“Darling trotted back, smiling, breathing deeply but easily, feeling wonderful, not tired, though this was the tail end of practice and he’d run eighty yards.”
The Eighty-Yard Run by Irwin Shaw
First published in Esquire magazine on January 1941
This is how my dedication page reads to my book Screenwriting with Brass Knuckles:
To Annye Refoe, Ph.D.
—who pointed the way beyond the The Eighty-Yard Run.
That’s a reference to Irwin Shaw’s classic short story The Eighty-Yard Run. I had Annye as a creative writing teacher in high school where I directed my first video. Then again in a literature class my first year of college.
That’s where I first read the story about Christian Darling who in his mid-30s hadn’t quite found a life beyond his days playing college football. The peak of his life being an eighty-yard run in practice read like a cautionary tale to this 19-year-old student. (Just as the Hoop Dreams doc would for others later.)
Annye graduated from Fisk University in Nashville took her role as a teacher seriously. She was simply the best teacher I ever had and opened my eyes to the world in so many ways. From showing the class the films An Occurrence at Owl Creek and A Raisin in the Sun to reading Zora Neale Hurston and The Eighty-Yard Run I was shown a world where words and images could impact people.
The year prior to reading The Eighty-Yard Run I had been an All-conference and All-county wide receiver in high school, but at 5’8″ and 150 pounds (and, ahhh, not having very good grades) I didn’t get any scholarship offers. So I went to community college and got an A.A. degree in one year with a B average. Lifted some weights, grew an inch taller, and walked-on to the football team at the University of Miami in the fall of 1981. (Still have a nice letter from legendary coach Howard Schnellenberger.)
I could write a whole book on my short time there (or at least an interesting George Plimpton-inspired Sports Illustrated article), but it had a painful ending. One practice I cracked back on a linebacker and felt by shoulder shift a little. A few plays later I was blocking a defensive back and my shoulder popped out.
Looking back, it ended up being a key turning point in my life. The end of my old life, and the start of a new one. (Which is actually a pretty good synopsis of the best movies, television, and streaming programs.) Here’s how I start my first chapter in the book on conflict:
“Get that f—ing walk-on off the field was how my short-lived football career ended at the University of Miami back in 1981. I’d dislocated my shoulder on the pervious play in practice and was hunched over frozen-like and favoring my twisted left arm. I had surgery, put down my helmet for good, and picked up a camera.
One thing football and screenwriting have in common is they are both full of conflict. Screenwriting’s mantra should be “Conflict—Conflict—Conflict.” It’s why I chose to start this book with conflict rather than structure, character, or plot. Major conflict often happens early in a movie:
E.T. misses his space ride.
Juno discovers she’s pregnant.
Rocky loses his boxing gym locker.
A barracuda kills Nemo’s mother and siblings.
About as close as I got to any Hurricane glory was breathing the same locker room air as Jim Kelly (who went on to have a Pro Football Hall of Fame career). Though I did have an exceptionally good practice once where future UM star Stanley Shakespeare told a coach he should start me for the next JV game against Florida State.
I never made it to the next game, and finished the semester with my left arm in a sling. (Shot my first 8mm film that semester with wearing that arm sling.) It really wasn’t a career ending injury, but I just felt it was time to move on and focus on getting my film degree. The great thing about conflict and pain is it can lead to growth and a new direction. (How many of your favorite stories have that as a theme?)
A fun twist to this story is Chuck Scott who I played football with at Lake Howell High School went on to play for Vanderbilt before getting drafted by the L.A. Rams in 1985. A year after graduating from film school I was working as a photographer for Yary Photography in Southern California and not only had the opportunity to take the Rams team photo, but to reconnect with Chuck.
Chuck’s son Caleb also played at Vanderbilt and just this week signed with the Green Bay Packers to be on their practice squad. And lastly, actor Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights) and former NFL player and current TV host Brandon Marshall also played wide receiver at Lake Howell High School.
P.S. I was thankful to do rehab on my shoulder with UM trainer Mike O’Shea and his staff. In writing this post I saw that O’Shea retired last year from the University of Houston where he was the head trainer. Pro QB Case Keenum—who when he left the University of Houston was NCAA’s all-time leader in total passing yards, touchdowns, and completions— credits O’Shea with not only keeping him healthy in college, but helping him develop as a person. And Mike’s son Chad O’Shea is currently the wide receiver coach for the Cleveland Browns, and was WR coach for the New England Patriots for three of their Super Bowl wins.
[…] history. He told me he thought I could play major college football and so I gave it a shot. It didn’t work out like I’d hoped, but I don’t have any […]
[…] As I’ve written before, I was briefly a walk-on at UM on the 1981 team and one of my fondest memories was hearing Schnellenberger’s mesmerizing voice […]