuh late championship two years
before I left her.
Which was quite a then I went towork for Shaheen, drove cars for
(23:56):
24 years.
So how long did you work in theschool system then?
30 Well, I went 59 till 98.
Oh, so you were there for a longtime.
61 to 98.
At uh Waverley.
So 37 years of teaching.
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
That's about right.
And those people there reallyloved me there.
So, Bill, when you were teachingat Waverly Schools, I was at
Wynans Elementary School.
Well, that's a nice school.
SPEAKER_00 (24:25):
Yeah, I went there I went there and subbed a couple
times after I got out ofteaching.
SPEAKER_01 (24:29):
Yeah, so I I was there uh from first grade
through uh fourth, no, throughfifth grade, actually.
All right, what year was that?
So that would have been Roughlyuh 70.
Let's see.
I was I was born in 65, so thatwould have been like 72.
(24:50):
Oh, that's what my brother, myson is went to school at the
time.
Mr.
Flowers was the principal there.
Who?
Mr.
Flowers, oh yeah, yeah.
He was the principal there.
I knew them all, and I think Ihad Mrs.
Price as a teacher and Mr.
Reisner as a teacher.
Nice bunch of teachers.
Yeah, Mr.
Reisner, I always remembered hewould do two things.
One, if you answered a question,he'd always go, Would you bet
(25:12):
your life on that?
Because he wanted you to besure.
And the other thing was if youmessed up in his class, he would
yell at you and tell you he'dnail your hide to the wall if
you ever did that again.
SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
See, that's something I never did with my
kids.
I've never had to yell at him.
But he was a good teacher.
Oh, yeah.
He was a great teacher.
He was, yeah.
Yeah.
So And I I I subbed at ColtSchool after I retired.
I I went to the one over hereoff from uh what is that road
there that's uh off Willow.
(25:43):
Oh yeah.
Now they're bit rebuilding thewoo new one in Lancy School
District off Willow.
That's gonna be a peach of aschool.
SPEAKER_01 (25:52):
Yeah, Willow uh Willow Street Elementary there.
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
That's gonna be nice when it's done.
SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
Yes, it is.
And they're rebuilding um Yeah,the why not they're rebuilding
winins.
You're right, exactly.
They're doing a lot of work onthere.
I was I I substitute teach, so Iwas good for you.
I went back and substituted inuh in one of the classrooms I
went to.
So that's great.
Yeah, so so anyway, you uhthirty thirty-seven years in
teaching, and um, you know, thepeople listening can't see it,
(26:19):
but you have all kinds ofawards, and you were in the
coaching hall.
SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
That's all full right there.
SPEAKER_01 (26:25):
Yeah, all the things I ever done.
And you're uh you're in thecoaching hall of fame?
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
Yes, uh huh.
SPEAKER_01 (26:29):
Yep, here in the that's that yellow plaque,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
We just went through that.
I was the number one theypicked.
That's awesome.
And the guy next to me, uh, Ihave a picture of it, but he he
was the only state championshipbasketball coach for Waverley.
Odlem, his name was, Odlem.
SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (26:49):
And he had four kids that went to Waverly.
Okay, but a lot of them areKellogg.
Uh I even went to play uh uh shigh school uh summer summer
sports for either uh KelloggCompany or uh GM or I I just and
(27:09):
then I played I was a golf uh auh bowler and everything else.
Oh yeah.
This guy came to me one day andhe says, How would you like sub
for me?
I said, What's the matter?
He said, Well, something came upI can't be there and I said so
you want to go?
And I said, Yeah, I'll take yourplace.
What well it was over on thesecond one.
(27:32):
Bowling alley right there.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Oh, the one right on uh right off from uh Grand
River?
SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
No, not the other one before that.
Oh gosh.
Before you get to uh GrandRiver.
Was it Joe Joseph's Pro Bowl?
That's well, that was it.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yep.
So I I uh I went there and Iwalked in and uh found the team
I was supposed to be subbingfor, and I said, I'm your sub
(28:00):
because he can't be heretonight.
So I started bowling, and I justhad one of the best nights I
ever had.
And he says, Guess what?
You just won the pot.
$400.
The luck was with me.
SPEAKER_01 (28:16):
It's like you can't lose, Bill.
63-yard touchdown.
SPEAKER_00 (28:19):
I never lost nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (28:21):
State championships and 400 bills.
SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
No, I I'm just so that so you know, happy about
everything.
I I got more things in thebasement, shows up, uh, hangs
out.
I got my uh uh license to be onin the Navy and all that stuff,
you know, that you gotta gothrough.
(28:44):
But I tell you, it's been thegreatest life.
And I have friends now like youand Bruce, and I I feel like
more of an out person, you know,instead of being stuck.
But I've been here for almostfive years now.
Uh-huh.
Right here alone.
SPEAKER_01 (29:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
But I'm trying to keep things up, make it it looks
like it's been lived in.
That's all I care about.
You gotta you have a comfortablehome.
Oh, thank you.
That's what you have.
It's very comfortable.
And a nice backyard, it's allall uh bushed up that I went and
raised.
SPEAKER_01 (29:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
I mow the yard yet, but I feel I'm gonna need
volunteering because I camper.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
My second wife was a camper, so I married her, and
these two girls I have are downcamping with me at their place
that they're gonna have when Ipass.
Uh-huh.
Because they're the only thingin my family, my own family,
that my own kids don't like tocamp.
They'd rather go to hotels andstuff like that.
unknown (29:44):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (29:45):
Well, you know, there's there's a so how many
how many kids do you have total?
I have six right now.
Okay.
And you so you got married rightaround the time you were in the
Navy.
52.
52.
So I got out out of the Navyfirst, yeah.
52.
And then how when did you howlong were you married to your
first wife?
SPEAKER_00 (30:02):
About 25.
Okay.
And you had children with her.
Oh, yeah, we had four kids.
Okay.
The problem was she justignored, she was sorry, being
home all the time by herselfwhile the kids were at school.
Right.
And she had a job.
I got her Kellogg taught me, allshe had to do was hand out clean
uniforms to people who worked inthe uh packing department.
(30:27):
Uh-huh.
Because they were the ones thathandled all the food and
everything, you know, the boxand all that stuff.
So are it still in?
Are we still alright?
Oh, yeah, you're good.
I'm just I'm just watchingeverything.
That's good though.
So I gotta I would like to haveyou read this if you get a
chance.
SPEAKER_02 (30:44):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (30:45):
I can't let you go.
It's the only copy I got rightnow.
But that's that shows you rightthere what it looks like up
there.
Uh huh.
This tells you about if youdon't mind.
SPEAKER_01 (30:55):
Yeah, let me know.
I'll read that.
I'll read that when we get donebefore before I go.
SPEAKER_00 (31:00):
That's a picture of me just like the one behind you.
SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:04):
They took a picture of me and hung that plaque up
after they built the uhwrestling room and everything
after I was already gone fromwrestling.
Right.
unknown (31:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:14):
But that's all right.
Hey, I originated the programand we ended up fifth of the
state in three years.
That program is still there,right?
They still have it, but theythey're not gonna win.
You know why?
All the junior high schools areno get no play.
They don't play enough unlessthey want you want watch your
(31:37):
kids do this.
Yeah.
Well, I have a daughter, I havea granddaughter, my oldest one.
She had four kids.
And you know what she does?
She lets them try anything theywant to try, and she's with them
like a homebody.
Let's go here, let's go there.
If you like it, fine.
If you don't, don't go back.
(31:58):
We won't take you back there.
