Halloween

Yes, friends and fiends, it's Halloween, and your old pal Jerry has some goodies for you.

We start with a nudist who may have been scary without the paint and feathers.

 

Mystery Art

I don't know anything about this woodcut, but I like it.

 

Barracks Hijinks

Here we have some U.S. Army men having a Halloween party in their barracks.

The guy on the cot has his legs in the air and is getting felt up.  Fun night!

 

Fake Hippies

These are not real hippies, but I can't figure out what is really going on here.

And one or two of them seem to be wearing 1970s style adjustable cock rings.

 

Trio

The random website where I found this said it was from a gay Halloween party.  The guy 

at left is attractive despite accessories that would get him thrown off Project Runway.

 

Peter Pan?

I think this guy from a nudist pageant was going for a Peter Pan look.  

 

Mizer Mummy Movie

I found this in my files labeled "Mizer Mummy Movie" and had to post it.  I have no idea what the real title is or who the players might be, but something tells me our friend James will be along shortly to enlighten us.  Now those AMG movies were not paragons of cinematic virtue . . . or any other virtue for that matter, but they were always amusing.  The guy at left really fills out that posing strap, the "mummy" is built like a brick s*%t house, and I can't figure out the sailor.  I love it.

Happy Halloween, Everyone!

 

Military Day

Today we visit the troops in a variety of settings.  We'll start with a Signal Corps photo of a mobile shower unit.  The leggings and the architecture make me think WWI France.

 

Korea

Korea in 1953 is the setting for an Australian getting a wash in a river.

 

Army Shower

Mike K. of Grand Junction, Colorado sent me this one, and all he knew about it was that it was an army shower.  It looks like a World War I U.S. Army Signal Corp photo, but lacks their watermark.

 

Camp life

This is the first of two photos in this series sent to me by my friend and fellow former New Orleans resident, Dee.  It is also possibly one of two pictures today where someone took a snap of someone taking a snap.  Those of you who fancy undies and towels may like this one.

 

Crowd

My best guess is that these are early 20th Century military men of some type or nationality.  I put this on full size, and it will probably bleed over the text at right, but I wanted to show all the detail possible.

 

12th Armored

These are supposed to be Americans of the 12th Armored Division in Germany, 1945.

My guess is that it was early in the year or someone would be swimming.

 

Bath time

I think these are WWII Germans catching a bath in a shallow stream.

 

Camp John Dick

My buddy Dee sent me this photo of men showering at Camp John Dick at Dallas in 1918.  

The facility was a holding pool for Army Aviation ground personnel who had finished training.  I have to wonder if the name of the place produced any interesting jokes or slogans.  Thanks, Dee!

 

Photographing the photographer

I think these are World War II Germans on the Eastern Front, 

and I like the concept of taking a picture of someone taking a picture.

 

One more time

Closing out our military series with a photo you've seen before, probably right here.  It may be my all-time favorite photo of nude servicemen.  They seem completely amused and comfortable posing naked, and the matching raincoats are the icing on a very good cake.

 

We all need heroes

 Tommy Nobis, one of my personal heroes

My grandfather was a wise man, and he told me at a young age that we all need heroes to 

make us better men.  He added that we should be able to count them on the fingers of one hand.  

One of my personal heroes is Tommy Nobis (1943-2017) a great football player born and raised 

in San Antonio, but I'm not that much of a football fan.  Mr. Nobis used the fame and connections 

of being a football star to bring an amazing amount of good into the world, and even into 

my personal world.  Let me tell you his story today.

My first encounter with Tommy Nobis

On November 7, 1963 my father took me to Austin to see the Texas Longhorns play Baylor.  He had a lot of business contacts in San Antonio, and one of them gave us tickets.  We also got the San Antonio newspaper, so we knew who Tommy Nobis was.  Arriving well before game time, we took a stroll around the beautiful campus.  Even though it was a football Saturday, the library was open, and I peeped inside.  I never knew there were that many books in the world.  I decided that day that I would attend this University, and I did, starting in 1969.  The photo above is from that time. 

 The 'Horns won 7-0, and Tommy Nobis played a great game on defense.

Beginnings

 

The 16 year old at left is Thomas Nobis, Sr., Tommy Nobis' father.  He's shown 

in this 1931 San Antonio newspaper article making  a stove for a destitute family.  

As you will see later, the acorn didn't fall far from the tree.

The little guy in the center is a 10 year old Tommy Nobis receiving his first sports award.

His Little League baseball team won their division, and he was named outstanding player.

"Little Red" as they called him later became "Big Red."

Thomas Jefferson High School - San Antonio

When Tommy Nobis arrived at Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio for his freshman year, he told them he was interested in sports.  So they put him on the Freshman basketball team where he was one of the two scrawniest players.  He's #30 above at left center.  Tommy got bigger quickly.

They let him play some football his sophomore year, plus he joined the Track team.

This is from his junior year when he was a shot putter.

It was in football, however, that Tommy's star really began to shine.  

He played both offense and defense as an end, and even got to run 

with the ball on occasion, as here.  They called him "Big Red."

I made this composite from Tommy's senior yearbook photos.  The college 

football recruiters already had their sights on him for some time.

 

Hook 'Em Horns!

