Yellow Jacket Football in Hard Times and Good

---PLAYING CALUMET CITY

As the Yellow Jacket truck pulled in, it was readily apparent that the crowd of some 1500 was already in an ugly, loud, alcohol-drinking mood. Several beer bottles hit the truck as they moved to where they had been directed to park. From every direction the Yellow Jackets could hear vulgarities and profanities being shouted at them. Several of the younger players appeared nervous.

Lefty Golarz noticing this, looked over at his young teammates and said in a loud voice, “Hey Guys, don't let that bother ya. If it gets any worse, I will personally get out of this truck and kick the shit out of every one of `em.”

There was a brief moment of silence and then spontaneously the entire truck of Yellow Jackets broke into laughter, and in that moment they were ready to play a football game --really ready.

The weather was deteriorating. It was getting windier, and the snow, though still light, was racing across the playing field.

The coin-toss resulted in Cal City kicking off to the Yellow Jackets. The teams positioned themselves on the field. The ref blew his whistle. The ball was kicked low, over the heads of the Yellow Jackets, hitting around the 25 yard line, then took a fast bounce to the 20 where Lefty, already on a risky dead run, grabbed it. He ran straight up the middle to about the 30, then made a very quick cut to his right, avoiding two potential tacklers. A split second after his cut, Alex Fyda made a bone-crushing hit at the 40 yard line on a big lineman his size who never saw it coming. The crowd made a deep groan. Lefty then sped past the 40 toward the 50 yardline and the sideline. Another evasive move and he was at Cal City's 40.

Then, notwithstanding Alex Fyda's great hit, came the downfield block of the entire game. As Lefty reached Cal City's 30 yard line, a quick-moving potential tackler stood in his way. Lefty cut to the inside. The tackler, focusing on Lefty, did not see the 205 pound Pulkowski. Lefty cut back to the outside and the poor kid belonged to Pulkowski. The hit was a full-frontal hit, both extraordinary and frightening, and despite the strong wind you could hear the crack all over the field. Lefty sprinted untouched the remainder of the way into the end zone. The kid never returned to the game. The ugly crowd was silent. Walt kicked the extra point. The score was Yellow Jackets 7, Calumet City 0. Fourteen seconds of the game had elapsed.

The wind and snow were now increasing in intensity, the wind howling and the snow becoming that heavier and thicker snow that all who have lived south of the Great Lakes recognize as lake effect.

---THE CHRISTMAS PURSE

During the Depression, many of the women of East Hammond did house work for families of means. The homes of these families were in more affluent neighborhoods. Most of these neighborhoods were located west of Hohman Avenue and east of the Indiana/Illinois State Line. Generally, they were approximately two to two and a half miles from the East Hammond community. To get to work a woman from East Hammond had normally only two options. Take a bus that would cost her five cents each way, or walk. The option that was always taken despite the weather or how well she felt was to walk, for that saved her a dime and a dime, at that time, was the price of a loaf of bread. The path of the walk taken was from East Hammond, along the railroads that went northwest toward the downtown area. Then at an appropriate location she would leave the tracks and head west along one of the several east/west streets until she got to the neighborhood and house where she was employed.

---HITTING THE RAILS

The first train that Lefty boarded was coming through Chicago, through East Hammond, heading for points east. He jumped the train in late evening. His heart was pounding, and the adrenaline flowing. He could not sleep, so he strapped himself to the top of the boxcar and used his jacket as a pillow under his head. He listened mile after mile to the sound of the train wheels as they created their own melody moving across the tracks. Mile after mile, further and further from his home. The rush was overwhelming. He was young and strong and took pleasure in knowing that he was incapable of predicting the next day or the days after. It would be a true adventure. As he lay there in the late summer night warmth, it got darker than any night that he had ever experienced. The number of stars in the sky exceeded anything he could have ever imagined. The shooting stars, both overhead and from the corners of the sky, took his breath away. He had been gone from home only a brief time, yet in this brief time he knew he would never be the same again. He had gotten closer to his God that night, and he had gotten closer to himself. He missed Walt. It would have been great to have shared this, but he knew that opportunity would come. So, he just continued to lie there, his eyes to the sky, the warm breeze running over his body, and the perpetual sound of the melody of the train wheels below him.