So she lets them make their owndecisions.
That's what you gotta do.
Let the kids uh nobody told me Ihad to play football or
anything.
I just that's what I hadupstairs, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (32:10):
Yeah, you enjoyed it and so you.
Oh, I loved it.
I'd still love it right now.
What do you think the of all thethings you've done, what do you
think the what do you think thehighlight of your life is?
Like what's what's somethingthat you just something for the
kids.
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
I treated my kids like were my own.
I never had trouble with my ownkids.
Right.
And I treated them the same way.
So uh like I said, the uniformscould be filthy.
I wouldn't send them home withwith a boy to take them home to
mother.
I would spend the weekendwashing them.
SPEAKER_02 (32:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:44):
Drying them, folding them up, putting on a number
where I had outside.
Hey, they appreciated it.
Those parents were good to me.
Everybody was still good to metoday.
I could walk out there andsomebody said, Hey coach, how
you doing?
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah, you really forget thosekind of things.
(33:05):
You really left your mark on theoh that's what I did.
I was always that way, and I wasonly born in f in the my family.
Uh one was a state championdiver when he went in the Air
Force.
Air Force take him right withhim when they had a swim in it.
He'd do that double way up area.
You know, he was fantastic.
(33:27):
He for Battle Creek, but hecould swim that lake out there.
SPEAKER_02 (33:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:32):
Right there, he swam that lake when he was uh still
in high school.
(34:16):
The two trophies up there on theright, those are for wrestling.
First and second year, they hadit.
Third year is 31 and 7 total,and we were fifth estate.
SPEAKER_01 (34:26):
Wow, that's 31 and 7.
SPEAKER_00 (34:28):
That's a pretty good record.
Three years.
Yeah.
But see, I I give my credit tome because I had to think how am
I going to get these kidsinvolved so they know anything
in their first leaguechampionship.
Yeah.
And they only lost two there.
That's because they had to playSexton and Eastern.
Sexton and Eastern was just likethis for two years.
(34:51):
Uh-huh.
One and the other one.
So I said, well, now they'regone.
The kids are gone.
Now it's our turn.
Right.
And that's what they did.
They went out there and toreeverybody we played, everybody
wrestled on our team.
All made points of some sort.
And that's what how we won.
But we had to play the leagueteam too, so in the league, I
(35:15):
should say.
SPEAKER_02 (35:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:16):
But I don't think the wrestling is going to go too
far in high school anymorebecause unless you were outside
the perimeter of the Lancingarea, they still have some
outside schools that have juniorhigh phys eds.
That's what I phys ed major.
That's what I was.
Okay.
You get forget.
(35:37):
All this stuff here is all mywife's, I built this room on
just for her.
Uh-huh.
Myself.
In the summertime.
This was donated to me by one ofthe kids.
And I put that other thing aboveit.
And then I got all thosetrophies up there.
Plus, I got the thing in thebasement.
(35:57):
Uh, that I still left a lot ofno way to put on a brick.
I didn't want to put them on thebrick.
SPEAKER_01 (36:05):
So I I'm sorry, how how long ago did you lose your
wife?
SPEAKER_00 (36:10):
Almost six years ago.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (36:12):
Second wife.
Your second wife, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
First wife is already gone already.
Right.
Well, she went to Battle Creekand ran into her boyfriend from
Kalamazoo that she knew in highschool.
Oh.
And he was married, had twodaughters, but he uh let's see,
he was my age.
He might have been a year olderthan me, but he's gone.
(36:36):
And so she went down there andmarried him.
She's gone.
And we're both cremated.
They are.
Yeah.
And my wife is cremated.
All her stuff is in that bigmusic spot.
So I the rest of it's over thereon what we had on that table in
there.
(36:56):
Right.
So I separated that for mydaughters so that when the when
this house is gone, they'll haveeverything out of here because
they're gonna sell it or shthey're gonna take it.
Right.
They'll know what's important.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:10):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (37:12):
That's why she don't want to take stuff down while
I'm still alive.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (37:16):
See, those those cabinets are full of nothing but
Christmas stuff.
Uh-huh.
There's two in the front roomthe same way.
Because my wife says, my secondwife says, let's fill these
things up with buy as we goalong.
That way we don't have to get itout.
Right.
It'll just it'll be out.
No Christmas tree.
Well, I could have had a littleone, you know, out here.
(37:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:38):
Well, I you know, I think we got sidetracked a
little bit.
You um, because we were talkingabout you retired from the
school district.
Yes.
And then you started drivingcars for uh Sheen Chevrolets.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (37:50):
And that's like if someone bought a car and they
needed it taken somewhere, oryou exactly I could either take
exchange it myself or buy oneand I'd have to take somebody
with me.
I would be the lead driverbecause I was the oldest one
there at the time.
Uh-huh.
Now, some of those guys werepicky picky.
(38:11):
I I don't like when they'repicking on you, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (38:14):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (38:14):
I was the oldest man, so he says, why don't we
get Shaheen?
I heard this in a van.
Why don't we get this these90-year-old drivers retired?
Because he was like 85 orsomething like that.
They're all gone now.
SPEAKER_02 (38:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:32):
I just lived my life, you know, kept my mouth
shut and just live my life, justwhat I've taught, same thing.
SPEAKER_02 (38:38):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (38:38):
Basketball coach walked in on one of my football
meetings.
I said, What are you guys doinghere?
He says, Well, we come to tellthe kids about basketball.
Basketball is not here yet.
This is my football program.
If you want to talk to them, youwait till they get to you.
(38:59):
Because I have my rules.
All I ask my kids to take, shaveit good enough so I can fit that
helmet.
Once it's fit, I don't care whatyou do, as long as it fits your
head.
Because that's that's the mostimportant part of your body if
you ever get hurt.
And I played all those years,never got hurt.
Right.
So like I told you, we coach, wehave a place down in Homer,
(39:24):
Lighthouse Village, you call it.
Beautiful campground.
I've been there for 47 years.
Every weekend, usually.
Yeah.
But they what they do is theyshut the water off, and it's
just been shut off about a weeknow.
But it's not, it's not uh partof the association of of uh
(39:44):
campers.
So that means the state don'thave anything to do with a lot
of things unless it's somethingthat they need or want.
So we go down there, uh, she'llbe going down, we'll be going
down probably Saturday andwinterise the trailer, just blow
the lines all out andeverything.
And whatever else is done, wecan get it done, Bill.
(40:08):
So that but you know, guys likeyou is what I miss.
Because I like to talk, I liketo be around people that are
enjoyable, that I know thatthey're not screwing around and
getting in trouble and anything.
I never had the only thing Iever had in football was these
kids were juniors.
(40:28):
So the bus rule was you ride onthe bus, you come back on the
bus.
These three kids did playbecause we were playing Jackson,
Lumen Christie, you know, that'sthat Catholic school now.
They got a great team.
They had it until we beat them.
I told the kids at halftime, Isaid, we're down eight, we're
(40:51):
down eight to nothing.
Halftime.
I said, you know, boys, I'vebeen down here three years now.
I had to go home as a loser.
I think we have the kids rightnow, even though we're down
eight points.
I think we got the kids.
Fullback, you're gonna have torun a little harder because we
(41:13):
had snow on the ground.
They wouldn't let oursuperintendent wouldn't let our
kids sh shovel it off our fieldout here.
So they got a hold of Jacksonand he said, Well, we have a
grader down here, and all we'vegot to do is grade that field
right down to the dirt.
That's what they did.
Now you ought to see that field.
It's all beautifully.