Tommy Nobis was the most highly sought after college recruit in Texas the year he graduated from Jefferson High.  He was quoted later as saying he narrowed it down to the two best programs which expressed interest in him, The University of Texas and OU, Oklahoma University.  He visited Austin first and then went up I-35 to Norman.  After a few days at OU he chose Texas.  Why?  

"All they did while I was at OU was badmouth Texas, so I picked the Longhorns."

The only sophomore on Texas' 1963 National Championship team, Tommy was made a starter 

after only a few games.  Here he is shown against Texas Tech, but later that season he sacked 

Roger Staubach of Navy in the Cotton Bowl where the championship was won 28-6.

Somehow Mr. Nobis had time to play intramural fast pitch softball for his 

fraternity, Kappa Alpha.  Needless to say, they had a great couple of seasons.  

The Snak Shak was still a favorite place to eat when I was at UT six years later.

This shows Tommy stopping an Alabama running back in his tracks in his last college game at the 1965 Orange Bowl.  In an upset over Joe Namath and the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide, Tommy and the #5 'Horns defense held the Tide on four downs at the one yard line to win.  It has been called the most heroic goal line stand in college football history.

That last season, Tommy made the cover of Sports Illustrated.  It was time for the Pros.

 

Going Pro

Tommy Nobis' college eligibility ended after the Longhorns won the 1965 Orange Bowl   As soon as the dust settled in Miami, both the professional football leagues of the time (AFL and NFL) began wooing the big Texan.  He had little choice in terms of teams, though, as both leagues used a draft system to select players that gave preference to their expansion teams, Houston and Atlanta, respectively.  The NFL sent Tommy to New York City where he got to meet the showgirls at the famous Latin Quarter nightclub, shown above.  The AFL actually had Houston based astronaut Frank Borman send him a message from orbit urging him to choose them.  Mr. Nobis decided to go with the longer established NFL rather than his home state team, and he was the first round choice of the brand new Atlanta Falcons.

If you saw this coming at you at full speed down a football field, you should

 have been afraid, very afraid.  The Falcons let Tommy keep his Texas jersey

number, 60.  Both teams would eventually retire it in honor of  him.

Predictably, the Falcons did not do too well, but Tommy Nobis 

gave it all he had every time he went out on the field.

Even being on a struggling team didn't keed Mr. Nobis from being named First Team All-Pro in 1967.  Here Falcons owner Rankin Smith presents him with a portrait to go with his trophy.

In addition to being All-Pro, Tommy Nobis appeared in no less than five Pro Bowl all star games.  I chose this photo because it was made here in Hawaii at Waikiki Beach just before one of them.

 

The Bob Gomel Photos, 1968

During the 1960s, Bob Gomel was one of the photographers whose work was most often seen in LIFE magazine.  In late 1968, he took these four photos of Tommy Nobis in the Falcons' locker room and sauna.  They are some of my personal favorites photos of Mr. Nobis, but for some reason, they never appeared in the magazine.  They are, however, in the LIFE Archive.  Odd, that.

The striped boxers are a treat, and Tommy looks like he's thinking, 

"Yeah, I know they think I'm just a slab of meat.  So what?"

Tommy Nobis' knee seems to be bothering him in this sauna photo.

Head coach Norm van Brocklin once referred to Tommy Nobis' area

 of the locker room as "the place our team dresses."

 

Other pursuits

Tommy Nobis served his country in the Georgia National Guard from 1965 through 1970, 

having signed up before his contact with the Falcons went into effect.  Tommy earned an 

Expert Marksman rating and made several USO tours of Vietnam.  Here he is shown 

receiving an award for those tours while wearing special fatigues made for 

him and three other NFL players who joined the effort.   

When he wasn't doing football or serving in the National Guard, Tommy enjoyed fishing.

Mr. Nobis was on the track team in high school, and his wife Lynn was athletic, too. 

Here they are taking part in Atlanta's Peachtree Road Race.  And that brings 

up his family life, which we will look at in the next section.

 

In between, there was family

Tommy Nobis married his college sweetheart, Carolyn "Lynn" Edwards, on June 17, 1967.  Their marriage endured until Tommy's death over 50 years later, and they built a family in Atlanta.

Mr. Nobis seemed to enjoy fatherhood, and maybe the beer helped, lol.  

The baby is Tommy III, as our football star was "Tommy Junior."

Eventually there were three kids, with Kevin and daughter Devon joining Tommy III.

I think Devon chose her Dad to be her escort when she was homecoming queen at her Atlanta high school.    Looks like it was a rainy night in Georgia, and Tommy really did clean up good.

 

"This is getting old . . . "

Tommy Nobis had two major knee injuries that would have been career enders for lesser players.  He came back from major knee surgery twice at a time when it failed more often than it succeeded.

Although he looks worn and battered, I think there is something noble about this photo taken 

during one of Tommy Nobis' later Pro Bowl appearances.  He was getting tired of carrying 

the whole team on his tired shoulders, and his playing career was drawing to an end.

Things got so bad during the 1976 Falcons season that Mr. Nobis briefly walked out after a disastrous game against a not very good Seattle team.  In that game, he was one of only a few Falcons players who put forth any real effort, getting banged up while lesser players went through the motions.  Tommy did complete the season, but announced that he would retire at its end.

I think this photo made at the old Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was taken shortly after Tommy Nobis' retirement from playing.  As you will see, he would continue to be quite active in football and other pursuits.  His hair here is longer than I have ever seen it, but then it was the 70s.