Imrem: In sports, things changed with Vietnam

A flood of memories invaded countless minds over the weekend.

Triggering them was a report in this newspaper that Naperville will focus on Vietnam vets during this year's Veterans Day ceremonies.

Vietnam wasn't a fashionable war for athletes or for a lot of other Americans.

With Iraq and Afghanistan veterans currently receiving our nation's gratitude in large doses - for good reason, naturally - Vietnam vets easily could begin feeling overlooked all over again.

So it's for Naperville and any other community to recognize them.

Vietnam was my generation's war and while the physical and emotional scars might have faded they aren't gone.

This year is the 50th anniversary of us cranking up in Nam and the 40th anniversary of us winding down, yet our involvement still weighs on the nation's psyche.

Since these are the sports pages, you're probably anxious for me to tilt the discussion in that direction.

OK, here goes: Though I wasn't around for the Spanish-American War, my impression is that Vietnam essentially was the first major American conflict in which athletes and other celebrities chose not to participate.

In our two previous - World War II and Korea - prominent athletes played prominent roles.

It was the thing to do. The country called, and the biggest sports figures responded.

Then came Vietnam and most of the biggest, strongest, most physical, most aggressive, most athletic among us chose to avoid being drafted into the military.

Teams accommodated them by using influence to harbor them in military reserve units. A Seattle Times article in 1991 reported the strategy this way:

"Baseball teams, which have more players at both major- and minor-league levels than other pro sports combined, made extensive use of the part-time military service. The 1973 Sporting News Player Register, for instance, lists more than 1,000 players on major-league rosters, and 115 with military service."

The story proceeds to say, "Of those, only a handful - 10 - saw regular military service."

Correct me if I'm wrong but the most notable baseball players that went to Nam were Al Bumbry (who received a Bronze Star), Garry Maddox, Jim Bibby and Ed Figueroa.

From the NFL you will recognize the names of Rocky Bleier and Roger Staubach. A name you might not recognize is Bob Kalsu, believed to be the only pro football player killed in Vietnam.

Those men are among the athletes - there are others, of course - who are among the wider scope of veterans Naperville and other communities are honoring this week.

Many of the vets lucky enough to make it home from Nam were unlucky enough to be treated with disdain by those opposing the war.

Fortunately, we learned by now to respect the warrior even if we hate the war.

Still, in Chicago there still might be more statues honoring '69 Cubs players than Vietnam veterans.

To this day it seems odd that perhaps the youngster living next door or the family member living in the next room fought in Nam but the bruising athlete on TV didn't.

That dynamic added to the insanity that was the Vietnam era.

One legacy of Nam is that few of today's prominent athletes have served in the U.S. Military, which made NFL player Pat Tillman stand out even more for volunteering and dying in Afghanistan.

Thanks, Naperville this week and other communities over time, for remembering those who served in Vietnam.

mimrem@dailyherald.com