Some time back Jean Cagle said I ought to write a blog on our youth choir tours. At her request here's an atempt at that. Some of the early ones may run together, so there may be some problems with accuracy, at least pertaining to what year it was.
Although youth choir existed prior to Don Roe becoming our minister of music, it really wasn't well attended until he came. Where there may have been 10 or 12 before, now there were 30. The summer after 9th grade, we took our first choir tour and used the church bus. It was really basically a school bus painted white and it drank oil like crazy. Don Roe drove the bus and that in itself is another story.
Most of the older kids didn't go on the tour, they had summer jobs. I think the only two seniors to go were Pam Vandiver and Carol Brewster. It was good that Pam went because she could be the entire soprano section by herself. I think she went to college at Indiana on a music scholarship and became a big basketball fan. Bobby Knight was the coach and there were winning championships. Anyway, I digress. The older kids, especially the boys, didn't go on the tour and that left the younger guys my age as the oldest group of boys. The tour was to Oklahoma and Kansas.
We were all assigned different duties on the bus. Jerry McKinney, Mike Manire, and Gary were the oil gang. There job was to lug a 5-gallon can of oil from the back of the bus to the front of the refill the engine oil that had leaked or burned away. You got to the engine by lifting a cover insude the bus by the driver. It wasn't outside. Don would holler at the oil gang to get ready and while the bus was still running they would lift the cover off the engine. Then, as we topped a hill Don would shut off the engine and we'd coast downhill. The oil gang would open the oil cap on the engine and start pouring in oil. They did this several times during the trip and would also have to add oil when we stopped for gas.
I was on the gas pumping crew and, I think, on the baggage crew. The gas crew would fill the tank when we stopped for gas and clean the windshield. The baggage crew would load and unload the luggage. There was also a cleanup crew to keep the bus clean and a crew to pass out programs at our concerts. After the concerts we would always have a fun and fellowship time.
My group had a bottle band. Different kinds of bottles were partially filled with water to create a particular note when you blew on them. Most folks played 2 or 3 bottles. I had a big gallon ceramic jug that played the bass note. It looked like a moonshiner's jug so I will always come in late and acting like I was drunk from drinking too much from the jug. Some of the people at the Kansas air force base whre we played were offended by my playing drunk. Drunkedness was a real problem on the base and they didn't think it was proper for me to make fun of it. Anyway, we played a couple of songs and were really pretty good. The finale of the fellowship program was always The Grasshopper Opera. You heard it at my birthday party. On tour that year, I think, Pam played the soprano part, Mrs. Faris did the alto, Don was the tenor, and Al Remette was the bass. They always played like the tenor didn't show up and they had to recruit someone from the audience. Don was the "recruit" and acted like a complete hayseed hillbilly, not a difficult part for him to play. Carol Brewster was the accompanist.
Some things I remember from the tour were that I roomed with Mark Strickland. I was little as a 9th grader but he was itty bitty as a 7th grader. He was always asking me questions about girls. We stopped in Oklahoma City at the amusement park to spend one day. In the parking lot was a brand new cadillac convertible all immaculate and shiny with the top down on the gravel parking lot. Mark and I went over to look at it. As we were looking at it a black guy came up from behind us and said, "Go ahead and put your hands inside the car." We hesitated but he said, "It's OK, it's my car." So, we put our hands in on the steering wheel and the seats. As soon as we stuck our hands inside the car the horn started blasting and the lights started flashing. The guy quickly came over and turned it off. I remember him saying he lived in Chicago and a car without an alarm system would be spare parts in minutes if you didn't have an alarm system.
On the way home I spent a lot of time with Betty Brewster in the back of the bus. Johnny Roe was with Jean Osburn (Cagle). We stopped at a watermelon field somewhere around the Oklahoma border and Denton. Everyone paid a dollar to go into the field and bust open a watermelon or two or three and eat the heart of the melon right there in the field. We had no spoons or forks or towels, so our hands got real messy while we were doing that. Johnny and Jean decided to go back to the bus and, in doing so, Jean cut her leg on the barbed-wire fence. It was bleeding so everyone had to get out of the field and onto the bus. We took Jean to the emergency room at the Denton hospital before we went home. She got a few stitches and was fine but we had to wait around for an hour or two while it was getting done.
All in all, choir tour was a blast and everyone wanted to go again the next year. Kids still got summer jobs but they made sure they could get off for tour. It was a big boost to attendance.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Our first apartment
Our first apartment was in the Komohana Apartments on West Division Street directly across from the C-J. It was a one bedroom apartment that faced out onto Border Street (now UTA Blvd). It cost $130 a month and included paid utilities.
