Storyline: College football offers experiences that last a lifetime. Just ask Gary Mescher of East Lansing, MI.
It’s the afternoon of November 9, 1974 on the campus of Michigan State University.
On that day I hit a fellow student. And I broke his glasses.
Exactly 41 years later, to the day–on November 9 2015–that student and I sat together at a local restaurant, Beggars Banquet, to have a drink and talk about that day, and to talk about today, in Michigan State football.
To be precise, I broke my friend Eric’s glasses by jumping on his back at Spartan Stadium after an amazing MSU victory. I knocked off his glasses. They broke underfoot as he stumbled forward under my weight.
Yes, that happened. Why it happened is a big part of the story. And that story comes back to Michigan State football.
Courtesy buckeyeextradispatch.com
An inspired and talented MSU team upset top-ranked Ohio State on that November afternoon in front of 78,533 fans at MSU’s Spartan Stadium. As a well-known story goes, it took 45 minutes after the game ended before Big Ten Commissioner, Wayne Duke, upheld the decision by refs on the field that Michigan State had won 16-13.
His decision unleashed a scream of joy from MSU fans waiting on the Spartan Stadium field for the final decision. Eric and I were on the field that day.
Eric was just a bit upset that I caused his glasses to break, but he seemed over it by the time we got to a local establishment, the same Beggar’s Banquet, to rehydrate and relive the game.
Our story brings up why the current Mark Dantonio era in MSU football should be appreciated by Spartan football fans from all angles. Spartan football is different now from what we experienced back then.
In the dark ages of the 70s, MSU football was down more than up. We experienced and enjoyed some epic upsets of the Buckeyes, but we also sat through regular beat downs by Michigan and other teams during our time in school. A big win was usually followed by an inexplicable loss, as soon as the next week. Sitting in a downpour to watch the Wolverines shutout MSU, 31-0, at Spartan Stadium in 1973 was one of many low points.
Grayson Miller (44) celebrates MSU’s dramatic 2015 victory against Michigan (ABC7Chicago.com)
For sure, MSU’s recent and dramatic Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl wins–and the October 17, 2015 “Miracle at Michigan Stadium”–could never be imagined in the wildest of our MSU football dreams.
So Eric, who has lived out West for decades, and I had a beer at Beggars on November 9, 2015 to replay the not-so-glorious football past from our time as students. Our time as undergraduates ended with graduation in 1975.
Today we appreciate what Mark Dantonio has done to create and sustain excellence. So we raised our glasses together, and safely, I might add, to toast Michigan State football.
Go Green!
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Gary Mescher
Gary Mescher has known Eric Stemle since 8th grade when Eric bounded off the mound and tossed him out at first during a Little League game in East Lansing. The year was 1966.
Friends then and still, they graduated from East Lansing High School in ’71 and, later, from MSU in ’75. They still talk on the phone after every MSU football/basketball game.
Eric and his wife, who now live in Wyoming, are long-time high school teachers. Gary is responsible for strategic initiatives with the MSU Alumni Association.
