The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 72, Ed. 1 Friday, September 6, 2002 Page: 25 of 46
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Tm Cuttom Record — Fau. Scouts Special
Th# Man With Thm Educated To#’
Hugh Bronstad Says High School Football Not So Different 65 Years Later
By Dav» Amkmws
WCOND MtOCIATI WTO*
CLIFTON - There *
an old saying that goes
something like this:
“No matter how many
times you rewrite the
lyrics, the song re-
mains the same ” The
same can be said for
high school fpotball,
Clifton Cub-style, ac-
cording to former var-
sity Cub and Clifton
resident Hugh Bron-
stad. Although he has
Iona transplanted him-
self to California, his
blood still runs green-
and white. In fact, he
recently visited his
brother, Jim Bronstad,
in California, timing
the trip so that they
could attend the Cub
football game at
Scurry-Rosser on last
fall.
The Bronstads were
treated to what thev
have been used to all
their lives — another
Cub victory. It’s a tra-
dition the 85-year-old
former Cliftonite says
runs very deep.
When you talk to
“sports scholars,” they
will be quick to tell you
how much better the
teams are, how much
more complicated the
game is than what it
was in the “olden
days.” Hugh Bronstad
is not so sure that’s
entirely true, however.
He has a little different
take on that subject,
and shared his views
from his home in Cali-
fornia with The
Record via a telephone
interview.
“I think football to-
day is probably a little
bit better. They have
better equipment, for
one thing, and they
have better coaching I
believe,” he said. How-
ever, while many seem
to think the player tal-
ent is much greater
today, Bronstad
stopped short of agree-
ing with that philoso-
phy.
“People say the play-
ers now seem to be in
better shape, better
physically, but I don’t
know. We’ve always
had our star players.”
No matter what the
differences or the simi-
larities, one thing has
definitely remained a
constant to Bronstad:
“High school football
has always been excit-
ing.”
As for the differences
in the game between
the 1939s and the 2—Is.
Bronstad said the ba-
sics are still the same
“I don’t know that
the plays they run to-
day are any more com
plicated. The passing
plays, the running
plays — I don’t see a lot
of difference,” he said
Those “sports schol
ars” always like to
compare teams from
different decades, so
The Record asked
Bronstad to compare
the Cubs of 2001 with
the Cubs of his day,
asking him which
team he thought would
be superior. He had a
hard time coming up
with an answer.
“We were tough back
in those days, no doubt
about it. We played
tough football. The
teams were very com-
petitive, and so were
the fans,” he joked. He
said they had more
fights involving fans
on the sidelines than
they did in the game.
“Every game, there
was a fight on the side-
lines, especially be-
tween Clifton and
Meridian or Clifton
and Valley Mills. We
were rivals, of course,
and we all had great
teams back in those
days,” he explained.
“I’ve heard people
say the games were
better back in those
days but I can’t really
say that. We always
had our stars, and
there were some indi-
vidual players you’re
just never going to im-
prove on.
“But to compare the
two teams, I’m going
to have to leave that up
to the experts,” he
said, graciously back-
ing out of a solid an-
swer.
“Those who played in
those days think they
are the best, and I sup-
pose this generation
will think the same
way years from now,”
he added.
Bronstad said early
on that the equipment
these days is much,
much better. In fact,
it’s not only better,
there’s more of it, and
the school supplies it.
“I think the first
year I played for Clif-
ton, we didn’t even
have helmets,” he
chuckled. “I remem-
FORMER CLIFTON CUBS (from left) Jim and Hugh Bronstad and a Mend, Joe Glass, traveled from Corsicana
to Scurry-Rosser last fall to watch the varsity Cubs in action. Hugh Bronstad, considered one of the best all-
time punters In high school history, reminisced about Cub football from 1933-35. Bronstad'* punting prowess
earned him the nickname, “The Man With the Educated Toe.”
ber the first helmet I
had. All it was was just
a flat piece of leather
on your head. I never
got knocked out but
one time, though, and
that was over at Mart.
I got kicked in the
head, and I had a con-
cussion.”
Bronstad said they
had shoulder pads, but
the athletes had to buy
their own.
“The first pair of
shoulder pads I had I
paid 50 cents for. Usu-
ally we’d buy them off
the seniors that left.
We had to buy the
shoes, we had to buy
all that stuff. The
equipment today is so
much better, and it
looks much better,
too.”
Bronstad said prob-
ably one of the biggest
advantages to today’s
uniforms is their
weight. He said the
ones they wore in the
1930s were extremely
heavy — “They must
have weighed 30
pounds.”
One thing that has
changed since his day
is the football. Not the
size, not the shape, but
the color.
“When we first
played under the
lights, we used a white
football. I guess they
thought it would show
up L ' r at night, you
know, ue said the first
lighted football field
the Cubs played on was
at the old Clifton Col-
lege campus. Other
games were played in
what is now Clifton
City Park, “in the
weeds and the dirt and
the dust. If it rained,
we really had a mud-
fight!"
“We had some good
teams back in those
days,” he noted. “Our
coach made sure we
were all in real good
— Stitt Photo By W L«on Smith
shape. AU-in-all, Clif-
ton won more than its
BRONSTAD
Cont. on Page 13B
CLIFTON
CUBS,
Rising
To New Heights!
Clifton Moulding Corp.
RO. Box 77
/°a\ Clifton,TX76634 J*3?43*
° M \ 675-8641 f 4 *
\xv \T-J
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 107, No. 72, Ed. 1 Friday, September 6, 2002, newspaper, September 6, 2002; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth791264/m1/25/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.