I was making $2.00 an hour, $80 a week gross and about $65 net of taxes. Kay Ellen had her UTA job and was teaching piano from our apartment. She made as much as I did, possibly more. We had one car, a yellow 4-door Ford Custom that my parents had given me before we got married. Fortunately, they also paid my car insurance as a wedding present for the remainder of that year.
The last semester we registered for classes, I had to close the savings account I had started as a small child and withdraw all the money to pay for my tuition. I think it was $120.
While we were at the Komohana's we got a little black daschund puppy. We named him Blackjack. Blackjack and I would go over to the Swift Elementary (now UTA Nursing school) building basketball court and I would shoot baskets as he ran around on the asphalt court. We also rolled down the hill and basically had a good time.
I almost killed Blackjack one night when we got home from going out to eat and to a movie with Gary and Carolyn. We had just bought a brand new hide-a-bed couch. At dinner Carolyn told us how a puppy she knew had chewed up a new couch. When we got home the fabric was ripped up on one of the arms. I threw Blackjack across the room and yelled at him, grabbed him, stuffed his nose into the torn couch, and threw him again. In later months he also tore up the carpet in front of the glass sliding doors waiting for us to come home. We got our deposit back only because they had promised us new carpet and hadn't put it in yet.
We stayed in the Komohana's 6 months before moving to a "higher caliber" 2-bedroom apartment at the corner of Mitchell and Cooper. Those apartments were later condemned and torn down. UTA rebuilt student aprtment housing there. We were there a year before getting our first house on Briarwood, where Granny and Daddy Don are now.
Jessica and Cindy, I hope these last 2 posts tell you a little of what you wanted to know about how Kay and I met and our first year or so of marriage. If not, I'll try to elaborate in a later post.
I was making $2.00 an hour, $80 a week gross and about $65 net of taxes. Kay Ellen had her UTA job and was teaching piano from our apartment. She made as much as I did, possibly more. We had one car, a yellow 4-door Ford Custom that my parents had given me before we got married. Fortunately, they also paid my car insurance as a wedding present for the remainder of that year.
The last semester we registered for classes, I had to close the savings account I had started as a small child and withdraw all the money to pay for my tuition. I think it was $120.
While we were at the Komohana's we got a little black daschund puppy. We named him Blackjack. Blackjack and I would go over to the Swift Elementary (now UTA Nursing school) building basketball court and I would shoot baskets as he ran around on the asphalt court. We also rolled down the hill and basically had a good time.
I almost killed Blackjack one night when we got home from going out to eat and to a movie with Gary and Carolyn. We had just bought a brand new hide-a-bed couch. At dinner Carolyn told us how a puppy she knew had chewed up a new couch. When we got home the fabric was ripped up on one of the arms. I threw Blackjack across the room and yelled at him, grabbed him, stuffed his nose into the torn couch, and threw him again. In later months he also tore up the carpet in front of the glass sliding doors waiting for us to come home. We got our deposit back only because they had promised us new carpet and hadn't put it in yet.
We stayed in the Komohana's 6 months before moving to a "higher caliber" 2-bedroom apartment at the corner of Mitchell and Cooper. Those apartments were later condemned and torn down. UTA rebuilt student aprtment housing there. We were there a year before getting our first house on Briarwood, where Granny and Daddy Don are now.
Jessica and Cindy, I hope these last 2 posts tell you a little of what you wanted to know about how Kay and I met and our first year or so of marriage. If not, I'll try to elaborate in a later post.
Kay Ellen and me
At Christmas, Emily gave all the families a copy of my posts. She wanted to compile a permanent record of my posts in case the web site changed owners, went out of business, or whatever and my posts couldn't be accessed. As I thanked her for the book I said I wasn't too sure how much Jessica or Cindy would like the posts, but Jessica surprised me said she enjoyed reading them. Then she asked, "I wished you would write some posts about how you and Kay Ellen met and how you decided that you were going to get married." Cindy agreed, so I decided I would do as my daughters-in-law had requested.
As I've often said, "Kay Ellen and I slept together long before we were married." According to Mrs. Caton, an old FBC church nursery worker now long deceased, we shared a nursery bed as babies. The church was growing so fast they had two babies to a bed and the were assigned alphbetically. I was the last of the G's and Kay Ellen was the first of the H's. I have no idea if the story is true, but that's the story Mrs. Kite told me shortly after we announcedd our engagement.
At Youth Camp when I was in the 8th grade I had a dream that I was going to marry Kay Ellen. We weren't in the same Sunday School department, school, or anything. we did nothing together, but I dreamed we were going to get married. I told some of my friends, Verne in particular, about it the next morning when I got up. So, it's not something I made up after we started dating. So, you could say ordained by God that Kay and I would one day marry.
