Embedded Files
Game Ball of Highlands vs Covington Catholic
Game Football from 1st time Highlands played Covington Catholic High School
Game Football from 1st time Highlands played Covington Catholic High School
Donor: Rick Hoffman, Class of 1969
Story Contributors: Dennis Pompilio, Class of 1969
Amy Thompson Leigh, Class of 1982
This football was the game ball from September 20, 1968, when the Bluebirds faced Covington Catholic for the first time, eliminating Oak Hills High School from our schedule. It was a ridiculously humid, hot day, with reportedly 90% humidity at the Highlands field, which made it a challenge for the football players from both teams.
The players had to wear their helmets the entire game (whether on the field or on the bench) and were not permitted to drink water during the game, only during halftime. At that time, Highlands’ key players played both offense and defense. All these factors added up to exhausted players by the end of the game. When Highlands finished them off with a score of 14-0, team captain, Tim Racke, handed this football to running back, Rick Hoffman, for a well-played game. Although Rick did not feel like he deserved the ball more than anyone else, Tim must have appreciated his interception as well as the touchdown he scored. This team proceeded to have a perfect season, winning state!!!! (13-0-0)
A few side notes about this noteworthy team and season:
The 1968/69 season was the first year the notorious cannon was used to boomingly announce touchdowns during Highland’s home games. From that point forward, people all over Ft. Thomas have been able to keep track of the Bluebird’s touchdowns, just by listening for the BOOM!!! It was first used September 13, during the Western Hills game, where Highlands defeated Western Hills 41-6. The game film revealed an unsuspecting Western Hills player falling over backwards upon the firing of the cannon for the first time.
Cannon used to announce touchdowns
Rick Hoffman holding state trophy
2. Our team wore the best suspension helmets available, Rydell helmets, which had a system of leather straps stretching the full width of the inside of the helmet, to create a sort of hammock of protection bracing from impact. This design was engineered to mimic the spongy bone structure inside of a woodpecker’s skull, insulating the birds’ head while pecking. Despite these helmets, players still had head injuries. These helmets also had a feature called a “bullring” which was a u-shaped piece that hung down to protect the eyes and face from being punched or elbowed.
3. In the 1950’s photocopiers were not available for daily use. Schools and business offices around the nation used a machine called a mimeograph machine to create sharable documents. This machine used purple ink to print multiple copies of a document. Here is a copy of the mimeographed Scouting Report given to each football player in preparation for the Cov. Cath game.
Vintage Gatorade Bottle
4. This was the first Highlands team to drink a new drink called Gatorade (which was invented in 1967) at halftime, during the first game of the season against Dayton, September 6, 1968.
5. 5. Concussion protocols in 1968 were quite different than they are today. If a player took a blow to the head, the coach or trainer followed these steps:
a. Player inhaled smelling salts which released (NH3) ammonia to restore or stimulate consciousness.
b. asked 3 questions such as: What day is it? Who is our opponent? What’s the score of the game?
c. If you could answer those questions, you were back in the game!
6. The Ft. Thomas police gave our team an escort all the way to Lexington for the decisive State AA Championship at Stoll Field. Birds 32- E’Town 7.
7. At that time, games were filmed with a video camera, and the film had to be developed by a professional developer. The NKY coaches had a system worked out with a developer from Cincinnati. Friday night, after the games, coaches from many NKY high schools would take their game film to Pompilio’s Restaurant, in Newport (which was owned by the Ft. Thomas Pompilio family). The film developer would come from Cincinnati and pick up the game film from all the coaches. He would take the film back to his studio and develop it, returning the developed movies to Pompilio’s for the coaches to pick up Saturday. ‘Quite a laborious process compared to today’s filming techniques.
Exterior of Pompilio's Restaurant
compliments of the Pompilio family
Football, rivalry, Cov Cath,
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