The more things change...
With all the coverage the newspaper gave to the departure of professional baseball at War Memorial Stadium, I received this e-mail from Perry Keziah, a founding member of Keziah, Gates and Samet, and a longtime correspondent on the shapes of things in the news business. With our story this morning on the fight after the Greensboro Page-High Point Central game and the serious injury to Page principal Terry Worrell, his e-mail becomes even more poignant.
"I have no idea how it was reported, but in the fall of 1945, High Point High School played Greensboro High School at War Memorial. I was there as a member of the High Point High School band. The rivalry between the schools was intense.
"The game was interrupted by fist fights among the fans which spilled onto the field. After the game, our band made it back to our chartered bus (Greyhound) but the bus was blocked and couldn't move. The local fans attacked the bus and most of the windows on the bus were broken by rocks, etc. It was urban warfare!
"I remember deciding that band work was too high risk and retired my trumpet. It might be interesting to have someone check your morgue and see what the reports of the game said."
Well, I checked. We covered the High Point-Greensboro game. High Point won handily, 13-0, thanks to their running game and tough defense. A crowd of 13,400 attended, the largest ever to attend a high school game in the state. I know this because the 12-paragraph story told me. It didn't mention anything about fisticuffs, bus attacks or urban warfare.
Back in those days, news had a different definition, particularly in the sports section, where if a ball wasn't involved, it wasn't reported. Neither was the retirement of a future Doc Severinsen.
Meanwhile, best wishes on a speedy recovery for Ms. Worrell.