Auguste Rodin

The great French sculptor, Auguste Rodin was justifiably proud of his beard, 

prominently featuring it in the self portrait shown below:

He is probably best known for "The Thinker"

My personal favorite is "The Age of Bronze":

The age of bronze was controversial, not because it was a full frontal nude, but because it was so true to the model that Rodin was accused of casting August Neyt in wax rather than sculpting him.

The above lovely miniature portrait of Rodin was found mislabeled in a Spanish museum.

Unfortunately, the hightly skilled artist is unknown.

 

John Muir

Born in Dunbar, Scotland in 1838, John Muir's family emigrated to the United States when he was 11.  His earliest memories were taking nature walks with his grandfather in Scotland, and he always kept a stong Scottish identity.  Mr. Muir became the founding father of the American environmental movement, with his books and essays having been read by millions, including myself.  Look at his eyes in the photo above, and you can see the energy and genius on full view.  He walked the mountains of the West, recording their magnificence and becoming an early advocate of their preservation.  John Muir's personal advocacy resulted in the establishment of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in the 1890s.  I took the photo below on a visit to Muir Woods in 1983:

 

Walt Whitman

 

I had a double major in undergraduate school, Psychology and English Literature.  The one thing that all my English professors agreed on was that Walt Whitman was the greatest American poet up to that time, and I don't think there have been any better since.  Publishing homoerotic poetry before the American Civil War was not just pioneering, it was incredibly brave.  Please take the time to read these lines from "I Sing the Body Electric" and you'll see what I mean:  

The expression of the face balks account,

But the expression of a well-made man appears not only in his face,

It is in his limbs and joints also, it is curiously in the joints of his hips and wrists,

It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his waist and knees, dress does not hide him,

The strong sweet quality he has strikes through the cotton and broadcloth,

To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, perhaps more,

You linger to see his back, and the back of his neck and shoulder-side.

The swimmer naked in the swimming-bath, seen as he swims through the transparent green-shine, or lies with his face up and rolls silently to and fro in the heave of the water,

The bending forward and backward of rowers in row-boats, the horseman in his saddle,

 The young fellow hoeing corn, the sleigh-driver driving his six horses through the crowd,

The wrestle of wrestlers, two apprentice-boys, quite grown, lusty, good-natured, native-born, out on the vacant lot at sun-down after work,

The coats and caps thrown down, the embrace of love and resistance,

The upper-hold and under-hold, the hair rumpled over and blinding the eyes;

The march of firemen in their own costumes, the play of masculine muscle through clean-setting trowsers and waist-straps,

The slow return from the fire, the pause when the bell strikes suddenly again, and the listening on the alert,

The natural, perfect, varied attitudes, the bent head, the curv’d neck and the counting;

Such-like I love—I loosen myself, pass freely, am at the mother’s breast with the little child,

Swim with the swimmers, wrestle with wrestlers, march in line with the firemen, and pause, listen, count.

 Those lines are pure genius and about a hundred years ahead of their time.  They went 

right over the heads of some readers, but there were those who knew their deeper 

meaning and took sustenance from them.  One of those who knew was 

Thomas Eakins who painted this portrait of Walt Whitman: 

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.

 

Staying busy, 1977 and onward

"Retirement" at age 33 was not a concept that went well with Tommy Nobis' work ethic.  After a very brief idle period, he accepted a front office job with the Falcons that involved recruiting and public relations.  He had already been instrumental in founding the Georgia Special Olympics, and pushed forward with that, receiving the Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation Award in 1977 for his efforts.  That's Hank Aaron whom Mr. Nobis is interviewing at a Special Olympics event.

Tommy Nobis' NFL career was long before the era of multi-million dollar contracts, but he used his personal funds and his connections in the sporting world to found the Tommy Nobis Center in 1977.  This is Connie Kirk, the lady Mr. Nobis hired that year to run Center, which started as a two desk office, a phone, and an old fashioned banner in the back corner of a Northside business park.  Ms. Kirk remained as CEO for 39 years, and as you will see, worked with Tommy to make it a truly great non-profit that has provided real opportunities for over 25,000 disabled people.

 

My second encounter with Tommy Nobis

In 1986 I moved from the New Orleans area to Metro Atlanta and got a job as a psychiatric social worker on the neurological rehab unit of the private hospital shown above.  Shortly after I started work, there was a severely challenged (both physically and mentally) young man on my caseload whom we had taken as far as our program could help him.  He needed a residential placement and hopefully vocational training, but I could not find an appropriate facility willing to take him.  The family's insurance had run out, and they did not have the funds for further private treatment.  In desperation, I went to our well connected medical director to avoid using a state facility.  He reached in his desk, handed me a card with a hand written phone number on the back, and said,  "Call Tommy Nobis."  My jaw dropped open, and I stammered, "Tommy Nobis the football player?"  That outstanding and kind doctor smiled and replied,  "Is there any other Tommy Nobis?"  I called him.

I had to leave a message on a machine, but I got a callback the next day.  I explained the young man's injuries and history, and the severe problems he faced.  Mr. Nobis said,  "We like a challenge.  I'll have somebody call you right away."  Before we hung up, I told him I had seen him play football against Baylor in 1963 and went on to be a University of Texas graduate partly as a result.  He even remembered the score and closed the call with a hearty "Hook 'em Horns!"

The photo above is a generic one used in the 2000s, but the concepts were the same when I made that referral in 1986.  The young man in question was given speech therapy, physical therapy, job training, personal coaching, and a place in assisted living until he was ready to move into a supervised apartment with three other Tommy Nobis Center clients.  The folks at TNC even arranged surgery to help with a lingering physical impairment.  Perhaps most importantly, they eventually found "Mikey" a job that gave him dignity and self sufficiency.  The outcome surpassed all expectations.

The efforts of Tommy Nobis and the great staff put together by Connie Kirk did not go unnoticed in the Atlanta area.  Thanks to Tommy's tireless fundraising and word of mouth, donations poured in, and in 1992 ground was broken on a beautiful campus in the leafy suburb of Marietta.  The work goes on there today, as well as in a number of outlying training and residential facilities.