Gridiron nostalgia

Everyone agrees the Cape Girardeau-Jackson football rivalry has turned friendly. They say that's easy when one side -- Jackson -- has done most of the winning in recent years.

But many of the Cape Girardeau and Jackson alumni who met at midfield Friday night remember when things were different.

"In 1934 and '35, they canceled the games. The rivalry had gotten out of hand. Not just the players, but the fans too. Everyone was fighting." said Glenn Niswonger, Jackson High School class of 1935.

Niswonger and about 100 other veterans of the rivalry met for a show of sportsmanship in honor of the 100th meeting between the two schools. Veterans of different eras came together after the coin toss to hug, pat each other on the back and engage in some good-natured ribbing before kickoff.

Niswonger remembers broken arms and legs as regular occurrences in the bruising contests of the 1930s. He says that wasn't the only difference.

"One year they rode over to Cape on the back of a flatbed Coca-Cola truck. I think the driver charged them a nickel for the ride. The players had to stand up between the stakes there and hold on. They were all getting hit with freezing rain," said Niswonger's brother Woody.

But despite the off-the-field excitement, what happened between the lines is often the freshest memory. "My senior year we stopped the rusher on the 6-inch line to win the game six to nothing. I've still got the clipping of the newspaper article," said Woody Niswonger, who walked arm in arm with his brother to shake hands with his former rivals.

Several younger graduates also found themselves getting nostalgic. "It's just an old rivalry where everybody knows everybody else and everybody hates everybody on the other side up until the last second of the game," said John Lohr, class of 1986, who played quarterback for Central High School.

"My senior year we won 10 to nothing, but as soon as it was over, there was a big party and all the Cape and Jackson players hung out together. We were good until game time next year."

But Lohr and former teammate Scott Smith, class of 1988, commiserated that Cape Girardeau hasn't won much since their playing days.

"That was pretty much the end of it," said Smith, a self-described utility man on the field.

Central High School leads the series 56-37-7 but has only won twice since 1994. Friday nght game went to Jackson, 24-14.

Smith even seemed to be itching to get back out on the field. "If you called out some of the plays we used to run, I mean, if I heard 46-blast right now, I could run it, no problem."

The streaks of winning and losing cut both ways. John M. Thompson, of the Jackson class of 1971, says he'd like to forget that Jackson was 0-4 during his playing days. But above all, he says he loves the sportsmanship of this rivalry.

"Some of the people who I consider my best friends in the world are former Tigers. Even if you're on opposite sides, there's a sort of trust and bond because we played on the same field together," he said. "You see that press box, the Jackson press box was built by a Tiger, Mr. Dan Todt."

And Thompson said the game always has a way of bringing people together. "My brother has lived in Houston for 11 years. He's a busy executive and we don't talk as much as we'd like, but he called me up today. He said, 'Isn't there a game tonight?' He's living all the way down in Texas, but he remembers this game."

For others, pride was still at stake in the matchup. "Back when we played, it was serious business, you didn't lose this game," said Ross Conner, a former Central High School defensive tackle from the class of 1969.

"Today they act like it doesn't mean anything. But we had to win this game when I played. I'd like to see them put the pride back in it, because right now we've lost that pride."

tgreaney@semissourian.com

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