LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) – An 89-year-old former University of Kansas football player has gained fresh fame after making a touchdown run during an alumni scrimmage.
Bryan Sperry was all grins Saturday as he jogged toward the Memorial Stadium end zone during the scrimmage before Kansas’ annual spring football game, The Kansas City Star (http://bit.ly/1Gy1Tsk ) reported. His decades-younger opponents intentionally missed repeated tackles before showering him with congratulatory hugs and pats on the back.
“That was fun,” the Pittsburg resident said. “I didn’t know if I could run.”
Sperry was 17 years old when he first left home to play football at Kansas State, but World War II interrupted his schooling. The process of returning soldiers home by boat after the war took months, so the military sent Sperry to a university in England to wait. While there, he says, he played 13 games on a team that was a mix of professionals, college players and high school graduates with limited football experience.
Upon returning home in February 1946, he headed for a tryout, mostly for veterans, held by then-Kansas football coach George Sauer. He played “end” while at Kansas – offense and defense, Sperry said: “Well, we played both ways in those days.”