Densho Digital Archive - Clyde Taylor Interview (denshovh-tclyde-01-0005)

<Begin Segment 5>

RP: So, did you, did you get involved in sports right away when you got into school there?

CT: Get involved with what?

RP: Did you get involved with sports in school immediately?

CT: Pretty much, yes.

RP: Uh-huh.

CT: As much as I could. I played basketball in grammar school and basketball was about all. But I got a letter from them from Drain. I don't know what it means. A small school, but it was a lot larger than Big Pine. And I got letters all the time in Big Pine for what it's worth.

RP: Uh-huh. So when did you start playing football at Big Pine?

CT: Probably freshman year, but I'm not sure.

RP: With such a short, a small enrollment, you almost had to.

CT: Yeah, you, you didn't have to be very good to get on the team. [Laughs]

RP: Did you always, did you always play six man team?

CT: That's all we had. We didn't have any, we didn't have enough people for a seven man or eleven man. As I said six, and we only had nine people countin' our subs. So we couldn't go the other way.

RP: Yeah. So who did you compete against in...

CT: All the, all the valley, up and down the valley.

RP: And you...

CT: Bishop would be the north and there's a town in the desert way down south, you probably know the name better than I know.

KP: Ridgecrest?

CT: Pardon?

KP: Ridgecrest?

CT: No, not Ridgecrest. But I think it's...

RP: Rosenmond?

CT: Say it again?

RP: Rosenmond?

CT: No.

RP: Lancaster?

CT: No, that far.

RP: Not that far. Hm.

KP: Mojave? Olancha?

CT: No, further, further up.

RP: Lone Pine?

CT: Further down. [Laughs] It's sort of in between the... I know we played them. They didn't have a field, just a dirt field.

RP: Did they?

CT: Yeah, we beat 'em.

RP: Oh.

CT: Probably the only team we ever beat. No, no, we beat a lot of 'em.

RP: Well, in talking to you earlier you said that you had a, you had quite a good season that year. You beat everybody but Bishop.

CT: I don't know.

RP: Which was the powerhouse, right?

CT: No, no, well, we were all pretty dedicated, the ones that played. But if the, if the game was on the first day of fishing season or first day of hunting, you had to scrounge around get enough people to go on the football field. They, everybody was, they came first. Steel, the hunting and the fishing season was before any game. So that, but they were all dedicated sportsmen. They didn't like to lose. No, we beat our share of the games in the valley that's for sure, except Bishop. I don't know if we ever beat them or not.

RP: And so you started out playing quarterback?

CT: I was trying to remember myself. I was thinking about this. Buddy Lund was quarterback in that game on here. And he and I were in the same class, about the same caliber of player. But I think I was quarterback for a couple a years. I know one year for sure and I think a couple years. Funny how it gets away from you but I can't remember. Terana? The name of that town?

KP: Trona.

RP: Trona, that's it.

CT: Say it. Trona, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it.

RP: That would be the only town around there that could have had a high school.

CT: Yeah, that's why we beat them that day I remember. They didn't have a field. They just had rocks and that's about it, a little bit of sand between the rocks. One of their people got hurt that time, too. I don't know how badly.

RP: So most of the fields that you played on in the valley were, were they dirt or grass?

CT: No, no, no. They had their turf. We had a nice turf in Big Pine. Bishop had the best probably. I think Lone Pine had a nice... Independence? I don't remember playing football Independence but we might have. I don't, just don't remember.