Kay Ellen and I were opposites in a lot of ways. I was an athlete, more interested in basketball and other sports than music and the arts. I was mischievous. I cut up a lot in class, played pranks, ran through the halls, and slid down the banisters. Kay Ellen was cultured, a musician, quiet, and behaved. I was one grade ahead of her so we weren't in the same Sunday School department and we didn't go to the same school. It's a wonder we ever got together.
My first memories of her were in youth choir. She was a pretty, blond-haired girl with a pony tail. She had a nice smile but mostly ignored me and my friends. She'd always sort of look the other way as she walked past. She later claimed it was because she was shy and thought we were making fun of her.
The first time we really talked much was during Youth Camp after my junior year in high school. For some reason she, Martha Sue, and I would get together and talk. We always had a Sadie Hawkins Day when the girls would ask a boy to sit with them at dinner and at the service that night. Martha Sue and Kay Ellen asked me who I wanted to ask me. I told them Jeanne Ann Smith. As it got closer to Thursday night why I wanted her to get Jeanne Ann to ask me and not her. I told her I didn't think she would ever want to ask me. But, she did and she did. and we went to the dinner and service together and started dating when we got home.
Another of Kay Ellen's good friends was Jean Osburn. Her boyfriend was Greg Cagle. We started going on double dates with them. Kay Ellen got passes for Casa Manana from her daddy at the paper and we would go over there and see musicals every other week during the summer. We also went to movies and other stuff. Nothing really special except for the night Greg's car died and we ended up staying out real late. Anyway, we went out together all the time and grew to like one another more and more.
When school started we sort of broke up because we were going to different schools. I didn't think she would want to see Fort Worth Eastern Hills football games and I didn't want to miss them. I also didn't want to go to all the Arlington High games. The tradition then was to buy the girl a mum for every game. That was just too expensive! I did take her to the Arlington - Sam Houston game (and bought a mum). It was the first time the two schools had ever met in football. We doubled with Jean and Greg. They also promised to double with us when Eastern Hills played Sam Houston in basketball. They backed out but I did take Kay Ellen and had one of my best games of the season.
I asked Kay Ellen to go with me to the church Sweethwart Banquet but she turned me down. Instead, she asked Nick Dally to go with her and I went to the I.M. Terrell - L.D. Bell bi-district basketball playoff. As I remember, we essentially had two dates my entire senior year. I didn't go to my prom and started working in the C-J mailroom the last couple of months during the school year. Greg worked there too, so it is possible that we started double dating again during that period. I know we were together again at Youth Camp.
Jessica asked me how I knew that Kay Ellen was the one, and I really don't know. I know I liked her more than any girl I ever dated. I respected her more than any girl I ever dated. And, I simply wanted to date her more than any girl I ever dated. We continued to date throughout the summer.
When I went away to ETBC we agreed that we would both date other people. I had no car, so I couldn't come home on weekends. Plus, I was playing basketball, so I couldn't come home easily. Despite what we said, Kay Ellen got very upset that I went out with another gir the first weekend or so that I was down there.
We dated during the Christmas break. I also got a car a Christmas so I could come home more frequently. Kay Ellen came out to ETBC along with Martha Sue and my parents one weekend to see a game and Sue, Kay, and I drove home to Arlington after the game.
After basketball season was over I started coming home almost every weekend. Toward the middle of the semester I started cutting my Friday classes and coming home on Thursday. That continued until my History professor told me "one more absence and you flunk," no matter that my grades were in the 90's.
One of the classes I took the first semster was an Appreciation of the Arts. It was supposed to cover music, paintings, sculptures, etc., but the guy who taught it said he didn't know anything about paintings and sculptures and we were just going to do music. I took the class in part to learn more about classical music so I could relate more to KLN. I learned that the three B's of music weren't the Beatles, Beach Boys, and the Byrds but were instead Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven. I learned to recognize the name of the peice and composer simply by hearing small cuts of the piece. It was the hardest class I took my entire college career. I made a C, but I still can recognize Dvorak by his slashing style. The course compared to a Music History class required of music majors.
I knew while I was ar ETBC that Kay Ellen and I would one day get married. I also recognized that ETBC had little to offer me academically. You went to ETBC to be a preacher or a teacher. I wasn't going to be a preacher and I didn't think Kay Ellen would want to be a teacher/coach's wife, so I decide to come back to UTA. I later learned that KLN was prepared to go to ETBC to be in school with me.