SPEAKER_01 (41:32):
Yeah, it's a nice field.
SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Oh, that's for sure.
Gorgeous.
And the one over there at uhcollege, little to college on
the way down toward uh south,they got an all-weather track, a
field all painted out of thefield.
They never had to do nothing.
SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:49):
It's all done.
SPEAKER_02 (41:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
Really nice.
Expensive, but it's nice.
SPEAKER_02 (41:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (41:54):
So anyway, I just said, well, I'll do the best I
can in everything I did.
Sometimes you do it alone.
Wrestling, I had to do it aloneuntil I get it started.
Those kids took off in therelike uh like I wanted them to.
So they all followed me through.
(42:22):
Track.
And boy did we wind up there.
I imagine we we had one overeighty-five different and we won
the league championship before Igot out there too, so that's
incredible.
I got I got other well, there'sone up there with a shoe.
There's another one up therethat's thankful for being part
(42:44):
of and all that.
You should take a minute andlook at those things when you
for you know.
When we get done, I wanna Iwanna look at your well
absolutely showing some of thesealbums.
Yeah.
Even if all you gotta do islook.
But I was just a kid.
I when I went through juniorhigh, they didn't think I was
gonna amount to much uh as faras a player.
(43:05):
But you know, some people grow.
But I grew up to be a littleolder, but boy did I cash in.
SPEAKER_01 (43:14):
Yeah, you learn how to play and you learn how to
coach.
unknown (43:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (43:18):
So so, with all that said, we've talked about a lot
of stuff over the last hour.
And so, kind of as we wrap upthe recording, um, I always ask
the same question towards theend, and that is for someone
that's listening to your storyor watching this, you know,
years from now, what would youlike to leave them with?
(43:38):
What advice would you like togive to people?
SPEAKER_00 (43:41):
Most important thing I did in my life is is go to
college because I'm about theonly one that went to college in
my family, and I I went with theidea I was gonna enlist so I
wouldn't be pushed around thisway here.
I could get into the area Iwanted to be in.
It's treated me very, very good.
(44:02):
Everybody's been great with me,and we wanted everything we
tried to do with the same kids.
I would I if I could do thatwhole thing all over again with
the same kids, I wouldn'thesitate a second.
SPEAKER_02 (44:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (44:17):
The greatest kids I could ever have, because today
they're not that way in juniorhigh.
They get noisy, and you know,they they don't want to put
their phone away.
All that kind of stuff that yougotta go through now.
SPEAKER_02 (44:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (44:33):
In a way they did me a favor because my wife divorced
me, see.
That's the reason the reason Igot out of football.
I thought maybe football wouldbring her back home.
Because I'd already already lostin in wrestling with her.
I mean, uh they gave up mywrestling, I mean.
Yeah.
So that wasn't the reason sheleft.
She just ran into this boyfriendof hers that was still alive,
(44:57):
and he'd he was uh divorced, andso she wanted divorce so she
could marry him and bingo.
So now we're gonna be crematedtoo, my wife and I.
I have uh what I did for mywife, and I'll tell you right
now if it's all right, I wentout to cemetery here, west of
the airport.
SPEAKER_02 (45:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (45:19):
All right, if you take that road off Grand River
and you go out like you're gonnago to DeWitt, that first curve
off that road, you come downthis road, and before you make
this turn, you look back, yousee my bench already made up.
I got all her stuff in the inthere that's gonna go in there.
(45:40):
It's all cremation and all thatwith a little puppy dog and
everything, and I'll be rightnext to it.
It's all labeled.
All painted inside andeverything.
It's a black slate, so don'trust.
And the top, it's all done inwhite.
So if you're coming or going,you'll see it if you look for
it.
SPEAKER_01 (45:59):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (46:00):
It's right on the uh the area where the vets are
buried, you know.
Vets uh part.
And you see that just before youmake this turn straight, or you
make this turn back, you canlook backward and see it.
I had it headed toward theairport so that every time the
airplane takes off, he takes offover my head.
(46:22):
Well, there you go.
You can watch people going onvacation.
So we used to go out and watchit, but say they don't allow
that.
Right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (46:29):
Not anymore.
Well, Bill, I appreciate youtaking time this afternoon to
take a look at.
I'd take more time as long asyou as long as you don't get
bored.
No, no.
So we'll uh we'll wrap up therecording and then I want to
take a look at some of yourstuff.
SPEAKER_00 (46:42):
Well, yeah, that'd be fine.
I want you to read that article,then you see what kind of life I
really had.
Yeah.
What I what we just went throughhere.
All right.
Well, thanks again.
Well, anytime.
All right.
Anytime I can help you out, youjust holler because I got a lot
of things.
I will do that.
SPEAKER_01 (46:58):
All right.
Today is Thursday, October 23rd.
We're talking with Bill Taft,who served in the United States
Navy.
So good afternoon, Bill.
Well, thank you, Bill.
SPEAKER_00 (01:09):
What can I do for you?
SPEAKER_01 (01:11):
Well, I'm glad that you had me out today.
So we're just gonna we're gonnatalk about your life a little
bit.
I'm gonna ask you somequestions.
Go right ahead.
So we'll uh we'll start with uhwhat's probably the easiest
question, and that is when andwhere were you born?
SPEAKER_00 (01:26):
Battle Creek, Michigan.
One of 12, well, one of 10 kidsthat lived.
Uh-huh.
I'm the oldest, but now I'm theoldest boy because the other one
lived to be 99.
I'm trying to outlive him.
SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
So what year were you born?
SPEAKER_00 (01:42):
2929.
SPEAKER_01 (01:46):
Okay.
So you're catching up then.
SPEAKER_00 (01:48):
96.
SPEAKER_01 (01:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:50):
Right now.
96.
SPEAKER_01 (01:52):
So did you so you grew up in that area then?
SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
Battle Creek, yeah.
Went to Battle Creek Central,played there football, and I did
I ran track for them, and I wasstill in in the band.
Played there, playedSouthwestern Band too.
And I mixed it all together.
I was just run, run, run, youknow.
Well, what was it like growingup in a family with 10 kids?
SPEAKER_01 (02:14):
That's a lot of kids.
SPEAKER_00 (02:15):
I'll tell you how bad it was.
My oldest five that was stillwith us, they decided we're
we're gonna skip the high schooldiploma and stuff like that
because we gotta help mom anddad raise the younger five, of
which I was one.
All the younger five got to gettheir degree and graduate from
(02:36):
Battle Creek Central.
Our class was 475 people.
So a big class, you know.
So that that's how that cameabout.
SPEAKER_01 (02:48):
So you play you say you played sports in high
school?
SPEAKER_00 (02:52):
Oh, yeah.
Played football and ran track.
Okay.
Plus, I played the band.
You figure that one out.
You were a busy guy.
You were really busy.
You can talk all you want.
I was so busy I didn't know oneend.
But you know what?
I never missed work, nevermissed a class.
Never, I was just very lucky.
(03:13):
I had a good heart, I have agood body.
Yeah.
I take care of it.
I don't do any of theunnecessary things like most
people do.
Smoke and drink and all thatstuff.
I don't do none of that.
Yeah.
I'm a loner.
So when I was in high school,these guys kind of try to edge
me around, you know.
We we don't, you know, you'redifferent to the rest of us.
(03:35):
I says, that's right.
That's why I'm going to outliveall of you.
Well, if most of them are gonealready.
That's right.
You your class reunions areprobably pretty small at this
point.
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, see, I've been to three ofthem already.
My oldest daughter, she's 72.
She was a cheerleader for me.
