John Shearer: Taking A Summer Jog At Baylor

  • Tuesday, July 26, 2016
  • John Shearer
Late last Thursday afternoon, I decided to take a casual run around the lower fields of Baylor School.
 
With my schedule not quite as full this summer, I was trying to think of some fun and easy recreational activity as a way to enjoy in a casual manner the beauty of the world around me.
 
And with the nicely mowed fields against the backdrop of mountains, the Tennessee River and the adjoining creek and lake, I figured Baylor was a good place to go. So I stopped by there after visiting with my father, Dr.
C. Wayne Shearer.
 
But my purpose in going over there was to reminisce as well as relax. Having gone to school there for six years and attended Baylor Camp for several summers before that stretching back to the mid-1960s, I feel like the lower part of the campus is an old friend.
 
And since I had not been there to jog in four years or so now that I am living in Knoxville, I wanted to say hello again to my old acquaintance with a longer visit. I desired to do that despite the fact I am periodically on campus for newspaper story interviews or for the yearly alumni reunion activities.
 
So after I passed the guard stand and told the security guard I was an alumnus and he kindly and quickly waved me through, I parked my car a few feet away in front of the connected athletic buildings.
 
A few students were around for off-season workouts, but by the time I made my way on foot down to the lower fields on the other side of the hill, I had the area mostly to myself.
 
I first took a few laps around the Mercer Reynolds Field, which sits between the small creek and the top of the hill part of campus. It has been used for numerous activities over the years and looked like it had already been lined off for use for preseason football camps and maybe scrimmages.
 
While traversing it Thursday, I thought about everything from taking archery lessons on that field during Baylor Camp, to practicing football countless times. I also remembered my maturity as a football player evolving there from practicing on the ninth-grade football team under coach Bill McMahan, to being a scared sophomore in my first year with the varsity, to being a senior and quietly trying to be a team leader.
 
I also remember the times we tried to climb the steep hill after practice was over before steps were installed, and when we enjoyed watermelon after an August afternoon practice, compliments of Bo Dyer, father of classmate Doug Dyer.
 
On my first lap or two of jogging on Thursday, I looked at the area beside the field, where the creek becomes a lake. It has become more a natural wetlands than it used to be, and all the canoeing that once went on in that lake when I was a Baylor camper was almost hard to visualize now.
 
I also took note of the fact that examining the pristine lake in a relaxing manner was quite a contrast to the rough and tumble football practice that I often experienced just a few feet away on land.
 
I then ran along the two football fields by the river and thought of the football practices where Coach E.B. “Red” Etter imparted wisdom. I did not realize until years later that he was unique in that he focused on strategy, excecution and out-smarting the opponent instead of just the physicality of the game or trying to be a tough-sounding coach.
 
Some riprap rocks have been placed along the shore here in recent years, giving one a clearer view of the river. But the same old metal goalposts still seemed to be there on the fields.
 
I remember some footballs would occasionally end up in the river on both these fields and the Mercer Reynolds field during practice, and frantic efforts would be made by fellow teammates to retrieve them, usually resulting in a good laugh.
 
I then ran past the varsity baseball field and stopped at a nice row of trees between that field and the other one. Although I had not in the past noticed these trees that much, on this day I felt compelled to stop and soak in the setting.
 
I did not run up where the softball fields and the wooded area with the walking and running trail are, since those were not really there when I was in school in the 1970s.
 
Instead, I circled around the big open field along the shore of the lake, and stopped at the newer and neat grove of small maple trees apparently constructed as a memorial to a former student.
 
I then went back up toward where I was parked, but first went up to the top of the hill, climbing the old steps that I used to climb. A brick or two were missing from them, but that was OK with me. Now that I am in my mid-50s, I don’t criticize the negative consequences of aging so much anymore!
 
I then went back down the hill, ran past where the beloved old oak once stood near the river before it was toppled by nature recently after years of decline, and climbed in my automobile. I wanted to go back and get some pictures of some of the places in the lower fields where I had just been, so I drove down there and snapped a few photographs.
 
On my way out of the campus in my car, I also stopped in front of the older Memorial Gymnasium/James Duke Arena wing, which dates to the late 1940s, to get some pictures.
 
For some reason, that spot in front of the gym – with a small red-brick plaza and two larger-than-typical redbud trees – appears to have changed little in decades. I am not even sure if the “Baylor” rubber mat in front of the building has been changed. And I loved that!
 
It all looked exactly like it did when we would go in those doors to hear announcements at the start of a new day of summer camp back when the late Jack Stanford was the director. And it looked exactly like it did when the cheerleaders would congregate in front of it before practice when I was in high school.
 
I stood and cherished that spot, and than made plans to swing by Rembrandt’s in the Bluff View Art District for a quick supper and dessert before driving back to Knoxville.
 
I had also already been filled up with nostalgic enjoyment, having stayed on the campus for nearly two hours without even realizing so much time had passed.
 
Jcshearer2@comcast.net
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