We started talking about marriage during this time and I asked her to marry me around Christmas of my junior year. She said "yes" but I had to ask her daddy. I kinda wondered why I had to ask him, I wasn't marrying him, but I did it anyway. We got married in June 1971 after my junior year.
I had started working full time in the accounting offices of the Citizen-Journal in February before we got married. I made a whole $2.00 and hour. Kay Ellen had a work scholarship that paid her tuition and a bi-weekly paycheck for accompanying some of the UTA choirs. She was taking 20+ hours a semester so she could graduate early. One semester she registered for 24 hours but they said she could only take 21. She had to "drop" one of the classes she was being paid for. So, she was there and played for the choir anyway, but didn't get the academic credit. We both graduated in December 1972.
While I had graduated with honors from high school, it wasn't so in college. I made lots of B's and C's. Meanwhile, KLN who had not graduated from high school with honors did so in college.
As I've often said, "Kay Ellen and I slept together long before we were married." According to Mrs. Caton, an old FBC church nursery worker now long deceased, we shared a nursery bed as babies. The church was growing so fast they had two babies to a bed and the were assigned alphbetically. I was the last of the G's and Kay Ellen was the first of the H's. I have no idea if the story is true, but that's the story Mrs. Kite told me shortly after we announcedd our engagement.
At Youth Camp when I was in the 8th grade I had a dream that I was going to marry Kay Ellen. We weren't in the same Sunday School department, school, or anything. we did nothing together, but I dreamed we were going to get married. I told some of my friends, Verne in particular, about it the next morning when I got up. So, it's not something I made up after we started dating. So, you could say ordained by God that Kay and I would one day marry.
Kay Ellen and I were opposites in a lot of ways. I was an athlete, more interested in basketball and other sports than music and the arts. I was mischievous. I cut up a lot in class, played pranks, ran through the halls, and slid down the banisters. Kay Ellen was cultured, a musician, quiet, and behaved. I was one grade ahead of her so we weren't in the same Sunday School department and we didn't go to the same school. It's a wonder we ever got together.
My first memories of her were in youth choir. She was a pretty, blond-haired girl with a pony tail. She had a nice smile but mostly ignored me and my friends. She'd always sort of look the other way as she walked past. She later claimed it was because she was shy and thought we were making fun of her.
The first time we really talked much was during Youth Camp after my junior year in high school. For some reason she, Martha Sue, and I would get together and talk. We always had a Sadie Hawkins Day when the girls would ask a boy to sit with them at dinner and at the service that night. Martha Sue and Kay Ellen asked me who I wanted to ask me. I told them Jeanne Ann Smith. As it got closer to Thursday night why I wanted her to get Jeanne Ann to ask me and not her. I told her I didn't think she would ever want to ask me. But, she did and she did. and we went to the dinner and service together and started dating when we got home.
Another of Kay Ellen's good friends was Jean Osburn. Her boyfriend was Greg Cagle. We started going on double dates with them. Kay Ellen got passes for Casa Manana from her daddy at the paper and we would go over there and see musicals every other week during the summer. We also went to movies and other stuff. Nothing really special except for the night Greg's car died and we ended up staying out real late. Anyway, we went out together all the time and grew to like one another more and more.
When school started we sort of broke up because we were going to different schools. I didn't think she would want to see Fort Worth Eastern Hills football games and I didn't want to miss them. I also didn't want to go to all the Arlington High games. The tradition then was to buy the girl a mum for every game. That was just too expensive! I did take her to the Arlington - Sam Houston game (and bought a mum). It was the first time the two schools had ever met in football. We doubled with Jean and Greg. They also promised to double with us when Eastern Hills played Sam Houston in basketball. They backed out but I did take Kay Ellen and had one of my best games of the season.
I asked Kay Ellen to go with me to the church Sweethwart Banquet but she turned me down. Instead, she asked Nick Dally to go with her and I went to the I.M. Terrell - L.D. Bell bi-district basketball playoff. As I remember, we essentially had two dates my entire senior year. I didn't go to my prom and started working in the C-J mailroom the last couple of months during the school year. Greg worked there too, so it is possible that we started double dating again during that period. I know we were together again at Youth Camp.
Jessica asked me how I knew that Kay Ellen was the one, and I really don't know. I know I liked her more than any girl I ever dated. I respected her more than any girl I ever dated. And, I simply wanted to date her more than any girl I ever dated. We continued to date throughout the summer.
When I went away to ETBC we agreed that we would both date other people. I had no car, so I couldn't come home on weekends. Plus, I was playing basketball, so I couldn't come home easily. Despite what we said, Kay Ellen got very upset that I went out with another gir the first weekend or so that I was down there.