My oldest boy is 70, just turned71, I believe.
(03:57):
And he was a football uh playeralso under me.
SPEAKER_02 (04:02):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (04:02):
So I had those kids around me all the time, see.
SPEAKER_02 (04:05):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (04:05):
And then uh the rest of them, they had their little
thing to do in the school.
So they did it.
I never bothered them becausethey were in the same school I
taught.
So if they wanted me, they knowwho where I was at.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (04:18):
Yeah.
Well, let's talk a little bitabout uh you you got through
high school and you graduated.
And what did you do aftergraduation?
SPEAKER_00 (04:25):
I went right in the Navy.
So you joined the school.
I enlisted because my brotherwas drafted with five kids on
the way, or five kids with oneon the way.
Oh goodness.
So they sent him back for theNavy to go and have the wife
have her sixth child.
Well, if once you had it, hecame back to where he originally
stayed in Alabama.
(04:47):
Here, Russell, sorry.
The quota for the Navy is full.
Here's your rifle.
You're going to Germany, SeventhArmy, Patton's Army, and you'll
be over there until well, hewent over there in two years he
was shot.
Oh.
You know, searching buildingsand all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (05:06):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
They open up the basement door, and sure enough,
there was one guy at the bottomof the basement, store steps,
and bang, shot him.
So he spent two years in Germanyin the hospital.
He lost part of his intestineshere on the left above the leg,
and also a kidney.
Put him in the hospital therefor two years, then he sent him
(05:31):
to over to uh Indianapolis tothis hospital there.
So he spent two years in thehospital.
Now can you imagine a wife withsix kids?
And in order to fee to see herher husband, she'd have to drive
(05:51):
250 miles every every week oneway and then back 250.
So that's 500 miles she had hadto do.
Well, she didn't l outlive him.
She finally passed away, but thekids all grew up.
Uh-huh.
I'm from a large family, so likeI said, with youngest five all
got their degree, and the onlyway I was going to get a degree
(06:15):
the way I wanted it was toenlist.
Yeah.
I wasn't going to be pushedaround like Russell was.
Because I I know what would havehappened.
I'd have been on the carriers,I'd have been out in uh Korea
and all that stuff.
So I just I'll do it my way.
So I enlisted.
They treated me like it when Iwas in boot camp, it was like I
(06:37):
was the oldest officer in thatsquad.
Right.
That's the way they treated me.
I'm only 18 years old.
SPEAKER_02 (06:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (06:45):
They really treated me good, of course.
I never give anybody any smile.
I did everything right up tosnuff.
We had those roll them, closeup, you know, and all that kind
of stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (06:56):
All that stuff you have to do in boot boot camp,
right?
Where'd you go to boot camp?
SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
Great Lakes.
SPEAKER_01 (07:00):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:01):
I was there for this.
I went in there in uh June anduh enlisted in Battle Creek.
Got over there in June and itdidn't leave there till
December.
SPEAKER_02 (07:12):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (07:13):
But I went area uh aircraft engine mechanic to
learn all that stuff about propsand we s they never had this
jets and all that stuff at thattime.
Right.
They had barely got them when Ileft, which would was 52.
But I did make up for by playingfootball and softball.
(07:35):
Okay.
I got all kinds of writings.
SPEAKER_01 (07:38):
So you played you played football in the Navy
then?
SPEAKER_00 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah.
We won the Naval DistrictChampionship, which is north of
Boston, on all the base teams.
We won it twice in a row.
I was a leading running back.
Uh-huh.
Then I get down here back homeand I go back to Western
Michigan.
I said, I might just as well goout for the football team, see
(08:03):
if I can make it.
I know I'm going to be awalk-on.
I'm not going to try to trampleover everybody else that's
already there.
I'll just make myself ready andif they need me, they'll use me.
So we're playing, we're playinguh Toledo, Ohio.
They're number one in ourleague.
Well, uh I hadn't played thatleague yet, so uh I just said,
(08:26):
well, I'll take whatever youoffer me.
So some of the schools werestate champions.
So that's that's five schools.
You might as well say we lostthat, see?
Yeah.
If I hadn't had that, my recordwould be super, you know.
Exactly.
So then I uh that took care ofthat.
So I uh after six uh after thethird week, we was up our third
(08:50):
month, I should say, third year.
We got to be uh six and zero,six zero.
Gave me that pack up there,Coach of the Year right there,
that little one with football onit.
But downtown in Lansing, theygot it all inscribed in the big
football.
My name, William Howard Taft Sr.
SPEAKER_01 (09:11):
So I want to go back though to your time in the Navy.
How long were you in the Navyfor?
Four years.
Four years.
Right to the day.
So you enlisted in 48.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
Pardon?
I started in 48 and got out in52.
SPEAKER_01 (09:23):
Okay, and so what so I know you played football, I
know you played softball.
Right.
What what else did you do whileyou were in the Navy?
SPEAKER_00 (09:30):
Well, well, here's what they did.
They was gonna keep me under nocircumstances they're gonna keep
me there, see?
Because I could have there's twoI got pictures where there's two
uh uh uh carriers right there atthe base.
Yeah, and those two carrierswent to Korea, believe it or
not, and they've had to changethe top for the landing of the
planes.
(09:51):
So I knew I was gonna be onthere because they told me I was
gonna be on there.
SPEAKER_02 (09:55):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (09:56):
So I'll tell you what they did.
I was in uh FASRON 101, FASRONFleet Aircraft Service Squadron
101, and that had those uhP2V2s.
Big plane, wood glide, all thatkind of stuff.
You're gonna get this teamready, they're coming up from
(10:17):
Florida.
They're all chiefs from eachindividual part of the squadron
and part of the base and so on.
They're coming to go toReykjavik, Iceland.
Now you don't have six, youdon't have more than you're you
don't have over six months left.
So you're not going to goReykjavik.
(10:38):
You're gonna help these guys geton that plane, get out of fly,
you know.
So they got out there a hundredmiles at sea, at Atlantic Sea,
Atlantic Ocean, turned around,came back, lousy weather, rainy,
doubt, dark, uh couldn't see toowell.
SPEAKER_01 (10:59):
Yeah, at this time they didn't have a lot of the
fancy stuff on there, right?
SPEAKER_00 (11:03):
So yes, they'd turn around.
So they uh he tried to bring itin on one engine.
He used up half his runway,trying to land it.
Well, he knew it'd never stopbefore he got to the end of the
runway, right?
Yeah.
So I guess he got a littlenervous.
He pulled back out, he said,we're gonna try to go around
(11:23):
again and use more of thatrunway.
Pull the throttle back, thatplane goes.
Upside down right there.
All those guys died in thatairplane.
Caught fire and they burnedright up.
I don't forget those things.
No.
Another thing we had, we had abiggest robbery in the United
(11:45):
States at that time.
They came to our base and robbedour banker that was bringing us
money, and they came off toNarrangans at Bay, which is
right across from Newport, uh,to quats it.
They took a boat over and gotoff.
And here's the guy with a vaultwith all the money.
They got all that money, gotback in their boat, and away
(12:06):
they went, and 20 years later ittook them to catch it.
Took them 20 years to catchthem, huh?
Oh, I bet they spent that moneythough.
Oh, I'm I'm sure they did.
SPEAKER_01 (12:15):
So what base were you at then?
SPEAKER_00 (12:17):
Quanza Point.
SPEAKER_01 (12:18):
Okay.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (12:20):
Rhode Island.
SPEAKER_01 (12:21):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (12:22):
Nice small base, was it?
