Jimison goes with his head over his heart in this week's picks

Not many people know that there is a trophy awarded to the winner of the Glendive-Havre football game. But Ralph Jimison does. Because he played on the last Glendive Red Devil team that had possession of it.

According to information provided by Bob Morrison, the Moore trophy was named after former Havre resident Lewis Moore, who owned the Rose movie theater in Glendive and the Orpheum and Lyric theaters in Havre. Moore donated a traveling trophy from his theaters which would indicate supremacy on the gridiron between the two schools.

At the time, Moore was living in Glendive, but still had strong Havre ties and an undying love for football. To promote the rivalry between the two schools, he donated the trophy which would be housed at the winning school.

However, because Havre eventually went to Class AA and when it moved back to Class A played in a different conference than Glendive, the rivalry and trophy were forgotten.

However, with the recent realignment of Class A football, the two schools find themselves meeting annually and the Moore trophy will once again be at stake.

Way back in 1972 (approximately three years before two of our experts were born), Jimison and the Devils defeated Havre 6-3 to retain possession of the Moore trophy.

"We ran the opening kick back around 80-yards to score," Jimison said. "Havre had a foreign-exchange student, who kicked something like a 35-yard field goal for their only score. It wasn't a pretty game. It was really physical."

As a native of Dawson County, one would think that Jimison would pick the 2003 Red Devil squad to return to the Moore Trophy back to Glendive. But for as much as he considers himself from Glendive, Jimison has been in Havre long enough to hold plenty of loyalty to the Ponies, especially since he coached several players on the current Pony roster in AAU wrestling and his son, Jason, played football for the Ponies in the early 90's.

"At one time or another, I've coached a lot of those kids in wrestling and I know how tough they are and how good of athletes they are," Jimison said. "Glendive can hit on the big plays but they can't punch it in from inside the 20."

Consequently, Jimison is turning his back on his alma mater and picking the Ponies to win on Friday.

"I am going with my head instead of my heart," Jimison said.

But that decision could have repercussions.

"It'll be probably a month before I can go home if they find out about that," he said.

It's not surprising that Jimison went with the kids he coached in wrestling, but then again there aren't many kids around Havre he hasn't coached at one time or another.

He has been coaching wrestling in some form or another since 1974 and began coaching in Havre in 1979. Add to that, he has also been refereeing wrestling for 21 years at the high school and collegiate level.

If there's anything going on in wrestling around the area, there's a good chance you'll see a guy, who looks awfully close to Saddam Hussein, coaching, refereeing or just watching.

"I love the one-on-one aspect of wrestling," Jimison said. "When you walk out on the mat it's just you. You can't blame someone else for not throwing you the ball or scoring enough points when you lose. It's just you."

I never had Jimison as a wrestling coach, I was one of those "pumpkin pounders" as he like to call people who played basketball. I did have him for a baseball coach a couple of times and let's just say the guy brings the wrestling mentality to the baseball field.

I don't think I've ever had anyone hit grounders that hard to me ever, and I think I was 11 at the time. Maybe it was because I was pumpkin pounder.

"I don't hate basketball," Jimison said with a smile. "It's a nice activity during the winter. But wrestling is a sport."

But Jimison may have some serious persuading to do when his grandson gets a little older. His daughter, Kelly, just happens to be married to Chester head basketball coach Willie Schlepp.

Jimison's grandson a pumpkin pounder? Hell hasn't frozen over yet, but the temperature is dropping quick.

"I'm working on Willie," Jimison said. "Little guy wrestling starts much sooner than little guy basketball, so we'll get him into wrestling earlier."

Although Jimison did go with his head in the Havre-Glendive game, he did go with his heart in a few other picks. He picked Washington State led by former HHS star Matt Kegel to beat Colorado.

"You gotta go with the hometown kid," Jimison said. "He almost got Notre Dame last week."

Speaking of the Fighting Irish, Jimison is also taking them in an upset over Michigan.

"I have a nephew who loves Notre Dame," Jimison said. "If don't pick them, he'll kill me."

As for the pro picks, Jimison went pretty conventional. Although the game that he wanted to pick wasn't on there.

"I am heading to Kansas City on Saturday for the Chiefs-Steelers game," he said.

When asked how he could be a Chiefs fans since nobody really knows a Chiefs fan, he replied.

"I got to know Jan Stenerud when he as at Montana State and I started liking the Chiefs because he was kicking there."

So is he Cat fan too?

"Yep."

Cat fans, they're everywhere.

As for last week, Wells and I tied with 14-4 records while Barry, Harvey and George all had 13-5 records. Our guest Tom Reynolds was 12-6, but I don't think it really mattered. After NDSU beat the Griz, Tom not only had the last laugh but collected plenty of money from plenty of over-confident Griz fans. I have managed to avoid him for the entire week, but I am sure he will track me down.

I am not trying to use anyone whoever coached me in a sport or I am friends with. It's just looks that way. We are always looking for suggestions. So, if you know of someone, we should ask to be on Armchair quarterbacks or a game we should use feel free to call me or e-mail me.