Cocoa High’s Anderson All-American At West Point

SPACE COAST SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Bob Anderson A Member of the College Football Hall of Fame

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – If doctors knew then what they know now, Bob Anderson might have had a professional football career similar to his college football career.

BOB ANDERSON is a member of the Cocoa High School, New Jersey Sports Writers Association, West Point Sports, and College Football Halls of Fame, as well as the NFL Alumni Association.

That would have made him a household name.

The 1956 graduate of Cocoa High and Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame nominee might have been Brevard County’s finest athlete. He surely was one of the best to ever play football for the Black Knights of Army.

Several injuries to his right knee slowed him during his senior season for Army in 1959 and prevented him from playing more than one game for the New York Giants in 1963 after he finished his duties in the Army.

The surgical techniques of today which can repair torn anterior cruciate ligaments or torn cartilages in the ailing knees of athletes weren’t available for the athletes of the 1950s or 1960s.

That’s what slowed Anderson and might have prevented him from winning the Heisman Trophy during his tenure with Army.

Anderson, who was born on March 31, 1938 in Elizabeth, N.J., moved to Florida with his family when he was 11-years-old.

He had been diagnosed with rheumatic fever and doctors recommended the warmer climate.

He wasn’t sickly for long, growing to 6-foot-2 and 196 pounds by his senior year at Cocoa High. Anderson starred in football, basketball, baseball and track and field. He was Brevard County’s leading rusher and scorer in football three times.

Multi-Sport Star At Cocoa High

Anderson also was all-county and all-conference  in basketball and baseball three times. Anderson set school, county and conference records in the 100-yard dash and the shot put.

As a freshman, Cocoa football coach Chuck Klein named Anderson the starting quarterback.

This was back in the days of segregation when Brevard County had just three high schools for white students – Cocoa High, Titusville High and Melbourne High. It also was a time period before the space program and before the Space Coast became the Space Coast.

Anderson was good enough to play professional baseball, but the college football coaches of the Deep South knew who he was. He gave legendary Georgia Tech coach Bobby Dodd a verbal commitment. But when Army and another legendary coach, Blaik, showed interest, Anderson told his parents he wanted to go to West Point.

Anderson dreaded the telephone call he would have to make to Dodd, but Dodd’s respect for the service academies ensured that their conversation was pleasant.

To this day, Anderson wonders what it would have been like to play for Dodd and the Yellow Jackets.

Freshmen weren’t eligible to play college football back in those days, but Anderson did play as an outfielder and occasional pitcher for the baseball team before joining the football team. He also played one year of basketball.

All American Honors

As a sophomore, Anderson was one of the finest players in the country. He rushed for 983 yards and 12 touchdowns on 153 carries for a 6.4 average. He caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Anderson also completed 6 of 11 passes for 30 yards and one touchdown.

Army’s offense was designed to move only between the tackles, so Anderson was forced to run in crowded traffic.

College football hadn’t implemented a two-platoon system at that time, and Anderson added four interceptions as a standout player on defense.

Army finished 7-2 and ranked No. 13 in the country.

Bob Anderson was inducted into the college Football Hall of Fame in 2004.

Anderson was a consensus selection for the 1957 College Football America Team with Heisman Trophy winner John David Crow of Texas A&M, Walt Kowalczyk of Michigan State, Clendon Thomas of Oklahoma, Dan Currie of Michigan State, Al Ecuyer of Notre Dame, Bill Krisher of Oklahoma, Alex Karras of Iowa, Lou Michaels of Kentucky, Jim Phillips of Auburn and Dick Wallen of UCLA.

He originally injured his right knee at Cocoa High, but it didn’t become a problem until the final game of his sophomore season at Army in a loss to Navy. He probably played that game with a torn cartilage and possibly damage to his ACL.

