WWII veteran, 89, scores touchdown at Kansas alumni flag football game

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At 17, Bryan Sperry earned a spot on Kansas State's football team. At 19, he was shipped overseas to fight for the United States in World War II. Three years later, he returned to rival school Kansas, walked on to the team and played in the 1948 Orange Bowl.

At 89, Sperry pulled on a Jayhawks jersey once again and ran in from the 37 to score a touchdown at the Kansas alumni flag football scrimmage.

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“That was fun,” Sperry said via The Kansas City Star. “I didn’t know if I could run.”

The former infantryman, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, knew he wanted to finish college once he returned home in 1946 and was given an opportunity to try out for Kansas coach George Sauer.

“I went and asked him if I could go out,” Sperry said. “He didn’t know who I was.

“He asked if I could block and tackle. I said I thought I could. He says come on out. We had 138 guys. First time we lined up, I was on the 13th team.”

Sperry estimates only a dozen players from the 1947 Kansas team are still alive. When he heard that the Jayhawks were planning an alumni flag football game, he thought it would be a great opportunity to go back and revisit the game he loves.

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