|
THE LAST GAME OF THE
LEGENDARY CHITOSE BEARS
Clint
Stapleton
As we stepped
off the Army bus onto the grass football field in Sapporo on that autumn
day in nineteen seventy, we had no idea that this
was the last game a team called the Chitose Bears will ever play. The
only thing we had on our minds was that we
were going to play a Japanese University football team that we never
heard of, which we had one month to organize
and prepare for. The players were made up of a cross section of soldiers
of the field station Chitose with different levels of experience and ability. Football players with
college, high school and sand lot experience facing the 2nd
ranked
college team in
Japan.
The team jogged
onto our end of the field to loosen up before the game but our eyes were
watching the other team doing the same. They had a couple players
that were almost our size but they all looked fast and well prepared for
the upcoming contest. All that was on my mind
was blocking and tackling and will I make a fool of myself. I guess I
did some stretching but I couldn’t remember.
SFC Hayes met with the officials and their team captions for the flip of
the coin and the start of the
game.
It has been
over forty years ago and my memory are not very good but to me the game
flew by and I don’t remember much of the game. I do remember that
we were on the two yard line and it was the fourth down. The
quarterback, Ernie Hayes told us to line up
tight and when the ball was centered move and fall forward, moving
anyone in our way. I hit my man square in the
chest and he flew backward. As I hit the ground and looked up I saw the
referee with both hands above his head
showing the halfback had scored. I have played many games before and
many more since in many sports but I have
never been so happy with moving two yards
forward.
The scoreboard
said we did not win that day. They gave us the use of a bathhouse after
the game and a fine dinner. There was kind words spoken and slaps on
the back for a good game. There was no second game or season to be
played. Looking back on it now, I feel the
end was correct. The uniforms and pads were sent back and we players
were shipped off to other parts of the world.
Our football game was fitting end to an era of championships teams and a
relationship with our hosts. The host lay
claim to the last victory and their home and we walked away from the
field and the land of the rising sun thankful
for the experience. The title of “Chitose Bears” was used in victory and
defeat over the decades but also stood for
each man and woman who wore the uniform and called a little outpost,
home for a short period of their life on the
other end of the world.
|
