Neil Putnam had been getting ready for spring practice at Lafayette College in 1973 when one of his quarterbacks came into the head varsity football coachs office with news of a difficult decision.
Womens Canucks Jerseys .Fresh off a strong season running the Leopards freshman football team, this budding two-sport star had decided to pass on a possible career on the gridiron, instead choosing to focus solely on baseball.Of course, my heart went down to my shoes, Putnam said, 43 years later. Im behind the desk, and Joes looking at me. I said, Joe, have you thought this over? And then I tried to obviously do a little bit of a sell job: Were looking forward to you coming into the varsity, and, Great hopes for the future of the program and all the things a head coach would do.But in the end what I said was what I meant: If youve made a decision and you thought it out, then you go with your decision and with my blessing. You become the best baseball player possible and do it right; however, if you decide to come back, doors always open.Joe was Joe Maddon, the brainiac manager whose Chicago Cubs will open the World Series on Tuesday against the Cleveland Indians. But before Maddon took the North Siders to their first Fall Classic in 71 years, before he legitimized the Tampa Bay Rays, before he spent three decades in the Los Angeles Angels organization, the kid from West Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was something of a football star. And few bore witness to those pigskin exploits outside of Maddons alma mater, Lafayette, a 2,500-student liberal arts school some 80 minutes southeast of Maddons hometown.There, in the land of the FCS, every regular season ends with The Rivalry, pitting Lafayette against nearby nemesis Lehigh in what is the nations most-played football series. Maddon had a memorable debut in that matchup in the 1972 freshman game, completing 14 of 17 passes for four touchdowns in a Lafayette win.It would mark the last game of Maddons football career.He wore No. 12, a memory that resurfaced around campus last month when, during one of the eccentric skippers many themed road trips with