By Rick Houser

I have said many times I went to school at Moscow but that is only part of the story. I was moved to Felicity in the eighth grade in 1962 to be exact. With moving from my original school I transferred into a school twice the size in number in a town with so much more to see and a larger sports program. The first thing that caught my attention in the world of sports was that Felicity had a football program. Not just a football program but one that not only was a fairly new program but one that had just come off being the League Champions! So this sport not only new to me other than seeing it on Sundays on TV, but also somewhat new the excitement that went with the sport.

My first year was in the eighth grade so I would go to the games and just watch and tried to learn more of it in detail. But when my freshman year came around I was recruited to play. I still was uncertain as to if I wanted to or not. I did sign up and suited up for a few practices but quickly decided this wasn’t what I was looking for. I wasn’t afraid of the contact but I still didn’t understand the game very well and felt if I didn’t understand it only hurt would come my way and I never have been one for any form of hurt. So I handed in my pads and waited for basketball.

The team never missed my absence as the turnout for the team at that time was large. So as the season moved forward other related events took place. Home games were played on Friday afternoons as the school didn’t have lights yet for night games and that meant that for the price of an admission half of the school day would be missed and no excuse. That was ok by me! About the middle of the season one home game was picked to be the homecoming game. This was the biggest and most focused on game of the season. The high school student body I think would pick a rival team and declare them the homecoming victim for that season. Each class would convince a student’s parents to loan their barn and another their wagon and was parked and a float was built by the students of that class on it.

The first night of the game week the students of each class chose a design to build on the wagon and a banner to go with a theme oriented statement on it. At the end of the week and at half time of the game the floats along with the homecoming court of the king and queen nominees paraded across the field along with the best float showing off first place as it paraded along with the others.

Work on the float was every night of the week and being loyal to my class and the school I convinced my parents of my need to be there. A week in the early part of the school year apart from the normal routine gave us all a break from the routine of school and time to hang out with other guys but more importantly the girls in our class. A lot of fun for sure was had and we somehow always got the float done by game time. So if the opponent was for example Clermont Northeastern Rockets a float would probably have a rocket in some form and a banner that declared we were going to ROCK THE ROCKETS!! We would build it with high expectations.

As the years passed the program dwindled in number and this caused a decline in having the large number of players to make a team as competitive as they had in years past. Also having been undefeated one season had all the rest of the league seeking payback. The years I was in high school payback arrived and sometimes in big doses. So with our floats and our bold statements posted we would be faced with a homecoming game that would end up in the loss column. This would then translate into a solemn atmosphere at the homecoming dance.

No one wants to be on the short end of the score and the players for the Cardinals were no exception. They had played hard and in most games were in the games early but the teams with the larger number of players would wear down the players from Felicity in the end. It was always a bummer on homecoming weekend but on Monday when the morning bell rang and the student body took their places in the classrooms and looked at each other with that look of “we’ll get em next year! That thought was never in doubt.

To this day I watch football but still do the best at understanding the entire sport. I still watch and study and try for more details to learn but as I’ve heard a lot of guys say “you just had to play the game to understand is all there is to it!” By the way the homecoming queens were always pretty and probably the floats will always be remembered. Enjoy the half time! It would be wrong to forget the big parts of the pageantry. Wouldn’t it?

Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and likes to share stories about his youth and other topics. He may be reached at houser734@yahoo.com.