During his junior year, Anderson gained 564 yards on 126 carries. He also caught 14 passes for 138 yards, completed 10 of 15 passes for 143 yards and returned four punts for 78 yards. Anderson added three interceptions as Army finished 8-0-1 and was ranked No. 3 in the country. Its lone blemish was a 14-14 tie against Pittsburgh. He was named to the All-America team.

Injury Hampers Pro Career

Blaik retired as head coach after the season and was replaced by assistant coach Dale Hall.

In the second game of his senior season, Anderson sustained a knee injury that would hamper him for the whole season and eventually ruin his chances for a successful career in the National Football League.

He refused to have surgery during the season to repair cartilage and ligament damage, waiting until after the season was over.

Despite the injured knee, Anderson rushed for 340 yards on 76 carries and missed just one game. He added four receptions for 25 yards. He also completed 8 of 17 passes for 112 yards.

Bob Anderson, a 1956 graduate of Cocoa High, and Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame inductee, might have been Brevard County’s finest athlete. He surely was one of the best to ever play football for the Black Knights of Army. (Image For SpaceCoastDaily.com)

Army finished 4-4-1, including a 13-13 tie against Air Force in the first meeting between the schools. Anderson scored both of Army’s touchdowns against Air Force in the game played at the original Yankee Stadium.

Member of the 101st Airborne Division

After graduation, the New York Giants took Anderson in the ninth round of the 1960 NFL Draft.

He served as a lieutenant in the 101st Airborne Division for three years before signing a contract with the Giants.

Anderson scored a touchdown in an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Rams, but the knee injuries were too much to overcome and he played just one regular-season game before he was released.

In 2004, Anderson was named to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Hello CREW…                                         11-21-13

Murdock’s  was AWESOME!  Great food/service.
And the  lets have fun kids  attended!

                        Many votes for:  Lets come back again!  
Attendees: 

       

Top –     Mary Laycock, Uncle Henry CHS 45,

       his wife, aunt Evelyn and Chuck Reed CHS 44.

  Bottom –  L – R     Ann Driskill, Lois Atkinson

          Jack Crockett, Elma Atkinson, Bill Weinberg,

   ole BTB, Sherry Gentry, Clark True, Gloria Tinker,

Tom Tinker, George Reinhart  took the pictures.

                Server:  Melene  (sp?)  was great!

Brrrr cold in Carolina!   John and Sybil Dean,

          happy to be back home in warmer Florida!

Snow up north!   Jack and Linda Young say,

               it’s cold and lots of snow in New York!

Doc Who?    1st Doctor Phil, then Doctor Oz,

        then The Doctors and coming this Sunday,

         R U ready for this?  TV Doctor Billy!   

                    Hummm where is medicine bag?

Pocahontas:           Indian nickname for

            “the naughty one”   or   “spoiled child”.  

             Ugh!   Maybe she fix turkey dinner for ole Indian? Nov 27th   No Crew event scheduled due to
Thanksgiving  Day  Celebration!
Next event:     Wednesday, 12-04-13  Ashley’s

Make the most of yourself,

                   for that is all there is of you.

                                    – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sent from my i-teepee while looking in the mirror.  ugh!

I responded to a note from Jim Sisco in which it was  suggested that there was an easy way to figure out insurance costs in your neck of the woods.  I responded with a plea for help.  

Citizens and voters must become aware that they are being

screwed by the system.  

Below are the views I shared with Jim

Thanks for the input. I think that all insurance companies are thieves. Really! The Government’s Health and Human Services organization essentially created a price fixed healthcare system. Hospitals and Doctors have essentially no say in the prices they charge.

Insurance companies pay whatever they damn well wish based on negotiated contracts with the various hospitals. Hospitals then create fictitious bills to cover all charge codes negotiated with all insurers that are loosely about the same as medicare allows.

It it a 100% contrived situation … the soaring cost of healthcare that is. ObamaCare is a sham and treats a problem that doesn’t really exist. If you want to fix the healthcare system you have to get the industry to adopt “true-cost” accounting standards!!! It’s as simple as that.

