TERRY MOSHER
I have some bad news concerning the “Flying Boxcar” that starred in football for three years for Bremerton High School. Tiny Madlin suffered a stroke on March 21at his home in Eagle Point, Ore. five days before a jeep crashed into his and wife Rose’s home, wrecking one of their cars, their garage, walls of their house and took out furniture.
“We were a sleep early Saturday morning (March 25) and the walls are just pushed together and all my furniture – it’s just terrible,” sobbed Rose. “Some kid had a fancy jeep and (got out to talk to a friend) and put the jeep in neutral and it came down the hill and wrecked everything.”
That is terrible enough, but Tiny, a fullback on the 1947 Bremerton team that won the mythical championship and two years later as a senior was on another Bremerton team that went undefeated, suffered a debilitating stroke that has emotionally torn apart Rose, who has been married to Tiny for 57 years
“Dad has had a stroke, that is the worse part,” says Rose as she started crying. “I love him so, but I don’t know what I can do. I give him as much comfort as I can. It’s just terrible that it had to happen to a grown man like him. He’s been fantastic … he still is fantastic because it’s (still) there, he just can’t show it no more.
“I know he’s there. And some day he will smile again and come and put his arms around me. I know he will. But I just feel all alone.”
Rose started to break down again, but she caught herself and added,” His personality is so beautiful. I didn’t ever want to see a personality like that fade. He’s sitting in a rocking chair right now. I’m gonna look at his face and I will get a smile, maybe. I love him so much. My heart just breaks.”
I wrote about Tiny and the 1949 football team nearly two years ago. Here are few excerpts from that story:
“Madlin, whose real name was not Madlin at birth, said he never lost a yard on a carry until years later when he was playing fullback for the Seattle Ramblers in a semi-pro football game against a military team from Fort Ord that included many professional players doing service time and he got trapped behind the line. That Fort Ord team was quarterbacked by Don Heinrich, who was the starting QB for the 1947 Bremerton High team.
What made Madlin so dangerous as a runner was a combination of size (6-foot-2, 215 pounds) and speed. He would often drag would-be tacklers for yards before surrendering to gravity.
Opponents, of course, knew all about Madlin, who after the ’49 season would be named All-State, All-Pacific Coast, and All-American by Wigwam Wiseman of America.
“They called (Madlin) the flying boxcar,” says Linda Bruns, the unofficial secretary of the 1949-50 class. “It’s something about the way he ran and his size. He had thin legs and this huge body. He just carried tacklers down the field.”
Madlin is now 84 and you have to feel for him and Rose. It’s sad and even tragic when age catches up to our heroes. That’s why I do what I do when I write about people who might have been forgotten by time. I don’t want us to forget the good ones, and Tiny and Rose certainly are. Together they produced eight children, five girls and three boys and Rose and Tiny had been taking care of a great grandson for the last 17 years.
What they both need right now is hugs and lots of love. Hopefully, they will get them because they are well deserved.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.