The Way It Used To Be

Football coaching legends share their experiences on the gridiron before laptops, charter jets and mega-million dollar facilities
by: Aaron S. Lee
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If there is one constant, it is that there are no constants. Over time, everything changes and nothing remains quite the same. Never is this more evident than in the profession of coaching football.

American Football Monthly recently sat down with a few of the game’s greatest coaches’ wives for a peek inside the ever-changing world of football. From their life on the road to idle chit-chat, AFM has captured it all – in their words. Ladies like Nancey Osborne, Ellie Mallory and Donnell Teaff have provided AFM with an exclusive journey down memory lane. Maybe you can’t walk in their shoes, but perhaps you can at least try them on. Over the course of the next few months, AFM will feature several of these “firsts” in each issue. So sit back and enjoy the game of football “the way it used to be.”

On the road ...

Nancy Osborne (Wife of Tom Osborne, Nebraska, 1973-97)
“We were playing KU in Lawrence, Kansas, and me and another coach’s wife, Bev, were taking our van to the game. I had three children with me and she had three with her, so we had six children and two adults. We got to the game late and we knew that we would have a hard time because most times you are not given any breaks when you are the away team when it comes to parking. Well, we were floored to find a close parking spot, so we just pulled right in the spot with our van. To make sure that we remembered where we parked we looked at the sign and memorized the cross streets ... all the way into the stadium the kids were singing “11th and G, 11th and G, 11th and G.’ Our husbands were going to ride home with us, so we wanted to make sure that we remembered where we parked.

“Well sure enough, when we met them after the game they teased us about not remembering where the car was, but the kids started singing ‘11th and G’ ... so we marched right down to that street, but there was no car. We knew that we were in the right place.

“Now it is after the game and the fans are standing around and everyone is starting to recognize Tom. We were just floored and we could not figure it out until we looked down the street and saw a sign that read: NO PARKING - TOW AWAY ZONE.

So, then we had to walk all the way to the police station and on game day at a police station there are a lot of drunk fans and this was no exception ... in fact, not only were there well-polluted fans, but also the Kansas Jayhawk and Herbie the ‘Husker, who had gotten into a tussle during the game.

“Of course everyone knew Tom when he walked in and it was a scene. Of course, they don’t keep the towed cars at the station ... no, they are kept miles away so we had to find a ride to the lot.

“By the time we got to the car Tom was giving us such a bad time that we did not want to drive and mess things up even further especially since we still had about a four hour trip back home to Lincoln, Neb., so Tom got behind the wheel and off we went. I asked him if he knew how to get home, which he said he did. It didn’t take long to figure out that Tom was lost, so then we started looking for the map, which we had the entire ride up to KU, but we couldn’t find it, so we had to stop and ask for directions. Well, we finally got home and got out of the car we discovered that Bev had been sitting on the map the entire time ... what a trip, but at least we won.” – More from Nancy Osborne in upcoming issues of AFM

Ellie Mallory (Wife of Bill Mallory, Indiana, 1984-96)
“Bill had recently taken the Indiana University job and we were going to play Michigan in Ann Arbor, where to complicate matters, two of our three sons were playing on the Michigan football team. Mike was a linebacker and co-captain and Doug was a defensive back. Someone had given me a parking pass right beside the locker room ... it was obviously the parking lot for their ‘very loyal fans’ – meaning big donors. When I drove into the Maize and Blue lot with my red car with my Indiana plates, Indiana stickers and everyone in my car dressed in red, you can imagine the fans and even the parking attendants started giving us a good-natured hard time.

“However, when I got out of the car I jokingly told all within earshot that if they weren’t nicer to me that I would take my sons and go home ... they all started laughing and said ‘oh my gosh, you are Mrs. Mallory. We’ll guard your car, we were just having fun. Please don’t take your sons home’” – More from Ellie Mallory in upcoming issues of AFM

Chit Chat ...

Donell Teaff (Wife of Grant Teaff, Baylor, 1972-92)
“Perhaps people outside the coaching profession don’t really realize the hours that coaches work. I was in the grocery store one day and a lady came up to me and we chatted a bit. We talked a little about the season and she gave some nice compliments about the job Grant and his staff were doing. Then she said a rather unusual thing to me because she said, ‘You know it really must be such a wonderful life for you because you married a man that only has to work four hours on Saturday afternoons’ ... I was totally taken aback by what she said and I realized at that moment that even if I explained to her our lifestyle and the workload, she would still probably not have a clue ... so I responded by saying, ‘Yes, it has been wonderful and I hope at some time you can be married to a football coach, too.’” – More from Donell Teaff in upcoming issues of AFM

Look for more humorous anecdotes from other coaches’ wives, such as Patti Edwards, Ann Bowden and Becky Switzer, in upcoming issues of AFM.

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