We dated during the Christmas break. I also got a car a Christmas so I could come home more frequently. Kay Ellen came out to ETBC along with Martha Sue and my parents one weekend to see a game and Sue, Kay, and I drove home to Arlington after the game.
After basketball season was over I started coming home almost every weekend. Toward the middle of the semester I started cutting my Friday classes and coming home on Thursday. That continued until my History professor told me "one more absence and you flunk," no matter that my grades were in the 90's.
One of the classes I took the first semster was an Appreciation of the Arts. It was supposed to cover music, paintings, sculptures, etc., but the guy who taught it said he didn't know anything about paintings and sculptures and we were just going to do music. I took the class in part to learn more about classical music so I could relate more to KLN. I learned that the three B's of music weren't the Beatles, Beach Boys, and the Byrds but were instead Bach, Brahms, and Beethoven. I learned to recognize the name of the peice and composer simply by hearing small cuts of the piece. It was the hardest class I took my entire college career. I made a C, but I still can recognize Dvorak by his slashing style. The course compared to a Music History class required of music majors.
I knew while I was ar ETBC that Kay Ellen and I would one day get married. I also recognized that ETBC had little to offer me academically. You went to ETBC to be a preacher or a teacher. I wasn't going to be a preacher and I didn't think Kay Ellen would want to be a teacher/coach's wife, so I decide to come back to UTA. I later learned that KLN was prepared to go to ETBC to be in school with me.
We started talking about marriage during this time and I asked her to marry me around Christmas of my junior year. She said "yes" but I had to ask her daddy. I kinda wondered why I had to ask him, I wasn't marrying him, but I did it anyway. We got married in June 1971 after my junior year.
I had started working full time in the accounting offices of the Citizen-Journal in February before we got married. I made a whole $2.00 and hour. Kay Ellen had a work scholarship that paid her tuition and a bi-weekly paycheck for accompanying some of the UTA choirs. She was taking 20+ hours a semester so she could graduate early. One semester she registered for 24 hours but they said she could only take 21. She had to "drop" one of the classes she was being paid for. So, she was there and played for the choir anyway, but didn't get the academic credit. We both graduated in December 1972.
While I had graduated with honors from high school, it wasn't so in college. I made lots of B's and C's. Meanwhile, KLN who had not graduated from high school with honors did so in college.
ETBC - tryouts for high schoolers
My last organized game on the ETBC court was high school tryout day.
During the second semester of college and after the season was over, I spent many hours down at the gym shooting, mostly by myself. Sometimes some other guys would be there and we'd play a game. James, my roommate, was getting heavily involved with Cathy Bartels so he had quit coming down to the gym. A couple of times, when we needed one more person to have enough for a game, we went to the girls dorm to find James and Cathy sitting in the large TV/living room talking. A lot of other couples and girls were in the room. We'd call out loudly, "Cathy, can James come out and play?" They got engaged that semester and I was the best man at their wedding the following spring.
Anyway, I digressed. I spent many hours down at the gym in the evenings dribbling and shooting. I'd have made up games and situations and play full court by myself. The gym was never locked. I'd just go in and turn on the circuit breakers for the lights over the court. I practiced so much that I could shoot from anywhere and put it in the basket. This was before the 3-point line, but, if it were there, I would have been shooting from beyond the NBA 3 and hitting well over 50%.
On the day of the tryouts there was a guard from Marshall High School. He had been an All-District quarterback in football as well as All-District in basketball. He thought he was pretty hot stuff and was in fact later given a full scholarship to ETBC for basketball. We were playing half court, make it - take it. I was above the top of the free throw circle and to the right, near or beyond the NBA 3 line. He was playing a few feet off of me protecting against a drive and never expecting me to shoot from that range. I received the ball, looked at him, looked at the basket, and shot. Swish! We got the ball again. Same place, same thing. Swish! "This is college, son," I told him. "People can shoot from here." We got the ball again and I was set up in the same place. This time when I got the ball he quickly came out on me. I drove around him in a flash, dribbled a few times, and laid the ball in for another easy two. "You gotta be able to guard me better than that to play college ball," I taunted him.
I was on fire. All the evenings of shooting on that floor was evident. I couldn't miss. After the tryouts were over and we were walking back into the dressing room the coach, R.C. Kennedy, came up to me, complimented me on my play and offered me a half scholarship if I came back the next year. By that time I already knew that I wasn't God's gift to basketball. I knew that ETBC had nothing to offer me educationally unless I was going to be a teacher/coach. And, I also knew that I was going to marry Kay Ellen and I didn't think she would want to be a coach's wife. One of Coach Kennedy's favorite phrases was "You gotta want to, son," so, I replied, "I don't want to, Coach."
