Hall of Fame
Steve Stout was a two-time nominee for the Kennedy Award as the state’s top high school football player and the runner-up in 1972, the year Bridgeport won the Class AAA state title.
But, as was a trend in the conversation around Stout’s induction into the first class of the Harry Green Bridgeport High Athletics Hall of Fame, he didn’t want to take the credit.
“We were blessed with very good linemen,” Stout said. “It was very hard for the teams that we played against to even score. Of course, we were always fortunate to score more. It was just unbelievable the way that went.”
Stout credits that to his coach, Wayne Jamison.
“The amount of respect he had was just unbelievable. All he had to do was walk in the room, he didn’t have to talk much,” Stout said. “Whatever problem you were having on the field, maybe a guy was too big for you or things like that, he just got the old chalkboard out. Especially at halftime, he was amazing.”
A prime example was in the 1972 championship game.
“When we got in there at halftime, the first thing Jamison said (to one of the lineman) after he rolled up his sleeves was, ‘What is the problem over there? That guy is killing us.’ Our lineman was about 155-160 pounds. The guy he was going against was 260, maybe a little heavier, and probably a foot taller.
“I remember he looked up at coach and said, ‘I can’t handle him.’ Everybody in the room put their head down like, ‘Oh man, wrong answer.’
“But Jamison didn’t say a word. He just got the chalkboard out and he said, ‘Okay, this is what we were going to do.’ He changed a lot of things right there. You could never stump him. I’ve always said that, my junior year when we won that state championship, we didn’t win, that Jamison did.”
Stout held Bridgeport’s rushing record for 45 years until being passed by Jake Bowen in 2018 and was recruited by Notre Dame, Purdue, Tennessee and West Virginia, among others.
He went to Potomac State to play JUCO football, but injuries kept him from suiting up for Bobby Bowden and the Mountaineers.
Stout excelled in not only football, but track & field, baseball and basketball as well.
“I looked forward to the change of seasons,” Stout said. “You move on, you just go to the next sport. It was just the way it was.”
Lessons learned from Jamison stayed with Stout throughout his life.
“All I had to do what think about it, think about him,” Stout said, “It helped me so much, especially later on in life. It made me look at things a lot differently.”
