Mel Bashore

[Note:   Some parts of the interview were unintelligible due to a malfunction of the tape recorder. Those parts that could not be understood are represented by ellipses.]

 

Barney:    I think this must have been in 1940. The fall of 1940. It would have been my second year of pro football. I had a contract to play, but there were other players from Utah that wanted an opportunity. They didn't have any contract. I said, "Well, let's all go back together and I'll see if I can't get you in, at least get you into a trial. So there was Tom Corry. He played end at Utah. Fred Gehrke. We used to call him Clarence at that time. Who was the other one? Pete Bogden and myself. I think it was Tom Corry's car. We traded off driving back to Cleveland, Ohio, where the Cleveland Rams had training. In fact, it was Berea, Ohio. So anyway, we traded off. We went through Wyoming and Kansas and Illinois. I remember I was driving in Illinois and I crossed through into Indiana and changed off the driving to Pete Bogden. I immediately sat beside him and went to sleep. I don't know how long I slept. Probably over an hour. I awakened.  The first highway sign I saw was Illinois.  I said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Stop." We were going the wrong direction. He said, "How come?" He said, "I just took over from where you were going."  I said, "Yes, but I was in Indiana."  I said, "Now we're in Illinois so we must be going the wrong direction."  Anyway, we turned around and we finally got back to Cleveland.  Anyway, we tried out there. Pete Bogden was sent down to the Columbus farm club in Columbus, Ohio. Tom Corry got outright released. And Clarence Gehrke stayed on with the Cleveland Rams as a kind of a utility backfield man. Clarence could run and kick and pass, kind of an all-around quarterback type of player. He didn't play much because we had Parker Hall. He was the star from Mississippi. He had a great reputation. Clarence stayed around half the year before he got released to Columbus. And so, I thought it was interesting that the four Utah men that went back and tried out, I was the only one that made it. Then came along in about 1943 probably, that I got an invitation to join Uncle Sam's forces in the service. Clarence Gehrke had some kind of a physical defect in his system that wasn't obvious to me, but anyway, it was obvious to the people that examined the recruits.  But anyway, Gehrke got a deferment from the Army and went back to play football with the Cleveland Rams and became a star and a leader. I don't know whether he made all conference or not, but he was a . . . again. He also was artistic and he was the one that invented the Rams' helmet.  And he also invented a kick-off tee that the pros used. He not only was exceptional playing football, but otherwise. And then I don't know whether he is part owner of the football team right now. I understand that now he is maybe a part owner probably of the Denver team.  So anyway that is just one of the sidelines of football that I thought might be interesting.

 

Mel:    What year did you start with the Rams?

 

Barney:    '39. The fall of '39.

 

Mel:    Weren't you the only Utah player with the Rams in 1939?

 

Barney:   At that particular time.  Yes. But later on, it was in maybe '40 that Paul McDonough came over from Pittsburgh. So Paul McDonough and I played one year together.

 

Mel:    I understood that he wore glasses while playing.

 

Barney:    . . . . I didn't notice that he had any vision problems. He'd go down for passes downfield, I don't know what his vision problem was . . . . I don't know whether his son . . . . and his wife back in Salt Lake . . . . like to visit them and chat with them about it. We got along all right . . . . 

 

Mel:    How did you start with the Rams?

 

Barney:     The way I got started with the Rams, at the time I don't think they had a draft like they do now. But they might have because it was . . . . steamship and I got this cablegram . . . . an offer . . . .  if I was interested in playing professional football. -----

 

Barney:    We would call these girls occasionally when we wanted to go someplace. Sometime in the evening we'd call them.  I know at least we did that a couple of times. One of the things that the girls did. They always brought a nurse along that had to be in by ten o'clock or early so we couldn't stay out and carouse too long during the night. Although we wanted to party longer than ten o'clock, we respected their request. Anyway one night I remember that we were out with the girls and the fellas that I was with wanted to go to a nightclub where they could have a highball or two. I never participated in things like that, but I thought, well, if the girls want to do it and if the fellows want to do it, I'll go along with them. So we went out to this club.  I don't know what the others had, but I had a Tom Collins with a . . . and then a jigger of rum . . . .  We were feeling pretty good that night.  But anyway, the curfew came and the girls had to go home. The nurse had to get back. The girls took us back to our apartment. So when we got back to the apartment, our apartment was the one where all the players congregated