And, thus endeth my college basketball career. Next post, at the request of Jessica and Cindy (mostly Jessica) will be about Kay Ellen and me dating and how we decided we should get married.
During the second semester of college and after the season was over, I spent many hours down at the gym shooting, mostly by myself. Sometimes some other guys would be there and we'd play a game. James, my roommate, was getting heavily involved with Cathy Bartels so he had quit coming down to the gym. A couple of times, when we needed one more person to have enough for a game, we went to the girls dorm to find James and Cathy sitting in the large TV/living room talking. A lot of other couples and girls were in the room. We'd call out loudly, "Cathy, can James come out and play?" They got engaged that semester and I was the best man at their wedding the following spring.
Anyway, I digressed. I spent many hours down at the gym in the evenings dribbling and shooting. I'd have made up games and situations and play full court by myself. The gym was never locked. I'd just go in and turn on the circuit breakers for the lights over the court. I practiced so much that I could shoot from anywhere and put it in the basket. This was before the 3-point line, but, if it were there, I would have been shooting from beyond the NBA 3 and hitting well over 50%.
On the day of the tryouts there was a guard from Marshall High School. He had been an All-District quarterback in football as well as All-District in basketball. He thought he was pretty hot stuff and was in fact later given a full scholarship to ETBC for basketball. We were playing half court, make it - take it. I was above the top of the free throw circle and to the right, near or beyond the NBA 3 line. He was playing a few feet off of me protecting against a drive and never expecting me to shoot from that range. I received the ball, looked at him, looked at the basket, and shot. Swish! We got the ball again. Same place, same thing. Swish! "This is college, son," I told him. "People can shoot from here." We got the ball again and I was set up in the same place. This time when I got the ball he quickly came out on me. I drove around him in a flash, dribbled a few times, and laid the ball in for another easy two. "You gotta be able to guard me better than that to play college ball," I taunted him.
I was on fire. All the evenings of shooting on that floor was evident. I couldn't miss. After the tryouts were over and we were walking back into the dressing room the coach, R.C. Kennedy, came up to me, complimented me on my play and offered me a half scholarship if I came back the next year. By that time I already knew that I wasn't God's gift to basketball. I knew that ETBC had nothing to offer me educationally unless I was going to be a teacher/coach. And, I also knew that I was going to marry Kay Ellen and I didn't think she would want to be a coach's wife. One of Coach Kennedy's favorite phrases was "You gotta want to, son," so, I replied, "I don't want to, Coach."
And, thus endeth my college basketball career. Next post, at the request of Jessica and Cindy (mostly Jessica) will be about Kay Ellen and me dating and how we decided we should get married.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
ETBC - part 3
The season was mostly uneventful. I played in every game I suited up for and started in some. I missed two road games, one due to injury and the other due to not packing my uniform. After having a missing uniform I required the manager to always pack an extra uniform whenever we took a road trip. It came in handy later in the season when Waymon didn't have his uniform in his bag when we got to the away gym. Here are some of the highlights I remember.
We played Tyler Junior College in Tyler. They won the national JUCO championship either that year or the next and were continually in the playoffs. They had scrimmaged our varsity prior to the season and had beaten them soundly. They had a 6'4" guard named Poo Welch who was supposed to be the second coming of Pete Maravich. In fact, he was signed to go to LSU but couldn't quailfy academically. He was averaging 35 points a game and I was assigned to guard him. He actually ended up at Houston after leaving Tyler. I "held" him to 25 points, primarily because he sat out the last 10 minutes of the game. They won 120-something to 40 or 50.
Tyler had a lot of height and a lot of great basketball players, mostly Division I caliber players who couldn't qualify academically. Playing in their gym with their referees was a nightmare. They didn't need the help but one hot dog referee was intent on giving it to them. If I breathed too hard near Welch a foul was called on me. When I blocked out and he came over my back for the rebound a foul was called on me. When they set a screen on me and I quickly rolled around it, getting between the screener and the basket so they didn't have an easy pick and roll, a foul was called on me. They ran a full court man press. I jab stepped and the defender jumped toward the feint. The referee had his back to the play but, when the crowd "oohed" due to the good move, he figured I must have travelled and blew the whistle. Sometimes on the foul call he would run across the floor and come sliding in on his knees, blowing his whistle to call the foul. He was a real showboat. Obviously, I fouled out. To give you an idea how totally overmatched we were follow this description of the last 17 seconds of the first half. "Tyler shoots, no good. Tip, no good. Tip again, no good. Tip up on the right side, no good. Tip front the left, no good. Tip again, no good." Over and over they tipped the ball from all sides of the rim until finally, "Tip in, good! And, that's the buzzer to end the half." They tipped the ball for 17 seconds with no one having control until it dropped in for the score.
