Early Years
Evashevski was born in Detroit, Michigan. In grade school, he captained the basketball, baseball, soccer, and track teams. At Northwestern High School, however, he was not allowed on the football practice field in his sophomore or junior years. The school's varsity football coaches felt that Evashevski was too small at just 128 pounds. So he played intramural football at Northwestern. As a senior, he had grown to 180 pounds and his intramural football squad scrimmaged against the varsity football team. Evashevski led his intramural team to an upset of the varsity squad, and the coaches let him join the team.
Evashevski started at tackle and linebacker as a 16-year-old Northwestern High School senior; he was allowed to skip a few grades in grade school to help him maintain interest academically. After his first varsity football game, a writer from The Detroit News said he was a sure-fire all-state pick, if he could stay healthy. But Evashevski suffered from headaches and vomiting after the game. In his next game, he hit a punt returner, forcing a fumble. Evashevski was knocked out cold and spent the next several months in the hospital. He said, "In the second game, I suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. They did three spinal taps on me before they decided to operate. I was supposed to be through with football. But when something is taken away from you like that, I believe you want it even more than you did before."
Read more about this topic: Forest Evashevski
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