Steve Stout hasn’t been in high school for a few years now. Okay, he hasn’t been in high school for a few decades.

 

Yet, 45 years after he had graduated from Bridgeport High School Stout still had something he kept from the school and never relinquished until a little more than a week ago. On Nov. 2, the player who is listed by all of the fansknowledgeable as among the top five players easily in Indians football history gave up the school’s rushing title.

 

And he made sure he was there to see it.

 

“I had been to two games this year and I told my wife (Darletta) that we should probably go to the game because, unless something was wrong, he was going to break the record against Lincoln and I wanted to get a chance to congratulate him,” said Stout.

 

Not long after Coach John Cole had given his postgame comments and shortly as the team departed Stydahar Field in Shinnston, Steve Stout got to meet – for the first time – young Jake Bowen. Stout said he liked what he saw from the youngster away from the field.

 

“What a great young man. I really enjoyed meeting him. I think the feeling was mutual,” said Stout.

 

It was. Bowen was asked about his encounter as he hugged person after person following the regular season ending contest.

 

“It was pretty cool to meet him. To hold that record for so long speaks about how good he was as a player,” said Bowen. “I’ve heard a lot of stories about just how good he was.”

 

Make no bones about it, Steve Stout was a good player. Real good. Perhaps as good as anyone that’s every put on the school colors.

 

Here’s the thing – running with the football may not have been his best thing. When Connect-Bridgeport first started and we did the 40 for 40 series that was a selection of the top 40 players over the last 40 years, I spent a lot of time talking with the late Coach Wayne Jamison about the players on the list he coached. He, of course, had zero problem speaking his mind.

 

When I asked him about Stout’s running ability, he shrugged and stated in that drawl that was one of his many trademarks, “He was a better punter and a better defensive back if that gives you any idea how good he was.”

 

Understand, Wayne Jamison – even in his later years – wasn’t one to hand out faint praise. Perhaps it goes back to the fact Stout started for Jamison in 1971 as a sophomore. Throughout Jamison’s entire tenure, that was almost unheard of.

 

Yet Stout did just that in 1971 and 1972, the year the Tribe played up in Class AAA and still managed to win a state championship. By his senior year, Stout probably seemed poised for a monster year. After all, he was a runner-up for the Kennedy Award as a junior in ’72 and figured to have some huge games left in him.

 

He did, but not nearly as many. And it had nothing to do with dogging it.

 

“I got injured in the third game of my senior year and ended up missing four or five games. They tried to tape my foot so I could run and punt and I got treatment from (the late and well-known physical therapist) Dr. (Joe) Manchin. It just didn’t work,” said Stout. “I remember that I wanted to get 4,000 yards and that was a bit of a regret, but being able to hold that record for so long was still pretty special.”

 

Stout said he didn’t think much about the record after leaving school. He said it rarely, if ever, was brought up until he read an article earlier this year on Connect-Bridgeport showing the numbers.

 

“I read that article on Connect and told Darletta that this Bowen kid has some serious yardage and he may just pass me up. Then I did the math in my head and told myself, no, he’s for sure going to pass me up and that’s exactly what happened,”  said Stout.

 

Stout noticed that not only did Bowen break the record on a 60-yard touchdown run, but the Indians lined up in the stick-I offense for the first time in the game when it happened. It was the stick-I that the late Jamison patented on his way to four state crowns and the formation Stout gained every single yard in.

 

“Yeah, I saw it. It kind of capped things that we lost Coach Jamison and the yardage title in the same year and it got eclipsed  in the stick-I. Isn’t that something,” Stout said. “Honestly, I think Coach Jamison would approve of Jake. Getting that record couldn’t have happened to a better kid. No disrespect to anyone else, maybe he’ll get the chance to hold on to it for 45 years. He’s certainly earned the chance and I hope he gets more than one chance to add to the total in the playoffs.”

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows Steve Stout, right, talking with Jake Bowen after the Lincoln contest when Bowen broke Stout's all-time BHS rushing mark. Second photo shows Stout during the 1972 state championship playoffs. In the third photo, Stout is shown with the late Coach Wayne Jamison when Stout was recognized as the top player of the previous 40 years in a "40 for 40" special in 2012. Bottom photo shows Bowen breaking off a big run against Lewis County. Top and bottom two photos by www.benqueenphotography.com.