My first 'big game,' JFK, and hometown connection to Lee Harvey Oswald | Adams

The first “big event” I covered was on Nov. 22, 1963. I was a 15-year-old reporter for the weekly newspaper in my hometown of Clinton, Louisiana.

Since then, many of the “big events” I’ve covered – Super Bowls, Masters, championship fights, World Series, and supposed “games of the century” – run together. Some stand out. I saw Muhammad Ali beat Leon Spinks in the Superdome, Jack Nicklaus win his last Masters championship in 1986, and Doug Williams lead the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl triumph.

Williams’ career day was of national significance because he was the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl. The significance to me was measured in miles. He grew up in Zachary, Louisiana, 18 miles from my hometown. One of my best friends later became his accountant.

I remember plays from that Super Bowl, but not with the same clarity I do the day of the Clinton-Belle Chasse football playoff game in 1963. Anybody my age can remember what they were doing that day.

School let out early, so students could make the 100-mile trip to Belle Chasse. Buses were chartered, and my town of about 1,500 was practically deserted for games of this magnitude.

I was waiting to leave when Walter Cronkite gave the news of President John Kennedy’s death on CBS.

When I looked back on that day, I was surprised the game was played. I’m surprised any games were played. But amid such a tragedy, I’m not sure anyone was thinking clearly. Or perhaps, they reasoned that playing football games on a November weekend provided a sense of normalcy to the most abnormal of days.

My game was strange enough on its own merits. The teams ended up tied 13-13. Overtime didn’t exist then, so officials turned to penetrations (drives inside the opponent’s 20-yard line) and first downs for a tiebreaker. Those were even, too, after Clinton was stopped just shy of another first down on its last possession.

A rematch was rescheduled for a neutral site in Lutcher a few days later. Belle Chasse won and advanced to the next round of the playoffs. In between the two games, I watched LSU play Tulane on perhaps the quietest afternoon in Tiger Stadium history.

And in between the two games, Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald.

That game and the assassination remain intertwined for me. My hometown and the assassination also are forever linked. The Oswald-Clinton connection has been documented in books − many of which I have read − exploring the various conspiracy theories. I devoted a chapter to the subject in one of the two books I wrote on my hometown.

Oswald was in Clinton in August of 1963. He applied for a job at East Louisiana State Hospital, which was 10 miles from Clinton. Some residents said they saw Oswald. Others said they also saw New Orleans businessman Clay Shaw in Clinton that summer.

Shaw was a prominent figure in New Orleans district attorney Jim Garrison’s investigation into the assassination. That investigation, which was the basis of the Oliver Stone movie “JFK,” culminated with a trial of Shaw. Our town marshal testified in the trial, which ended with Shaw being unanimously acquitted after a brief deliberation by the jury.

That was only one of the Oswald-Clinton links. There were others, some of which involved the strange deaths of Clinton residents who were on the periphery of investigations into the assassination.

I always think about those connections on the anniversary of the assassination. Sixty years later, we still can’t be sure what happened that day in Dallas.

The Clinton-Belle Chasse game sometimes comes up in conversations with old friends when I return home. The discussion usually centers around Clinton’s final play, which left it just short of a first down and victory. A favorable “home-field spot” is usually blamed for the outcome.

Thankfully, the memories don’t include anything I wrote about the game.

My story also had to account for the rematch since our paper wasn’t published until the Friday after the first game. At 15, I probably was incapable of properly summing up the week’s events. But I’m sure the story was long.

I was paid by the column inch.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: My first 'big game,' JFK, and hometown connection to Lee Harvey Oswald