Overcoming a shaky start with moments to cherish

RHONDA KELLEY Chief Logan High School Class

of 1978

I remember when I embarrassed myself terribly at my football game debut as a performing fag in the Chief Logan High School Band. After enduring the long hours of practice in band camp and after school, it was fnally time for my frst high school football game under the lights at Juniata High School. Another girl and I were the only sophomores on the squad. The rest were juniors and seniors. We were the newbies. Of course, I was extremely nervous, it was one thing to make a mistake in practice, but the thought of making a mistake on the feld with all those onlookers was terrifying.

The last words of advice given to me by the veterans of the group were, whatever you do, be sure to drop your fag when exiting the feld after the performance. This seemed like confusing advice until they explained that there were low hanging wires at Juniata’s feld that needed to be avoided.

The performance went off without a hitch and I was strutting off the feld, quite proud of myself, fipping my uniform skirt with each step taken in my white majorette-style boots. You know, the kind with the big over-sized green yarn pom poms. Suddenly I found myself pulled backwards by, you guessed it, catching my not-lowered fag on the low overhead wires. I am sure there were many eye rolls by the rest of my squad, and chuckles from the bleachers, but I was too mortifed to notice.

As it turns out, I didn’t die of embarrassment, and I lived to march another day. I stayed with the performing fag squad the rest of my high school career and managed to do nothing else quite that humiliating. The camaraderie found with the members of the band and the memories made on those band trips are something I will always cherish.

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