Mel Bashore

Notes of his interview (not a recorded transcription) including those made by his wife, Helen.

 

Aldo:    "Feets" Tedesco asked me to play with the Seagulls.  I was living in Ogden at the time. I felt I was too old to play, but they had me race the other players and I beat them all. I was 36 years old. I told them I'd play if they'd let Sid Kramer play, too. I had kept in shape by playing basketball and baseball in the industrial leagues. I was late reporting because I run the Hunt Foods in Ogden. I was a late starter. The [Utah State] Fairgrounds field was in pretty good shape as far as football playing was concerned. They had the rodeo in September, right before the game, so it had a lingering smell.

 

Helen:    At the airport, on their first trip away, they released hundreds of seagulls, to celebrate and send them off. There was a big crowd of fans there.

 

Aldo:    The airplanes didn't have seats. We didn't have enough money to do it right. I was in every game. My boss let me off work to play football because he was a ballplayer. He even drove me to the practices sometimes. There weren't too many people at the games. "Feets" was the quarterback at Utah when I played there.

 

Helen:    If you'd ever meet "Feets," you never forgot him. He made an impression on you. He was very friendly and very happy all the time. He was always nice to everybody, yet he was the boss. He had the qualitities of a leader.

 

Aldo:  "Feets" was not ready for pro coaching.

 

Helen:    He loved a good time too much to be serious.

 

Aldo:    Potsy Clark was serious. He was just a little guy. He was the coach and he knew it. He told you what to do and you did it. That was the difference between Potsy Clark and Tedesco.  Because I was in Ogden running the frozen food plant, I only came down here to play the games. The players overturning the Wayne Clark suspension didn't have a negative impact on "Feets'" ability to coach the team. We didn't get in much social life with the other ballplayers because we were up in Ogden.

 

Helen:    We would see some of the others. Paul McDonough and his wife and Sid Kramer and his wife rented out the upstairs of the sheriff's house which was in front of the old jail, across the street from the [Salt Lake] City and County Building. Also Sherm Clark and his wife. We would see them there sometimes. Just about all of the players were married.

 

Aldo:    Most of the players were, except some of the players who had just graduated from college. I think Wayne Clark was married. I think "Feet" wanted me to help him coach. I told him that I didn't have the time because I had to run the frozen food plant. I got a . . . . when we won the NFL title, there was no champagne in the locker room. There was a couple of reporters, but that's about all. The equipment manager came out to visit me after the season. He was a little Jewish fellow. We took him up Ogden Canyon to that restaurant up there. He was scared to death of the mountains. In those days, the quarterback carried the ball instead of passing. They ran the ball all the time and you had to block for them. I carried the ball when I was in, too. Charles "Ookie" Miller was a great big guy. I don't remember Nagurski ever hitting me and I never tried to tackle him. Bronko Nagurski. He was on the Chicago Bears.

 

Helen:    The first time I met the team [Detroit Lions] when I visited Aldo, we got into th  e htoel in the middle of the night and I didn't see anybody on the team. We got up for breakfast and I went down to get some coffee and then Aldo came down. I told him that the circus was in town. He asked me, "Where is it at?"  I said, "Well, here comes some of the men that are in it." In walked the men on his football team. I had never seen so many big men in all my life.

 

Aldo:    Ox Emerson was one of the biggest on the team. That's why they called him Ox.

 

Helen:    They used to call Aldo "Honey" up at the U.  They heard me say, "Hurry up, hurry up, honey."

 

Aldo:  I think there are seven of us still alive from the '35 Lions. That was 55 years ago.