Moon Over Western Maryland

A Bench Warmer Memory from Bob Cairns

Jack Baile got some deserved ink in another one of my bench warmer stories, and now here he is again. Jack was a hell of a good athlete, all county high school first team in basketball, soccer and baseball. He went off to Western Maryland College, a very good school nearby, and found himself, what with a rash of scholarships being distributed to players from New York, Baltimore and Washington D.C., on the bench.

But there was a day in a big home game at Western Maryland that his coach Bill Clower called his number for game action.

How excited was Jack? Well, the bench was the first row of the bleachers and when Jack hurried to his feet to get ready to head to the scorers table, he hooked his thumbs inside his sweat pants AND his shorts. Seconds later he was bending over mooning the entire crowd behind him, that much to his misfortune, was loaded with not only his frat brothers but bleachers packed with soriety girls. 

Standing there bent over, he became so embarrassed that instead of pulling up his pants, he covered his eyes.

This magical bench warmer’s moment was celebrated the next day by a cartoon of Jack wearing a barrel with suspenders in the Green and Gold, the college newspaper.

So, this was one that Jack, a really shy guy, never lived down. And just to make sure that this one remained alive and well, I came up with a plan.

Some 15 years later Jack’s son, Jeff came to our house in Raleigh for a week. Jeff and my son Matt were going to Jim Valvano’s basketball camp at NC State (where I was employed).  So, on the first day of camp I, knowing that V’s first college coaching job was with John’s Hopkins College, decided that it might be fun to introduce Jack to Jim Valvano. It went beautifully.  We walked across the court. I introduced Jack to V, saying that his son was in his camp and with the handshake V (in cahoots with me and always a willing partner) looked at Jack and said, “Hey, didn’t you play for Western Maryland back when I was coaching at Hopkins?” Jack said, “Yes!”  And with that V said, “Hey, turn around. I knew I recognized you. You’re the guy who came off the bench and took my team out of that game by pulling your pants down!”

A great, albeit belated, Bench Warmer’s Moment!