In another game we were playing a 3/4 zone trap. The guy from Cushing was supposed to be playing the point on the press but he just couldn't figure it out. I was trying to tell him what to do but he couldn't do it. Finally, we swapped positions without asking the coach and we started running a successful trap and causing several turnovers.
As the season went along I found myself often playing a forward position against guys as big as 6'7". The only way I could compete was with elbows, hard fouls, and hitting them when the ref wasn't looking. I got tons of retaliation fouls called against the other team. In some respects I became the enforcer on our team because I could hit guys and get away with either no foul or a foul called on them, and I wasn't afraid to take them on.
One game late in the season was played in our gym. The other team had a real hot dog guard who mouthed off a lot and had scored a number of points. He had 20 points or so and they were winning about 70-60 with just a few seconds to go in the game. For some reason, they called time out to set up a play for one more score and that made us mad. By this time I was guarding the guy and all our players were encouraging me to deck him when play resumed. The ball was being inbounded right in front of their bench and they were obviously going to throw it into this guy. As the ref handed the ball to their player to inbound the ball I bellied up to my guy and grabbed his shorts with my left hand, hidden from the referee by our bodies. He felt me grab his shorts and tried to push off on my chest while he broke away for the pass. As he was pushing away I lifted his legs and lower body up by his shorts causing him to lose balance and fall. On my upward motion I released his shorts and showed an open hand in a defensive position. I had put him on his ear and the ref saw nothing. Their coach saw it all clearly and was screaming bloody murder. No foul was called and the remaining seconds ran off the clock with no other scores.
One thing I failed to note about the Tyler game occurred on the drive to the game. I was driving the coach's car with the a player sitting between the coach and me in the front seat and 3 guys in the back. I was telling them about Lee Shaw of IM Terrell and how he had to go to a small college because he only made a 4 on the ACT college entrance exam. The coach punched me and shook his head at me to be quiet. When we got to Tyler JC he told me there were guys in the car who didn't make that high a score!
With that kind of scholastic apptitude it is no wonder that only 6 guys were left eligible after grades came out. Joe, Donny, the soph Indiana guard, Frank, and and other guy (I think Waymon) and me were the only guys eligible. One road trip (Ouchita) was cancelled because they didn't have enough guys eligible to have a JV team and the team we played in the last game only had 5 eligible players.
We had played this team earlier in the year at their place and had beaten them 100-90, or something like that. One guy for sure and maybe more weren't on the team when we played them before. I think they picked them up so they wouldn't forfeit. The "new" guy was 5'7" and slow. He was supposed to guard me. On defense, we played a 1-2-2 zone and I played the position on the right side at the free throw line (left side from the offensive point of view). When the offense took the ball to the right offensive corner I slid down for the offside rebound. Over and over again they would take the ball to the right corner and shoot. The ball would bounce off the rim over to the offside where I would rebound it and head downcourt on the fastbreak. I scored 27 points with 20 rebounds and 20 assists. Our coach kept telling us to quit running up the score but we ignored him. We won 130-something to 40-something.
That ended my playing career at ETBC except for the tryout day for high school seniors. I'll tell you about that in another post.
We played Tyler Junior College in Tyler. They won the national JUCO championship either that year or the next and were continually in the playoffs. They had scrimmaged our varsity prior to the season and had beaten them soundly. They had a 6'4" guard named Poo Welch who was supposed to be the second coming of Pete Maravich. In fact, he was signed to go to LSU but couldn't quailfy academically. He was averaging 35 points a game and I was assigned to guard him. He actually ended up at Houston after leaving Tyler. I "held" him to 25 points, primarily because he sat out the last 10 minutes of the game. They won 120-something to 40 or 50.
Tyler had a lot of height and a lot of great basketball players, mostly Division I caliber players who couldn't qualify academically. Playing in their gym with their referees was a nightmare. They didn't need the help but one hot dog referee was intent on giving it to them. If I breathed too hard near Welch a foul was called on me. When I blocked out and he came over my back for the rebound a foul was called on me. When they set a screen on me and I quickly rolled around it, getting between the screener and the basket so they didn't have an easy pick and roll, a foul was called on me. They ran a full court man press. I jab stepped and the defender jumped toward the feint. The referee had his back to the play but, when the crowd "oohed" due to the good move, he figured I must have travelled and blew the whistle. Sometimes on the foul call he would run across the floor and come sliding in on his knees, blowing his whistle to call the foul. He was a real showboat. Obviously, I fouled out. To give you an idea how totally overmatched we were follow this description of the last 17 seconds of the first half. "Tyler shoots, no good. Tip, no good. Tip again, no good. Tip up on the right side, no good. Tip front the left, no good. Tip again, no good." Over and over they tipped the ball from all sides of the rim until finally, "Tip in, good! And, that's the buzzer to end the half." They tipped the ball for 17 seconds with no one having control until it dropped in for the score.
