Tomorrow's "Together We Make Football" segment on TODAY features the story of south Texas area HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL teammates and Marines Harlon Block and Glen Cleckler.
In 1943, Block and Cleckler were two of eight Weslaco, Texas HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL players to graduate early and join the Marines. During a chance encounter on leave a few days before their deployment to Iwo Jima in 1945, Corporal Block handed Private Cleckler his cherished Marines ring, as he sensed he might not make it home. Weeks later, Block was IMMORTALIZED as one of the six men photographed in the famous flag-raising photo at Iwo Jima. Six days after, he was killed in action. Clecker, now 91, wore Block's ring every day before donating it to the Marine Military Academy just miles from their hometown. An Iwo Jima monument now graces the campus of Marine Military Academy, fifty yards from the south end zone of the stadium, and only a few feet away from the grave of Corporal Harlan Block. Sunday Night Football, television's No. 1 primetime show, continues this Sunday, Nov. 8, when the Dallas Cowboys host the Philadelphia Eagles. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET with Football Night in America, the most-watched studio show in sports.Videos