Sure!  Repeal ObamaCare! It is not going to do a damn thing to reduce costs or even to reduce the rate of cost growth. It is only helping the insurance companies sign up more fools and fill their coffers with more and more revenues. If the truth be known, real “true-costs” are declining .

Take a look at http://www.truecostofhealthcare.org. If that doesn’t convince you of the validity of my statement I’m not sure anything will. I studied it closely.  I have even communicated with Dr Belk. I then thought I’d have some fun and decided to do my own analysis.

I’ve written extensively on the results sharing my views (actually Dr Belk’s) with politicians (many of whom act as deaf, dumb and illiterate beings inasmuch as they can’t be bothered with facts), hospitals, insurers, talk-show hosts and specialists on various aspects of healthcare.

I am trying like hell to get people to understand the real problem and would welcome your help. Send the message to all of your contacts guiding them to the site … and an analysis of my own experience. I summarized the analysis in a message to my wife who is in the healthcare business. That message is copied below.

Seriously Jim! Study Dr Belk’s Web Site then take the time (all of you on distribution who receive this email) to look over your own health records (most likely kept online e.g., Explanation of Benefits). It should be maintained by your insurer. Let me know if you find similar types of what I call corruption.

Tell me and everyone else you know what you come up with. Then tell the insurers, healthcare providers, pundits, politicians and those talking heads sitting on empty suits in the media that you are really MIFFED (say pissed) and demand that change be made in the accounting systems that are embraced by the industry.

I think if changes such as those are made, we’ll see crap like ObamaCare just plain go away! (Of course you may suggest with justification that I am wearing rose colored glasses). Sorry again for the rant!   Connie

Below is the summary analysis I sent to my wife.  The numbers below were tabulated in a spreadsheet using billing and payments recorded on my infor the PFT and Colonoscopy I had on 21 May 2013.

Click  above or below to access the spreadsheet

May 21 Colonoscopy and PFT Reduced Size

I was billed $16,447.90 for the colonoscopy and PFT. Humana/ (Medicare Advantage) paid $716.08 . That’s what they the hospital  knew they would get. Even at that amount the hospital most likely makes a profit of around 7%. But instead of billing me $716.08 they inflated the billing by 2297% . In other words they billed me almost 23 times more than they knew they would receive. $15,731.75 was left unaccounted for.The hospital didn’t get it. The insurance Company didn’t get it. I didn’t get it.

Everybody is billed (or rather should be billed) using the same codes and consequently the same amount should appear for every patient. The hospital creates these fictitious billing units to ensure that if another  of several insurance companies were to pay higher for certain procedures or services they will get it.

For example all of the codes used for billing SNHMC’s services (identified in red on the spreadsheet) were not paid by my plan, but, another plan may have paid for some or all of them. So … it goes on the bill! That is just plain wrong!

It is tantamount to thievery!

Here’s why! … If some poor soul has no insurance he must pay $16.447.90  … either that or negotiate a lesser amount. Even if he is lucky an can negotiate a 50% discount, he still has to pay a whole lot. More than ten times the amount than he should have to pay.

That is out and out offensive!!!! It is stealing and should be punishable by law.

That is the problem with the cost of healthcare as the Government and talking heads on both sides of the aisle see it . When the government chalks up healthcare costs all they see is the enormous $16,447.90 bill. True costs (in my own experience) were 23 times less than that. Looking at it another way, almost everyone can afford healthcare even without insurance.  If you can afford a buying a case of beer of a carton of cigarettes over the course of a year  (or even make car payments)  you can darn sure afford to take care of your health!  That is especially true of the young as they are  less apt to need things like  $716.08 colonoscopies.

That’s the  short version of  the story I call  the 

“Healthcare System’s Criminal Intent”

Make it known to everyone,

Politicians,

Media Pundits,

Doctors,

Hospitals,

Insurance Companies

Everybody !!!!

