Roy Oswalt Should Have Played Football At Miami

WEIR, MISS. - For all the stories they like to tell about their homegrown baseball hero, the local favorite actually involves a high school football game.

It was the fourth quarter against neighboring Ethel, a team that had a bit of a chip on its shoulder and some players who had run off at the mouth during the week. With the Weir Lions already holding a big lead and the outcome no longer in doubt, head coach Joe Lynn Gant sent a dive play into the huddle to run out the clock.

As was their occasional wont, wide receiver Roy Oswalt and quarterback Glenn Beard had another idea. So Oswalt ran a deep route, Beard heaved a long pass, and Oswalt gathered it in behind the defense, then sprinted toward the end zone. That is, until he got to the 15-yard line.

"Roy stops running, turns around, tucks the ball under this arm and jogs backward, firing off with his fingers and thumbs like a pair of six-shooters all the way into the end zone," Gant said, shaking his head.

"The sky was filled with penalty flags," remembered Beard, cackling. "It was like it was raining yellow."