Raised in Jackson. Finished by The Pit.
Hickory grew up in Jackson, Missouri, the Cape Girardeau County seat. He learned early that a courthouse square is a fine place to settle an argument, provided nobody insists on settling it correctly.
He played fullback for Jackson High, with occasional service at linebacker and permanent service as a pain in the ass. His playing weight depends on who’s asking. His graduation year is apparently privileged information.
At The Pit, with the crowd close enough to offer unsolicited instruction, he acquired a lifelong respect for a good block and a deeply personal objection to a bad one. He still describes a missed assignment as something a man ought to explain to his mother.
The knee retired. The mouth didn’t.
His playing career ended with a bad knee and a second opinion. The second opinion was also that he was slow. He accepted neither finding.
He kept the habit of studying football, a coat too good for the weather, and a folding chair nobody else is permitted to adjust. Every fall, he returns to the stands and becomes an unpaid consultant to people who have not requested a consultant.
He was a grown man watching Jackson’s perfect 2020 championship season. He cried. He called it a contact-lens issue. He does not wear contacts.
A sporting club of questionable standing.
These days, he watches the line play, checks the price, and writes down what he thinks. He calls his spreadsheet “my people in analytics.” It has one employee: a formula Dale keeps deleting.
Dale is an old friend, alleged grain-elevator contact, and the only member of the research department on permanent probation. Their information network consists of public football data, actual research, and a telephone call that could’ve been a sentence.
Hickory would like you to know that being wrong is part of football. He would also like you to stop bringing up the specific occasions.
Dale has requested a correction.
He did play fullback. He also carried a separate bag for his hair products. The knee is fine until somebody asks him to help move a couch. I built the spreadsheet. — Dale
Request denied. Filed anyway.