My first exposure to a team coach came in 5th grade. He was Earl Standridge, who coached our 5th & 6th grade Flag Football team at Washington Elementary in Ada, Oklahoma. While the first of many, he was nonetheless, my first encounter with an official, institutionally sanctioned and appointed athletic team coach.

Mr. Standridge was small of stature, thin in a wiry sort of way, with wavy black hair which he typically kept slicked back with lots of Brylcreem (of “a little dab'll do ya” fame). He stood maybe 5-8 or 9 on a good day. A veteran of the Korean War, he taught math (and was also the only male teacher I had as an elementary student). And he also knew his football.

Being new to organized anything at the age of 10, there was much to learn. I was a bit on the pudgy side so I was designated to play left guard. Mr. Standridge showed us how to get in a 3 point stance, how to block and hold our arms just so. He designed plays for us to run which we practiced endlessly it seemed. Everything was either a pass or a run around the end, it being too easy to grab a flag trying to run through the line.

The flags (and everyone had to wear them) were mere strips of white cotton cloth tucked into our belts or otherwise extending from the waist about a foot in length. We wore two such flags, one on either side of our jeans. A ball carrier was considered “down” when the opponent would yank a flag from the runner’s waist. This placed an emphasis on a runner being “shifty” and trying to fake out the guys trying to “tackle” him by grabbing his flag.

Ada’s high school team, the Cougars, was and continues to be a perennial state football powerhouse. Later I understood why: it began in the elementary schools with those flag football teams. Every public elementary school in the city fielded a team. While other towns and school districts might wait until a student was in junior high to introduce football, Ada exposed kids to the sport at the age of 10 at the institutional level, thereby getting a jump on the competition. Thus, the elementary schools were like a rookie league in the farm team sense. We were but the first step in the high school’s farm system that was Ada football. [Added note: this tradition continues today across the city of Ada but is now sponsored by the city's recreation department with a non-contact flag football league for kids age 6--11 in full swing].

Did it work? As of 2004, Ada High School had the 11th highest winning percentage of HS football teams in the United States. During this same period in Oklahoma, Ada ranked first in the state in winning percentage, capturing 19 state football championships, also the most championships of any team in the state.

But back to Mr. Standridge. While probably not a football genius (he didn’t have to be at our level), he communicated to each of us boys a sincere appreciation and enthusiasm for the game. He taught us the basics and encouraged us. He mentored and trained us and we became a good team. But there was also something else at work. Being also one of our teachers, there was a direct carryover from the field to the classroom and vice-versa. Just as we respected him on the football field, his knowledge as a math teacher earned him an even larger place in my world. From him I came to see that being an athlete and a good student did not have to be mutually exclusive. Mr. Standridge was gifted at teaching us how to add, subtract, multiply and do all those things well that lead a student to higher math skills. Years later, slugging through calculus, I always thanked him for that. Earl Standridge passed away at the age of 73 in Tulsa in 1997. He is still missed.