By Mike Dickerman

In celebration of the annual rivalry game between the Lyndon Institute and St. Johnsbury Academy varsity football teams, the Lyndon Historical Society has arranged for a special showing of a long lost and forgotten video documentary focusing on the 1978 meeting between the two gridiron squads.

   “Two Days in November” was produced in the fall of 1978 by LI graduate Mike Dickerman (Class of ’74) in conjunction with the former non-profit St. Johnsbury Television Cooperative. At the time, Dickerman was a freshman at Lyndon State College and an intern with the St. Johnsbury Community Cable Demonstration Project.  The 45-minute documentary debuted on the former St. Johnsbury cable television public access channel and aired three or four times in late November 1978.  It has not been shown since, and the original reel-to-reel videotape was only re-discovered by Dickerman in early 2019 while rummaging through some storage boxes at his Littleton, N.H., home.

   With the help of Northern Vermont University instructor Tim Lewis, Dickerman had the video digitized that summer with the idea that perhaps there would be enough interest from local football fans to view the documentary again. Unfortunately, the Covid pandemic put any such plans on hold indefinitely, but Lyndon Historical Society president Eric Paris, a member of the 1978 LI football team, reached out to Dickerman earlier this year and it was decided that a public showing during the fall high school football season would be most appropriate.

   The black and white documentary is hardly a polished final project, but is a great time capsule to a different era in high school football. The program focuses primarily on the winless LI team coached by Rick Cameron and features footage from the traditional downtown pep rally held on the eve of the contest, scenes from the pregame LI locker room, and game action shot at St. Johnsbury’s Fairbanks Field. 

   “I was an admitted novice when I took on this ambitious program and it certainly shows at times as the video equipment I used was pretty subpar and the production values are not what you would expect in this day and age,” said Dickerman this week. “Still, I think it’s very refreshing (and personally rewarding) to revisit this longtime rivalry game and to again see the many LI student-athletes who participated in what is usually the most anticipated sporting event in the Northeast Kingdom.”

   The special viewing of “Two Days in November” will take place on Tuesday, October 17, at 6 p.m. in the Lyndon Institute Auditorium and will include remarks by Dickerman, who will provide added background information about the program and how it originally came about. The showing will be held in conjunction with the Lyndon Historical Society’s monthly meeting and the public is invited to attend free of charge.