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"Who
made that tackle?" boomed veteran
Centralia football coach A.L. Trout.
"It was Myers, coach...Paul Myers"
replied an assistant coach.
"Well, send him over here" said
Trout.
And with those words, a Centralia senior
lineman's athletic career was suddenly
transformed.
Paul Myers left the reserve team behind and
jogged over to work out with the first
string. Almost half way through his
only season of high school football, Myers,
who had played a reserve role at guard and
tackle, was elevated to a starting position.
Coming off a stellar 11-0 1936 season, the
Redbirds, or "Troutmen" were
rebuilding but still in the thick of the
North Egypt Conference race.
Individual post season season honors were
far from Myers mind when he reported on
September 1, 1937. Like Red Grange,
the famed "Wheaton Ice Man" of U
of I and NFL fame, Myers had spent two years
delivering ice for his father's
company. He hadn't had time to play
football. Although just 5'10" and
160 pounds, he repeatedly hoisted ice blocks
weighing up to 100 pounds each, and
frequently carried them upstairs. This
resulted in his development of an
impressively solid physique. Myers
quickly became a textbook tackler who could
shed offensive linemen and create havoc in
opposing backfields. Carrying just 24
players meant Centralia footballers were
called upon to play on both sides of the
ball. On offense Myers was equally
effective, particularly as a pulling guard
on sweep plays. The team was sporting
a record of 2 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie
before Myers assumed his starting
role. Centralia lost just once more
the rest of the season to finish
6-3-2. Against Urbana, a team which
had not been defeated by an Illinois team in
more than 2 years, Centralia fell 14-13 in a
heartbreaker. Urbana coach Lew Stevens
termed Centralia's Myers and William Simmons
"The finest pair of guards we've seen
in a long time." Oscar Adams,
Urbana's center, admitted "That was one
of the best teams we ever
played." In 3-column stories,
which featured virtually every play of
entire games, Sentinel coverage focused
almost exclusively on ball carriers and
passers, yet there were numerous accolades
for Paul. "The Troutmen have
never tackled harder or blocked more
precisely...Paul Myers, the right guard
broke through Urbana's line consistently to
smear the ball carrier."
The disappointment after the near-upset of
Urbana was tempered by a road win over Mt.
Vernon in the annual Turkey Day
classic. Furious, hard-hitting action
before a huge throng of spectators produced
just one score all day. Mt. Vernon's
punter fumbled in the end zone and was
buried by a host of Centralia
tacklers. The resulting safety, never
officially attributed to any one tackler,
produced one of only three 2-0 wins in
Centralia football history. A featured
game photo shows Myers going airborne to
bowl over a Mt. Vernon linebacker on an end
run. "The crashing tackles of
guard Paul Myers was one of the chief
reasons the Mt. Vernon attack netted only
scant yards" the Sentinel said proudly.
Seventy-five
years later Myers' eyes twinkled and he
smiled broadly at the memory of that
victory. Following the season Myers
was named to both the Illinois All-State and
North Egypt Conference teams.
Asked to recount the unforgettable moments
of his successful football career, Paul
recalled the sights and sounds as if they
were yesterday. Simple things like
tossing soft passes on the sidelines as
spectators leaned over the barriers to
watch, or the sound of the band, or the
fireworks at the Armistice Day game.
Perhaps he most enjoyed the adulation of the
other students, and simple going all-out for
ever play on the field. "I could
get in that backfield...easy!" he
grinned. Myers especially remarked
that he treasured the experience of having
Arthur Trout as a teacher and coach.
"He was one of the finest men I ever
met" he said.
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