the manliest man I know

After several complaints due to my inactivity, I am proud to finally provide my many devoted fans and lone subscriber (Thanks Jarrett!) with my much anticipated first post. When I thought about what I should write about, I decided that my best option was to do a feature on the manliest man that I know. His name is Aaron Talbott (Talby). There seems to be an infinite number of Talby stories and some of them have progressed from historical fact to exaggerated tale to total myth. It is not my purpose to exhaust all of those tales and separate fact from fiction. There will be a time for that. I simply want to introduce him to man-cave nation by telling you about his rugged roots and just how I came to meet this grizzly man.

It was the first week of football camp at Grove City College. I was a Junior at the time and there were several new freshmen in the locker room. I had previously heard from a friend at Church that she knew someone coming to Grove City to play football. His name was Aaron Talbott. Because his name was near the end of the alphabet, we shared the same row of lockers. As I was headed to my locker to put away my pads, I saw a burly young man crouched down, hat tilted almost sideways on his head with a ridiculous crease in it, using a screw driver to attach a cowboy collar to his shoulder pads. I introduced myself to him and was pleasantly surprised to see that despite his rough and tumble exterior, Talby was actually a nice and outgoing individual. I shook his hand, (It was like shaking a bear's paw) and that was the beginning...

The two pictures on this blog are of Talby before I met him. From what I hear, he was and still is a legend at Bethel Park. He was an all conference linebacker/linemen, who was infamous for clearing out Pizza Hut buffet's with his linemen buddies. Check out this article about high school Talby. He was a weightlifter/ wrestler who was also not afraid to dabble in acting as he played Gaston in his high school musical Beauty and the Beast. Truly, he is a Renaissance man.

These introductory stories about Talby can teach all men everywhere a few lessons on what it means to be a real man. 1.) If you are going to play football.... wear a neck roll. It makes you look big and intimidating. 2.) You don't need to be mean. Talby is a true Southern Gentlemen and 3.) A real man is diverse. He can play football and act. He can lift weights while wearing puka shells and gelling his hair. He can wear flannel but also pull off a bow tie.
This is the first of many Talby tributes. Please look forward to Talby Tuesdays.