James Alderman ‘50
’Twas a cold day in January, 1950 (25 degrees). I was on the warm 6th floor of the old Jesuit High School Building practicing basketball, when I looked out the window and saw a classmate of mine running laps in a complete football uniform. I started laughing and other players came over. I pointed down to our classmate running laps and then we were all laughing.
At that time, Coach Don Rossi came over and asked me what I was laughing about. Coach Rossi was the coach of football, basketball and baseball at Jesuit. I pointed down to our classmate running laps and commented, “Look at that fool down there running laps in this weather.”
The Coach looked down and immediately told me to “shut my horn.” He said, “That boy is going to be All-American in Football.” We all laughed, but coach was right: John David Roberts (J. D.) later became a two-year, All-American at the University of Oklahoma and, in his senior year was awarded “The Outland Trophy” as the Outstanding Lineman in the whole country.
At the end of the football season of 1949, a bunch of football players, including J. D. Roberts and Gino Biasatti, moved John Wall’s car to the front porch of Jesuit High School. This was a small British car, a Morris, and they lifted it up twenty-two steps to the porch. I witnessed this but was not a participant.