Well, it's a nice air base.
Yeah.
Right on this is NarragansettBay here.
So we're here, and there and uhNewport was right here, and this
is the ocean here.
Okay.
So this is Providence back here.
So I got there in December aftertaking about four days of
(12:45):
getting there, you know.
Right.
I had to take a bus out thereand get it.
And they uh welcomed me in, andthe more they talked to me, the
more they seem to like me.
So here's what we're gonna dofor you, William.
You're gonna take care becauseyou play football for me, we're
gonna assign the gymnasium toyou.
So all you gotta do is be inthere during the day.
(13:07):
You don't even have to come nearthe squadron.
We'll check you out.
You come in, you take care ofthat gym, and anybody comes in
for whatever they want, swimmingor maybe uh weightlifting or
something like that.
You just oversee all that stuffand make sure that there's
papers and all that stuff iscleaned up.
Well, that gave me a good chanceto be a punter, see?
SPEAKER_02 (13:28):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (13:28):
Because I was a kid when I carried that football
around at home at Battle Creek,I was kicking that ball all over
the cr the uh area.
Uh-huh.
So that's what made me stay withit.
Well, uh, we play in PatuxentRiver, that's uh uh District 2,
that's in uh down down the onthe uh on the outside of the
(13:54):
state of Michigan.
Or state of United States.
Yeah, down by New Jersey, is it?
Yeah, no, it's farther souththan that.
Anyway.
Uh we had to play Potux River.
They were like the number oneteam from that area.
That's District 2.
Uh-huh.
So they came out to play us.
Well, they had a little betterteam.
(14:15):
We did, so uh, I ended up onwhere the goal posts are gonna
kick away from the goalpostbecause that's had I was a
punter, see?
Yeah.
Sixty some yards later, spiral.
See, I taught myself to kickthat ball as a spiral.
Well, it went over all theirheads, they couldn't believe it.
(14:38):
Yeah.
First thing I heard from thiscommander said, How would you
like to go to Alabama and playon a college team?
I'll get you all the books, allthe paperwork and everything.
I said, I'd like to do that, butI'm already challenged by my
first girlfriend that wants toget married.
I was never wanting to chasearound with all kinds of girls.
(15:00):
I mean, I got pictures of them,but I that's as far as I went.
So they kept me there in thegym.
Uh-oh.
Get it off.
Sorry.
Oh, no problem.
(15:21):
So I made the team.
I walked on at Western, and Iwas 26.
So you got out of the Navy andthen got married.
SPEAKER_01 (15:32):
Got married.
And got a job at Kellogg's.
Okay.
Now, did you meet your wife inBattle Creek then?
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (15:39):
Okay.
Yeah, she was she was fromKalamazoo, see, and I met her.
I get home, my sister says, Whydon't why don't we go to Fort
Custers and dance out there?
And you can wear your Navyuniform.
Uh-huh.
I did that.
The girl came up to me.
I danced with her a coupletimes.
I heard her say, gosh, I I'dlike to marry that guy.
(16:02):
Well, I got got to know her alittle better.
So after I got to Quonsett, Idecided I'm gonna go when I went
to back to uh Western Michigan,sorry, I decided I'm gonna walk
out and see if I can't make thefootball team.
Well, I made it.
(16:22):
I was the second fastest guy inall the kids out there, 18, 19,
20 years old.
I was 26.
So I just said, they're ahead ofme.
I'm not gonna try to push forcemyself.
If they want me, I'll be ready.
I'll be ready.
So we're gonna play this teamdown in Ohio, Toledo, Ohio.
(16:47):
They came to our place, andguess what?
The first time we handed theball, 63 yards later, I've gone.
Who the heck is that 27-year-oldman?
Running like that.
And we beat him.
SPEAKER_02 (17:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:04):
We beat Toledo, yeah.
I scored twice my other half onthe other side.
Uh he scored two twice.
Uh-huh.
Uh how can you beat it?
Can't beat it.
So So you were you were workingat Kellogg at the time, though,
right?
Oh, yeah, every night.
(17:24):
You were working the nights.
Uh, from 10 at night until sixevery morning.
And then you would drive toWestern.
The back roads.
Because there was no 94 at thattime.
Today I could take 94 andprobably take me from Battle
Creek probably 30 minutes.
Yeah.
Because you can drive out therepretty good.
Yeah.
But no, I uh I had to do all thethings that were hard to do.
(17:46):
Right.
That's a that's a long day.
Oh, and then you're playingfootball too.
I went out for the footballteam, made it, so then after
practice, I'd run in, take ashower, jump in my car, drive
home, get it home.
I said, I'm not very hungry.
Don't make me a lot of lunch.
I've got to go lay down, wake meup by nine o'clock, so I'd be
(18:07):
out at the job at ten with withmy stomach.
You know.
Never had a mess day or nothing.
So how long did you four yearsof this?
Huh?
Four years.
Four straight years.
Wow.
That's a lot of time.
What'd you get your degree in?
Uh easiest thing I can think ofat that time.
SPEAKER_01 (18:30):
Yeah.
I think we all do that.
SPEAKER_00 (18:32):
Well, I wanted to be in sports.
Yeah.
Number one.
Number two, I got it in uh whatdo they call that?
Uh I had my own classes andeverything in the classroom.
We had uh all the equipment inthe gym.
Uh-huh.
You know, and as uh accidentshappened, they got rid of that
stuff.
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:53):
So and I'm fighting a half a gym with another woman
that because she has half thegym too.
So finally they they're outthere building that school now.
They finally built me awrestling room, and right above
there, that picture is a picturethey took of me and assigned
(19:16):
that said that I was the onethat originated the wrestling
team there, and I had it forfour years.
We ended up fifth estate.
So this was this was aftercollege, though, when you went
to teach at the school?
Yeah, I got my degree, but Iwent to Charlotte first.
So you went to teach inCharlotte?
Same thing.
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:37):
Uh, not not so much phys ed, though.
It was uh more or less aclassroom, uh geography.
SPEAKER_01 (19:43):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:43):
Uh junior high.
All right.
And did you coach in Charlotte?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (19:47):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (19:47):
I had junior high, but I had an undefeated JV team
when I left here because hewouldn't give me the job.
So this guy, he hired the eighthman that he interviewed, took
the job.
He was that most valuable playerfrom central Michigan.
Uh-huh.
Uh his name was uh, well, it'snot necessary.
(20:08):
He uh didn't win a ballgame.
Yeah.
Then he quit.
After I left there, I had myhome and everything right there
settling.
I'm glad.
I'm glad it happened becausethat moved me into this new
school, see?
SPEAKER_01 (20:21):
Right.
So you went from Charlotte toWaverly.
To Waverly, okay.
And this was in the 60s though?
Yeah.
Yeah, so they were just buildingWaverly.
SPEAKER_00 (20:31):
Well, see, they built a school in 6061.
Yeah.
I got there in 62, okay.
But I went to the middle schoolor junior high on Michigan
Avenue.
SPEAKER_02 (20:40):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (20:41):
Okay, I was there for two years.
So I got to elevated up to thehead varsity football coach, but
that made me uh uh let's see, Iwas uh three years there.
I was about 30.
Uh-huh.
So I elevated me there, and Ilike I said, we had those five
(21:05):
schools that I had to fightagainst, and rough schedule.
I think we won one, then we wonthree, and then we won six.
The three years.
Wow.
After that, they gave me thatthing up there, which is a a
smaller replica of the big one.
It's downtown in downtowncoaches.
(21:25):
Uh-huh.
