Looking forward to another exciting school year

CRESCO - Although we are still a couple weeks away from the new school year starting, the fall sports practices have begun which means that the fall sports seasons are almost here. Forgot the holidays; now is the most wonderful time of the year!

I’ll never forget the first Crestwood school year that I covered for the Times Plain Dealer - the 1995-96 year. For those youngsters under the age of 25, gather around and ol’ geezer Nate Troy (age 53) will tell you what life was like in the late 20th century.

The first Crestwood football game I covered was on Sept. 1, 1995 in West Union - the Cadets vs. the North Fayette Hawks. (This was before it consolidated with Valley to make North Fayette Valley). We didn’t have a digital camera at the TPD yet so I was using a 35 mm camera with film. It’s kind of difficult to explain film to kids in school, so just Google it or ask your parents or grandparents. They’ll remember film.

Anyway, getting back to the game, even though this was not a district game, both teams battled and fought extremely hard. Crestwood got down by a couple touchdowns early, but battled back late before losing, 18-21. Despite the loss, anyone who saw the game could tell this was going to be a tough, hard-nosed Cadet team that would never give up, no matter what.

The 1995 Crestwood football team was one that fans, players and coaches who lived it will never forget. The Cadets went 8-2 overall, won their first district title in school history and advanced to the playoffs for the first time. And I got to cover the entire season from the sidelines with my trusty Canon film camera and notebook. 

Times (and the Times Plain Dealer) have changed a lot in the past 30 years. Thanks to our archives at the newspaper office, as well as the digital archives at the library, anyone who wants to take a trip down memory lane can do so anytime. 

The newspaper was much different back in 1995, too. Since we didn’t have the Internet at the newspaper 30 years ago, we had to print our stories out, roll them through a waxer and paste them on the pages before driving the pages to the printing plant in Calmar. We also had to develop the 35 mm film in our darkroom in the basement. We had a staff of more than two employees.

I will be eternally grateful to the late, great Ken Becker for showing me how to develop film and print photos in the darkroom. From time to time, he also helped me shoot games, and I knew I could count on him to get some great action shots.  

I’m also grateful to Ellen, Pat and Mary for helping me proofread stories, to Becky for helping me load up the truck with papers in Calmar every Tuesday, to Evelyn for selling the ads and to H. Denis Moore for hiring a 23-year-old kid, 14 months out of college with only a few months of writing experience. You guys were great!