Jim Peele's Driving

by Ben Verrico

The class of '58 football team really had fun together during freshman year. I got in trouble in this bar, Brunner's, as a freshman. Coach Offenhamer determined that all the ballplayers were in there drinking beer, and that I was the leader. I wasn't. I came in with the rest. Don't forget, it was legal because we were 18 years old, and that was the law back then.

I can recall the Friday night when Ron LaRocque came rolling in the door of Brunner's. He and Karl Kluckhorn spotted the crew of guys here. We were well oiled. When I showed up for practice the next day, they said, "You're no longer on the bus. From now on, you ride with the Athletic Director." So the only way I could go on a trip was in Jim Peele's car.

The first trip I had with him was to the Lehigh game. Jim Peele was probably the most unforgettable character ever at UB. He was an old quarterback from Purdue University. They named the baseball field next to Clark Hall on South Campus in his name - it's still called the Jim Peele field. But he was a character. Jim Peele's driving: everybody feared that punishment.

He had this habit of going, "Eh EH, eh EH." So we're sitting in the car, and all the way down to Lehigh, "Eh EH. What play are you guys going to call, eh EH," and he'd ask you all these questions about football, "eh EH."

Then he'd go "hhhhhhhh" on the windshield, and he'd be driving, and he'd start drawing X's and O's on the windshield. I mean, your life was literally in his hands, and it was awful.