So they presented that big one,signed it, showed it to me, and
gave me that little one upthere.
So that meant I had a full daythere.
Right.
So all of a sudden he put me inthere, and that's when I ran
that 63 yards.
They couldn't believe it.
Even the coaches said, What hedid with me, he said, hey Bill,
(21:49):
he says.
So this is back at Western,though, when you ranch.
He says to me, he says, Bill, wegot a thing we want to do with
your age.
We got to have you run 30 yardsthis way, as hard as you can go.
Then you can lop back here.
Then you turn around again.
Yeah.
Lop back here.
Again.
We went there eight or ninetimes.
(22:10):
He was checking my condition andme and my body and my and I was
sick out of shape at that time.
Right, right.
SPEAKER_01 (22:18):
So you end up at uh Waverly Schools, right?
Yeah.
Um you were telling me uh youcoached football there.
Yep.
But then I had wrestling there.
Right.
And start the program.
You started the program, theythey built the wrestling room
and all that.
SPEAKER_00 (22:34):
And that's what that thing is up there for.
They originally gave that to me.
SPEAKER_01 (22:39):
And and then in the middle of all that, they
something happened with thetrack coach.
SPEAKER_00 (22:43):
Yeah, he we were down one point.
I see the basketball team was,so they're playing it at East
Lansing.
So the ball goes to the EastLansing far court, he bounces it
once to the near court, bouncedit once, and wall the ball went
through the ring.
But see, there was no light onit backboard yet.
(23:05):
Otherwise, it'd been too latebecause the light would have
been on before the ball gotthere.
SPEAKER_02 (23:10):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (23:10):
Well, he went in there fighting those officials.
He says, You guys are all wetand all whatever he said, I
don't know.
He was a religious man, but II'm so sorry for Jim.
He was a heck of a nice guy.
But I was his assistant, see.
So as soon as they wrote thatletter, they elevated me to the
track coach.
No matter where we went with thesame kids that I had back in
(23:33):
junior high, we won everythingwe could do.
I'm talking uh tournaments andstuff like that.
Different schools run Lancingand everything.
We won this finally we won theuh late championship two years
before I left her.
Which was quite a then I went towork for Shaheen, drove cars for
(23:56):
24 years.
So how long did you work in theschool system then?
30 Well, I went 59 till 98.
Oh, so you were there for a longtime.
61 to 98.
At uh Waverley.
So 37 years of teaching.
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
That's about right.
And those people there reallyloved me there.
So, Bill, when you were teachingat Waverly Schools, I was at
Wynans Elementary School.
Well, that's a nice school.
SPEAKER_00 (24:25):
Yeah, I went there I went there and subbed a couple
times after I got out ofteaching.
SPEAKER_01 (24:29):
Yeah, so I I was there uh from first grade
through uh fourth, no, throughfifth grade, actually.
All right, what year was that?
So that would have been Roughlyuh 70.
Let's see.
I was I was born in 65, so thatwould have been like 72.
(24:50):
Oh, that's what my brother, myson is went to school at the
time.
Mr.
Flowers was the principal there.
Who?
Mr.
Flowers, oh yeah, yeah.
He was the principal there.
I knew them all, and I think Ihad Mrs.
Price as a teacher and Mr.
Reisner as a teacher.
Nice bunch of teachers.
Yeah, Mr.
Reisner, I always remembered hewould do two things.
One, if you answered a question,he'd always go, Would you bet
(25:12):
your life on that?
Because he wanted you to besure.
And the other thing was if youmessed up in his class, he would
yell at you and tell you he'dnail your hide to the wall if
you ever did that again.
SPEAKER_00 (25:22):
See, that's something I never did with my
kids.
I've never had to yell at him.
But he was a good teacher.
Oh, yeah.
He was a great teacher.
He was, yeah.
Yeah.
So And I I I subbed at ColtSchool after I retired.
I I went to the one over hereoff from uh what is that road
there that's uh off Willow.
(25:43):
Oh yeah.
Now they're bit rebuilding thewoo new one in Lancy School
District off Willow.
That's gonna be a peach of aschool.
SPEAKER_01 (25:52):
Yeah, Willow uh Willow Street Elementary there.
That's right.
SPEAKER_00 (25:54):
That's gonna be nice when it's done.
SPEAKER_01 (25:56):
Yes, it is.
And they're rebuilding um Yeah,the why not they're rebuilding
winins.
You're right, exactly.
They're doing a lot of work onthere.
I was I I substitute teach, so Iwas good for you.
I went back and substituted inuh in one of the classrooms I
went to.
So that's great.
Yeah, so so anyway, you uhthirty thirty-seven years in
teaching, and um, you know, thepeople listening can't see it,
(26:19):
but you have all kinds ofawards, and you were in the
coaching hall.
SPEAKER_00 (26:24):
That's all full right there.
SPEAKER_01 (26:25):
Yeah, all the things I ever done.
And you're uh you're in thecoaching hall of fame?
SPEAKER_00 (26:28):
Yes, uh huh.
SPEAKER_01 (26:29):
Yep, here in the that's that yellow plaque,
right?
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
We just went through that.
I was the number one theypicked.
That's awesome.
And the guy next to me, uh, Ihave a picture of it, but he he
was the only state championshipbasketball coach for Waverley.
Odlem, his name was, Odlem.
SPEAKER_01 (26:48):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (26:49):
And he had four kids that went to Waverly.
Okay, but a lot of them areKellogg.
Uh I even went to play uh uh shigh school uh summer summer
sports for either uh KelloggCompany or uh GM or I I just and
(27:09):
then I played I was a golf uh auh bowler and everything else.
Oh yeah.
This guy came to me one day andhe says, How would you like sub
for me?
I said, What's the matter?
He said, Well, something came upI can't be there and I said so
you want to go?
And I said, Yeah, I'll take yourplace.
What well it was over on thesecond one.
(27:32):
Bowling alley right there.
SPEAKER_01 (27:34):
Oh, the one right on uh right off from uh Grand
River?
SPEAKER_00 (27:37):
No, not the other one before that.
Oh gosh.
Before you get to uh GrandRiver.
Was it Joe Joseph's Pro Bowl?
That's well, that was it.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yep.
So I I uh I went there and Iwalked in and uh found the team
I was supposed to be subbingfor, and I said, I'm your sub
(28:00):
because he can't be heretonight.
So I started bowling, and I justhad one of the best nights I
ever had.
And he says, Guess what?
You just won the pot.
$400.
The luck was with me.
SPEAKER_01 (28:16):
It's like you can't lose, Bill.
63-yard touchdown.
SPEAKER_00 (28:19):
I never lost nothing.
SPEAKER_01 (28:21):
State championships and 400 bills.
SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
No, I I'm just so that so you know, happy about
everything.
I I got more things in thebasement, shows up, uh, hangs
out.
I got my uh uh license to be onin the Navy and all that stuff,
you know, that you gotta gothrough.
(28:44):
But I tell you, it's been thegreatest life.
And I have friends now like youand Bruce, and I I feel like
more of an out person, you know,instead of being stuck.
But I've been here for almostfive years now.
Uh-huh.
Right here alone.
SPEAKER_01 (29:01):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:02):
But I'm trying to keep things up, make it it looks
like it's been lived in.
That's all I care about.
You gotta you have a comfortablehome.
Oh, thank you.
That's what you have.
It's very comfortable.
And a nice backyard, it's allall uh bushed up that I went and
raised.
SPEAKER_01 (29:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (29:17):
I mow the yard yet, but I feel I'm gonna need
volunteering because I camper.
