Thursday, July 12, 2018

A Face From The Past

By Gregg Reep

Saturday, July 7th I was mowing my yard when I noticed a car driving down the street in front of my house very slowly.  Then it came to a complete stop.  I had no idea who it was or what they might want.  Suddenly a large man came around the back of the vehicle and stepped up on the curb and onto the sidewalk.  In an instance I recognized the face and the bigger than life grin.  It was a face from my past and a former Lumberjack.  It was a larger than life figure who grew up on St James Street in Warren.  It was "Big" Jimmy Walker.

Jimmy came by specifically to see me and say hello.  He is a classmate from the outstanding class of 1972 and was a nose tackle for the Lumberjacks.  Jimmy has slimmed up some over the years.  In the early 70's he was a three hundred plus pound lineman who was impossible to move off the line.
We laughed about practices and scrimmages when a then 155 pound offensive center ( me ) had to go against a 330 pound nose tackle.  It was like hitting a brick wall and it hurt.  I usually got a knee in the side of the head.  Maybe explains some things.  Now that I think about it many of my problems may be the results of going against Big Jimmy, our starting nose tackle Larry Don ( Stump ) Booker and John Burch, who sometimes played nose tackle on the goal line.  Just a note here: John was a tall, fast, major college prospect defensive back until  he tore up a knee as a sophomore and was never quite the same.  He kept playing and contributed greatly.  John was a ferocious hitter.  Took pride in going in head first to get a hit on the opposing guy's helmet and scrape some of the oppositions colors off onto his own helmet.  They teach you not to do that these days.  Matter of fact, it is illegal.  Sorry John!

Well, back to Big Jim.  He was always a nice gentle giant that everyone loved.  He has moved to Wisconsin and enjoyed an excellent career and raised a family.  We had a great visit.  He was back just visiting and stated he had spent the previous night with another Lumberjack great, Walter Halliburton, who lives in Pine Bluff.

It was wonderful to talk with Big Jim and rehash some "Old Days."  He has good memories of Warren and still thinks highly of the community.

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