You’ve been blindsided once to often.  

Make the Healthcare Industry Accountable

Demand legislation for

“True-Cost”  Billing and Payment  System”

Hello CREW…                                            11-17-13

  Ahhhh  a new location for a  CREW adventure!
Weather permitting we may sit out side!

Next  Happy Hour Crew event

Hello CREW…                                              11-14-13

Bizzarro’s Italian One of the CREW’s favorite places!

                                  A great event, so much fun! 

Attendees:       Jack & Linda Young, Ann Driskill, 

                 Clark True, Elma Atkinson, Mary Laycock

              David Alexander, Gerry Heller & Bill Raines,

                  one Ole Indian and   SERVER:  Anna

Was it lucky 4 U?    Tuesday was    11 – 12 – 13  

             Ugh!    Happily, Ole Indian woke up for another day!   

Who needs cologne?   Recent AARP survey asked

   women, what fragrance Turns Them On The Most?

                     Answer:   Clean Bed Sheets! 

          Ole Indian keeps Buffalo Skins in teepee clean!   😉 

 U need to know?   A reminder, this website is one

               of the best places to go for  INFORMATION!

                                          http://refdesk.com/

Nurse bring me a beer!    

            The Median salary for RN’s is  $65,950.

Next event:  Murdock’s Southern Bistro in Cocoa
Visit # 1  to this new location.

  Check it out:    http://www.murdocksincocoavillage.com/
Wednesday:  Entertainment, beer & wine specials!

Growing old is no more than a bad habit which

  a busy man has no time to form. – Andre Maurois

Sent from my i-teepee while trying to look busy!
 

Hello CREW…                                          11-10-13

Hello CREW…                                                   11-07-13

Ashley’s was…   Loud and Proud!    19  CHS  “Kids”

            attended the CREW November Birthday Party.

    The cup cakes were SWEET!     Thanks  Corinne!

       A really fun event!  You should have been there!

 

Attendees:    L -R   Myrna Swindell, Clark True,

        Elma Atkinson, (hard to see!) Jack & LInda Young,

            Wilt Wagner, Shirley Pomeroy, Page Hill,

         Lynn Krnoul & Lee, Jack Crockett, Don Baker,

     Ed Sears, Donna Price, Ole BTB, Corinne Bowley,

    David Alexander, Sandy Brannin.   Server: Christie!

    Special thanks to  Gerri Dutcher for the picture!

Si… Cisco Kid!    Song from the 70’s  WAR  album.

        A very popular party record!  Hummm maybe

            the Cisco Kid is related to Nancy Cisco?

           No relation to classmate Jimmy Sisco.

         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZS5pHAx_gw

Getting settled:    Rec’d email from Amber Forrest.

        She is living in Texas and getting used to all the

      “critters”  visiting her home; armadillos, possums

       raccoons and foxes!   Not to worry…  she is safe,

             high n dry  away from all the flash floods.

Howdy All!    From Gregg Seitner in town from

                       Tennessee for a one week visit.

               Gregg was a regular at the CREW events.

Yes I know!    We are out of school but this cool test

         was sent to me by classmate Greg Moorehead.

                  He missed one and so did I…  Ugh!  
        http://www.pewresearch.org/quiz/science-knowledge/ 

Just found out!          Per Myrna Swindell…

          Doug Rood & Ryan Laviree won the annual

             KARS PARK BARBECUE RIB COOK OFF

Some past winners were: Harvey Baker, Buzz Phillips

and Sue Linderman.  Pictures at Harvey’s Face book.

Next Event:      Bizzarro’s  Italian  Restaurant
                          Visit # 23    Last: July 10, 2013

Not everyone grows to be old, but everyone

  has been younger than he is now.” – Evelyn Waugh

Sent from my i-teepee looking up what is in Earth’s atmosphere!

Hello CREW…                                             11-03-13

 Just checking!  Did you set your clocks back 1 hour?