SPEAKER_02 (29:23):
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00 (29:23):
My second wife was a camper, so I married her, and
these two girls I have are downcamping with me at their place
that they're gonna have when Ipass.
Uh-huh.
Because they're the only thingin my family, my own family,
that my own kids don't like tocamp.
They'd rather go to hotels andstuff like that.
unknown (29:44):
Right.
SPEAKER_01 (29:45):
Well, you know, there's there's a so how many
how many kids do you have total?
I have six right now.
Okay.
And you so you got married rightaround the time you were in the
Navy.
52.
52.
So I got out out of the Navyfirst, yeah.
52.
And then how when did you howlong were you married to your
first wife?
SPEAKER_00 (30:02):
About 25.
Okay.
And you had children with her.
Oh, yeah, we had four kids.
Okay.
The problem was she justignored, she was sorry, being
home all the time by herselfwhile the kids were at school.
Right.
And she had a job.
I got her Kellogg taught me, allshe had to do was hand out clean
uniforms to people who worked inthe uh packing department.
(30:27):
Uh-huh.
Because they were the ones thathandled all the food and
everything, you know, the boxand all that stuff.
So are it still in?
Are we still alright?
Oh, yeah, you're good.
I'm just I'm just watchingeverything.
That's good though.
So I gotta I would like to haveyou read this if you get a
chance.
SPEAKER_02 (30:44):
Okay.
SPEAKER_00 (30:45):
I can't let you go.
It's the only copy I got rightnow.
But that's that shows you rightthere what it looks like up
there.
Uh huh.
This tells you about if youdon't mind.
SPEAKER_01 (30:55):
Yeah, let me know.
I'll read that.
I'll read that when we get donebefore before I go.
SPEAKER_00 (31:00):
That's a picture of me just like the one behind you.
SPEAKER_01 (31:03):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:04):
They took a picture of me and hung that plaque up
after they built the uhwrestling room and everything
after I was already gone fromwrestling.
Right.
unknown (31:14):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (31:14):
But that's all right.
Hey, I originated the programand we ended up fifth of the
state in three years.
That program is still there,right?
They still have it, but theythey're not gonna win.
You know why?
All the junior high schools areno get no play.
They don't play enough unlessthey want you want watch your
(31:37):
kids do this.
Yeah.
Well, I have a daughter, I havea granddaughter, my oldest one.
She had four kids.
And you know what she does?
She lets them try anything theywant to try, and she's with them
like a homebody.
Let's go here, let's go there.
If you like it, fine.
If you don't, don't go back.
(31:58):
We won't take you back there.
So she lets them make their owndecisions.
That's what you gotta do.
Let the kids uh nobody told me Ihad to play football or
anything.
I just that's what I hadupstairs, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (32:10):
Yeah, you enjoyed it and so you.
Oh, I loved it.
I'd still love it right now.
What do you think the of all thethings you've done, what do you
think the what do you think thehighlight of your life is?
Like what's what's somethingthat you just something for the
kids.
Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00 (32:25):
I treated my kids like were my own.
I never had trouble with my ownkids.
Right.
And I treated them the same way.
So uh like I said, the uniformscould be filthy.
I wouldn't send them home withwith a boy to take them home to
mother.
I would spend the weekendwashing them.
SPEAKER_02 (32:44):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (32:44):
Drying them, folding them up, putting on a number
where I had outside.
Hey, they appreciated it.
Those parents were good to me.
Everybody was still good to metoday.
I could walk out there andsomebody said, Hey coach, how
you doing?
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah, you really forget thosekind of things.
(33:05):
You really left your mark on theoh that's what I did.
I was always that way, and I wasonly born in f in the my family.
Uh one was a state championdiver when he went in the Air
Force.
Air Force take him right withhim when they had a swim in it.
He'd do that double way up area.
You know, he was fantastic.
(33:27):
He for Battle Creek, but hecould swim that lake out there.
SPEAKER_02 (33:31):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:32):
Right there, he swam that lake when he was uh still
in high school.
(34:16):
The two trophies up there on theright, those are for wrestling.
First and second year, they hadit.
Third year is 31 and 7 total,and we were fifth estate.
SPEAKER_01 (34:26):
Wow, that's 31 and 7.
SPEAKER_00 (34:28):
That's a pretty good record.
Three years.
Yeah.
But see, I I give my credit tome because I had to think how am
I going to get these kidsinvolved so they know anything
in their first leaguechampionship.
Yeah.
And they only lost two there.
That's because they had to playSexton and Eastern.
Sexton and Eastern was just likethis for two years.
(34:51):
Uh-huh.
One and the other one.
So I said, well, now they'regone.
The kids are gone.
Now it's our turn.
Right.
And that's what they did.
They went out there and toreeverybody we played, everybody
wrestled on our team.
All made points of some sort.
And that's what how we won.
But we had to play the leagueteam too, so in the league, I
(35:15):
should say.
SPEAKER_02 (35:15):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (35:16):
But I don't think the wrestling is going to go too
far in high school anymorebecause unless you were outside
the perimeter of the Lancingarea, they still have some
outside schools that have juniorhigh phys eds.
That's what I phys ed major.
That's what I was.
Okay.
You get forget.
(35:37):
All this stuff here is all mywife's, I built this room on
just for her.
Uh-huh.
Myself.
In the summertime.
This was donated to me by one ofthe kids.
And I put that other thing aboveit.
And then I got all thosetrophies up there.
Plus, I got the thing in thebasement.
(35:57):
Uh, that I still left a lot ofno way to put on a brick.
I didn't want to put them on thebrick.
SPEAKER_01 (36:05):
So I I'm sorry, how how long ago did you lose your
wife?
SPEAKER_00 (36:10):
Almost six years ago.
Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (36:12):
Second wife.
Your second wife, yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (36:14):
First wife is already gone already.
Right.
Well, she went to Battle Creekand ran into her boyfriend from
Kalamazoo that she knew in highschool.
Oh.
And he was married, had twodaughters, but he uh let's see,
he was my age.
He might have been a year olderthan me, but he's gone.
(36:36):
And so she went down there andmarried him.
She's gone.
And we're both cremated.
They are.
Yeah.
And my wife is cremated.
All her stuff is in that bigmusic spot.
So I the rest of it's over thereon what we had on that table in
there.
(36:56):
Right.
So I separated that for mydaughters so that when the when
this house is gone, they'll haveeverything out of here because
they're gonna sell it or shthey're gonna take it.
Right.
They'll know what's important.
Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:10):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (37:12):
That's why she don't want to take stuff down while
I'm still alive.
SPEAKER_01 (37:15):
Right, right.
SPEAKER_00 (37:16):
See, those those cabinets are full of nothing but
Christmas stuff.
Uh-huh.
There's two in the front roomthe same way.
Because my wife says, my secondwife says, let's fill these
things up with buy as we goalong.
That way we don't have to get itout.
Right.
It'll just it'll be out.
No Christmas tree.
Well, I could have had a littleone, you know, out here.
(37:38):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (37:38):
Well, I you know, I think we got sidetracked a
little bit.
You um, because we were talkingabout you retired from the
school district.
Yes.
And then you started drivingcars for uh Sheen Chevrolets.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (37:50):
And that's like if someone bought a car and they
needed it taken somewhere, oryou exactly I could either take
exchange it myself or buy oneand I'd have to take somebody
with me.
I would be the lead driverbecause I was the oldest one
there at the time.
Uh-huh.
Now, some of those guys werepicky picky.
(38:11):
I I don't like when they'repicking on you, you know.
