It was in the late afternoon on an autumn day in 1968 when Mrs. Kooken drove her son, Larry Kooken, me, and several other seventh graders to Herington, Kansas, about 32 miles Southeast of Abilene, for a football game between the Herington Tigers and the Abilene Cowboys. We packed ourselves shoulder to shoulder like sardines in her awesome brand-new, Ford Thunderbird. I even had one of the guys sit on my lap in the middle of the back seat in an effort to squeeze us all in. Of course, in those days, no one worried or even thought about safety, let alone putting on a seat belt. Back then seat belts were nothing more than another non-essential accessory designed to hopefully boost the perceived value of the car.
On our late afternoon drive to Herington there was plenty of chatter and laughter that could be expected from a car load of young boys. That's about all I remember prior to driving back to Abilene. I don't know why but I can’t remember a single thing about the game not even who won. On our way back to Abilene it had gotten a bit foggy if memory serves me right that night, things began to go awry. Mrs. Kooken wasn’t familiar with the route, and the darkness made it even more difficult to navigate. We were traveling at about 55 mph, maybe more. She quickly became disoriented and took a wrong turn onto a paved county road with a sharp curve and an immediate drop-off of several feet on the right side.
She was shocked to see the sharp curve suddenly appear out of nowhere in her headlights. The speeding Thunderbird went straight off the ledge, sending us airborne over the drop-off, only to be stopped by an unfortunate hedge tree.
Mrs. Kooken had the most injuries, suffering from multiple broken bones. Upon impact, the kid on my lap absorbed the full force of my body plowing into his back. Essentially, his body became my airbag, which, unfortunately for him, resulted in a back injury.
One kid sustained a broken leg, and another a fractured arm. Because of my human airbag, I escaped with only a sprain and some bruises. ❦
“ Several years later, I would
have another run-in with
a hedge tree! ”
STAY TUNED!