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Quick hits with Choo Justice
Choo's
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Favorite all-time Pirate uniforms:
“I
always will have a spot in my heart for the 1982-83 Pirate uniforms. I
actually designed the uniforms we wore in 1986-88, so I like those as
well. I never liked the gold pants. White on white was always a favorite
combo. Purple pants weren’t bad with white jerseys. I never really liked
the all purple look. Without a doubt, I think that the Script Pirate
helmet will always symbolize ECU football to many of our fans. I hated
it when Coach Lewis switched to the NFL look with all the stripes, but
have to admit that this helmets looked sharp.”
Best
places to play from a trainer’s perspective:
“Southwest Louisiana always took the best care of us and we had a great
relationship with their staff.”
Best
and worst part of the training gig:
“The
games were the best, especially the travel. We got to meet a lot of good
people all over the country. The worst part was spring ball and winter
conditioning – 6 a.m. conditioning practices in the middle of winter.”
Favorite Pirate team:
“The
1982 and ’83 Pirates. These were guys that I went through college with
and lived with in the dorms. Obviously, our success and the battles we
faced created a great bond.”
October 29, 1983 Game Program - ECU
vs. East Tennessee State - Homecoming
Worst Pirate year you can remember:
“1984.
Everything fell apart after two great years, a lot of stress, the
coaching staff was let go at the end of the year. Bad way to go out in
my last year of college.”
The Trainers’ Lexicon:
Jolly Roger: “Described the warm-up part of the practice. You would
say something like, ‘I’ll take care of it at the Jolly Roger.’”
The
Tower: “The tower on the football field where coach would observe
practice, we would film and where we could blow the horn and flip
periods.
Periods: “The time increments for practice, usually five minutes
long. A two hour practice would be 24 periods. Coaches would plan the
practice accordingly. One of the managers would sit in the tower and
every five minutes flip cards with number and blow the air horn to
signal the start of a new period. Players would offer bribes to you to
make the periods shorter. Coach Emory would usually lean over and say,
‘Hold this period until I give you the signal!’”
Red/Green Dots: “Helmets came in two sizes that were adjustable by
putting in air or taking it out. Red Dots were the smaller size and
Green Dots were the larger. If you wanted to joke about someone’s head,
you would make up a color and say their head was so big that they needed
a Blue Dot!”
Head
gear: Helmets
Cages: Facemasks
Sanitaries: Shorts the players wore under their practice gear.
Shells: Practicing without shoulder pads, only wearing the web pads
– foam pads that go under the hard shoulderpads.
Skeleton: Passing drills without linemen. Just receivers, backs,
defensive backs, and linebackers. Also known as Skels.
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