SPEAKER_02 (38:14):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (38:14):
I was the oldest man, so he says, why don't we
get Shaheen?
I heard this in a van.
Why don't we get this these90-year-old drivers retired?
Because he was like 85 orsomething like that.
They're all gone now.
SPEAKER_02 (38:32):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (38:32):
I just lived my life, you know, kept my mouth
shut and just live my life, justwhat I've taught, same thing.
SPEAKER_02 (38:38):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (38:38):
Basketball coach walked in on one of my football
meetings.
I said, What are you guys doinghere?
He says, Well, we come to tellthe kids about basketball.
Basketball is not here yet.
This is my football program.
If you want to talk to them, youwait till they get to you.
(38:59):
Because I have my rules.
All I ask my kids to take, shaveit good enough so I can fit that
helmet.
Once it's fit, I don't care whatyou do, as long as it fits your
head.
Because that's that's the mostimportant part of your body if
you ever get hurt.
And I played all those years,never got hurt.
Right.
So like I told you, we coach, wehave a place down in Homer,
(39:24):
Lighthouse Village, you call it.
Beautiful campground.
I've been there for 47 years.
Every weekend, usually.
Yeah.
But they what they do is theyshut the water off, and it's
just been shut off about a weeknow.
But it's not, it's not uh partof the association of of uh
(39:44):
campers.
So that means the state don'thave anything to do with a lot
of things unless it's somethingthat they need or want.
So we go down there, uh, she'llbe going down, we'll be going
down probably Saturday andwinterise the trailer, just blow
the lines all out andeverything.
And whatever else is done, wecan get it done, Bill.
(40:08):
So that but you know, guys likeyou is what I miss.
Because I like to talk, I liketo be around people that are
enjoyable, that I know thatthey're not screwing around and
getting in trouble and anything.
I never had the only thing Iever had in football was these
kids were juniors.
(40:28):
So the bus rule was you ride onthe bus, you come back on the
bus.
These three kids did playbecause we were playing Jackson,
Lumen Christie, you know, that'sthat Catholic school now.
They got a great team.
They had it until we beat them.
I told the kids at halftime, Isaid, we're down eight, we're
(40:51):
down eight to nothing.
Halftime.
I said, you know, boys, I'vebeen down here three years now.
I had to go home as a loser.
I think we have the kids rightnow, even though we're down
eight points.
I think we got the kids.
Fullback, you're gonna have torun a little harder because we
(41:13):
had snow on the ground.
They wouldn't let oursuperintendent wouldn't let our
kids sh shovel it off our fieldout here.
So they got a hold of Jacksonand he said, Well, we have a
grader down here, and all we'vegot to do is grade that field
right down to the dirt.
That's what they did.
Now you ought to see that field.
It's all beautifully.
SPEAKER_01 (41:32):
Yeah, it's a nice field.
SPEAKER_00 (41:33):
Oh, that's for sure.
Gorgeous.
And the one over there at uhcollege, little to college on
the way down toward uh south,they got an all-weather track, a
field all painted out of thefield.
They never had to do nothing.
SPEAKER_02 (41:49):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:49):
It's all done.
SPEAKER_02 (41:50):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (41:51):
Really nice.
Expensive, but it's nice.
SPEAKER_02 (41:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (41:54):
So anyway, I just said, well, I'll do the best I
can in everything I did.
Sometimes you do it alone.
Wrestling, I had to do it aloneuntil I get it started.
Those kids took off in therelike uh like I wanted them to.
So they all followed me through.
(42:22):
Track.
And boy did we wind up there.
I imagine we we had one overeighty-five different and we won
the league championship before Igot out there too, so that's
incredible.
I got I got other well, there'sone up there with a shoe.
There's another one up therethat's thankful for being part
(42:44):
of and all that.
You should take a minute andlook at those things when you
for you know.
When we get done, I wanna Iwanna look at your well
absolutely showing some of thesealbums.
Yeah.
Even if all you gotta do islook.
But I was just a kid.
I when I went through juniorhigh, they didn't think I was
gonna amount to much uh as faras a player.
(43:05):
But you know, some people grow.
But I grew up to be a littleolder, but boy did I cash in.
SPEAKER_01 (43:14):
Yeah, you learn how to play and you learn how to
coach.
unknown (43:17):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (43:18):
So so, with all that said, we've talked about a lot
of stuff over the last hour.
And so, kind of as we wrap upthe recording, um, I always ask
the same question towards theend, and that is for someone
that's listening to your storyor watching this, you know,
years from now, what would youlike to leave them with?
(43:38):
What advice would you like togive to people?
SPEAKER_00 (43:41):
Most important thing I did in my life is is go to
college because I'm about theonly one that went to college in
my family, and I I went with theidea I was gonna enlist so I
wouldn't be pushed around thisway here.
I could get into the area Iwanted to be in.
It's treated me very, very good.
(44:02):
Everybody's been great with me,and we wanted everything we
tried to do with the same kids.
I would I if I could do thatwhole thing all over again with
the same kids, I wouldn'thesitate a second.
SPEAKER_02 (44:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (44:17):
The greatest kids I could ever have, because today
they're not that way in juniorhigh.
They get noisy, and you know,they they don't want to put
their phone away.
All that kind of stuff that yougotta go through now.
SPEAKER_02 (44:33):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (44:33):
In a way they did me a favor because my wife divorced
me, see.
That's the reason the reason Igot out of football.
I thought maybe football wouldbring her back home.
Because I'd already already lostin in wrestling with her.
I mean, uh they gave up mywrestling, I mean.
Yeah.
So that wasn't the reason sheleft.
She just ran into this boyfriendof hers that was still alive,
(44:57):
and he'd he was uh divorced, andso she wanted divorce so she
could marry him and bingo.
So now we're gonna be crematedtoo, my wife and I.
I have uh what I did for mywife, and I'll tell you right
now if it's all right, I wentout to cemetery here, west of
the airport.
SPEAKER_02 (45:18):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (45:19):
All right, if you take that road off Grand River
and you go out like you're gonnago to DeWitt, that first curve
off that road, you come downthis road, and before you make
this turn, you look back, yousee my bench already made up.
I got all her stuff in the inthere that's gonna go in there.
(45:40):
It's all cremation and all thatwith a little puppy dog and
everything, and I'll be rightnext to it.
It's all labeled.
All painted inside andeverything.
It's a black slate, so don'trust.
And the top, it's all done inwhite.
So if you're coming or going,you'll see it if you look for
it.
SPEAKER_01 (45:59):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (46:00):
It's right on the uh the area where the vets are
buried, you know.
Vets uh part.
And you see that just before youmake this turn straight, or you
make this turn back, you canlook backward and see it.
I had it headed toward theairport so that every time the
airplane takes off, he takes offover my head.
(46:22):
Well, there you go.
You can watch people going onvacation.
So we used to go out and watchit, but say they don't allow
that.
Right.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (46:29):
Not anymore.
Well, Bill, I appreciate youtaking time this afternoon to
take a look at.
I'd take more time as long asyou as long as you don't get
bored.
No, no.
So we'll uh we'll wrap up therecording and then I want to
take a look at some of yourstuff.
SPEAKER_00 (46:42):
Well, yeah, that'd be fine.
I want you to read that article,then you see what kind of life I
really had.
Yeah.
What I what we just went throughhere.
All right.
Well, thanks again.
Well, anytime.
All right.
Anytime I can help you out, youjust holler because I got a lot
of things.
I will do that.
SPEAKER_01 (46:58):
All right.
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