{"id":3700,"date":"2016-11-11T11:56:10","date_gmt":"2016-11-11T17:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=3700"},"modified":"2017-01-27T15:38:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T21:38:49","slug":"a-college-footballbasketball-career-cut-short-by-world-war-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=3700","title":{"rendered":"A College Football\/Basketball Career Cut Short By World War 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fred Pahlke Sr. (note the uniform\u2019s letters Centenary are reversed).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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My dad, Fred Pahlke Sr., graduated from Classen High School in Oklahoma City where he was a two sport starter on both the Comet\u2019s basketball and football teams (1938). \u00a0He played guard on the hoops team and was a 6\u20190\u00a0 \u00a0160lb\u00a0back on the gridiron.\u00a0 As a football player,\u00a0he started his senior season as the feature back on one of the largest and best high schools in the State of Oklahoma. As of a newspaper article in the Daily Oklahoman, my Dad was a running back\u00a0that would rather run over a\u00a0defender than around him,\u00a0his coach Leo Higby would say.. After a couple of games he was moved\u00a0from the halfback position to the lead blocking back, a position that is still referred to a \u201cfullback\u201d. My Dad was also\u00a0the primary kickoff returner and had a few significant kickoff returns\u00a0in his final year.<\/p>\n

After graduation\u00a0my Dad\u00a0was offered a scholarship in both basketball and football at Centenary College in Shreveport, La.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Freshmen were not allowed to play on the varsity.\u00a0He was slated to play a significant role\u00a0on the 1940 \u00a0Centenary varsity football and basketball teams in his 2nd year\u00a0as a Centenary Gent. \u00a0War in Europe broke out and my \u00a0Dad enlisted in the Army in the Summer of 1940, where he played football with other college players for a major Army Division team. The team was scheduled to play a Army Championship game in the\u00a0the famous Sugar Bowl Stadium\u00a0when he was shipped out to fight in North Africa after spending two years playing football and training in the medic corps of the 45th Division of Patton\u2019s Army.<\/p>\n

Today, Centenary College doesn\u2019t play football, but did play a good schedule when my father went to school there. The 1939 team played a schedule including Texas A&M, Rice, Ole Miss, Tulsa, Texas Tech, and Baylor. \u00a0The team that my father would have taken the field for in 1940 finished only 3-7, but again played a nice schedule that included a road game in Tucson against the Univ. of Arizona.<\/p>\n

As much as my father liked to play sports, he gained more satisfaction fighting for the 45th Infantry which was a part of\u00a0General George Patton and\u00a0 Major General Mark Clark\u2019s armies.\u00a0 He was an experienced medic with great training and was also fluent in German as his father and mother were of German heritage.\u00a0He had great love and respect for those two great American Generals and found it an honor to be in the 45th Division, participating in the battles of Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, the\u00a0liberation of Fance, and invasion of Germany. My dad suffered \u00a0war injuries in battle just before he crossed the Rhine River.\u00a0 He thought of the \u201cwar years\u201d as the most important and exciting years of his life and was thankful for being able to save many lives on the battlefield, American and German soldiers alike.\u00a0 He was a member of America\u2019s \u201cGreatest Generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added on Veteran\u2019s Day, 2016:<\/p>\n

My Dad with his Mom and Dad in 1946 after a year in a military hospital from his injuries suffered in action against the Germans as a medic in the 45th Infantry Division. He was injured just a day before they crossed the Rhine River into the Fatherland. He always told me it was an honor to fight in General Mark Clark\u2019s army under General George Patton as the field leader<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To my Dad who fought for the 45th Division in WW2 from North Africa to the Rhine River and suffered injuries; to my Uncle Bruce Brightbill, who fought for the US Army in WW2 in the 45th Division; to my Uncle Roger Brightbill, who fought for the US Army in WW2 and suffered life altering brain injuries; to my Uncle John Pratt who fought the Imperial Japanese Army in WW2 and was blessed not to suffer wartime injuries; to my Brother-in-law Jerry Hoegger who fought in Viet Nam and a member of the United States Marines and suffered injuries; and to my Father-in-Law, Jerome Hoegger, a B-17 crew Chief who fought in the China\/India theater in WW2, To my Uncle Billy Bryant for his service in the US Army (my Dad had total respect for Billy)\u2026..THANK YOU! You are better ment than I would ever become.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In the pic above\u00a0you cannot see it but my Dad was\u00a0using a cane\u00a0(right hand). He always had problems with his back and walking after the war. The injuries took ten years off\u00a0of his life. He went from a college athlete in 1940 to basically a crippled man that could never run again. But he always told me that his years in the US Army were his most fulfilling and exciting and so worth it. He loved his fellow soldiers until the minute he passed in the Veterans Hospital in OKC. He would not have wanted it any other way.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Feature Photo:\u00a0 Centenary College<\/p>\n

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My Dad at a pre-season football meeting on the field at Centenary College. He is the blond headed player In the upper left corner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n