In another game we were playing a 3/4 zone trap. The guy from Cushing was supposed to be playing the point on the press but he just couldn't figure it out. I was trying to tell him what to do but he couldn't do it. Finally, we swapped positions without asking the coach and we started running a successful trap and causing several turnovers.
As the season went along I found myself often playing a forward position against guys as big as 6'7". The only way I could compete was with elbows, hard fouls, and hitting them when the ref wasn't looking. I got tons of retaliation fouls called against the other team. In some respects I became the enforcer on our team because I could hit guys and get away with either no foul or a foul called on them, and I wasn't afraid to take them on.
One game late in the season was played in our gym. The other team had a real hot dog guard who mouthed off a lot and had scored a number of points. He had 20 points or so and they were winning about 70-60 with just a few seconds to go in the game. For some reason, they called time out to set up a play for one more score and that made us mad. By this time I was guarding the guy and all our players were encouraging me to deck him when play resumed. The ball was being inbounded right in front of their bench and they were obviously going to throw it into this guy. As the ref handed the ball to their player to inbound the ball I bellied up to my guy and grabbed his shorts with my left hand, hidden from the referee by our bodies. He felt me grab his shorts and tried to push off on my chest while he broke away for the pass. As he was pushing away I lifted his legs and lower body up by his shorts causing him to lose balance and fall. On my upward motion I released his shorts and showed an open hand in a defensive position. I had put him on his ear and the ref saw nothing. Their coach saw it all clearly and was screaming bloody murder. No foul was called and the remaining seconds ran off the clock with no other scores.
One thing I failed to note about the Tyler game occurred on the drive to the game. I was driving the coach's car with the a player sitting between the coach and me in the front seat and 3 guys in the back. I was telling them about Lee Shaw of IM Terrell and how he had to go to a small college because he only made a 4 on the ACT college entrance exam. The coach punched me and shook his head at me to be quiet. When we got to Tyler JC he told me there were guys in the car who didn't make that high a score!
With that kind of scholastic apptitude it is no wonder that only 6 guys were left eligible after grades came out. Joe, Donny, the soph Indiana guard, Frank, and and other guy (I think Waymon) and me were the only guys eligible. One road trip (Ouchita) was cancelled because they didn't have enough guys eligible to have a JV team and the team we played in the last game only had 5 eligible players.
We had played this team earlier in the year at their place and had beaten them 100-90, or something like that. One guy for sure and maybe more weren't on the team when we played them before. I think they picked them up so they wouldn't forfeit. The "new" guy was 5'7" and slow. He was supposed to guard me. On defense, we played a 1-2-2 zone and I played the position on the right side at the free throw line (left side from the offensive point of view). When the offense took the ball to the right offensive corner I slid down for the offside rebound. Over and over again they would take the ball to the right corner and shoot. The ball would bounce off the rim over to the offside where I would rebound it and head downcourt on the fastbreak. I scored 27 points with 20 rebounds and 20 assists. Our coach kept telling us to quit running up the score but we ignored him. We won 130-something to 40-something.
That ended my playing career at ETBC except for the tryout day for high school seniors. I'll tell you about that in another post.
ETBC - part 2
The JV team at ETBC was made up of freshman and sophomores. There were about 12 players with all but two on some sort of scholarship. Some had a baseball/basketball scholarship or a golf/basketball scholarship, etc. Half were center/forwards and the rest guards.
Here are the descriptions of the players I remember. Frank was a 6'2" guard from Many, LA, a class A school. He was on a full scholarship and was a very good shooter. Bert West was a 6'3" guard/forward from a little town in Arkansas. He was a class B All State player and played center in high school. I think there were only about 10 boys in his entire high school. He was a great pure shooter and really nice guy. I think he is the basketball coach at ETBC now. Donny was a 6'3" guard from Pasadena, TX and a pretty good all around ball player. Joe Redfern was a big 6'4" center from Mt. Pleasant, TX, a 3A school. He was on a golf/basketball scholarship. He left after his freshman year and went to SMU. He is now a big insurance guy in Mt. Pleasant. The last starter was a sophomore black kid named Waymon. He was 6'3", a good rebounder and defender, physcially strong, but not a very good shooter.
The center/forward subs were my Gomer Pyle-like suite mate, a 6'7" skinny center from class A Grapeland, TX. He was a much better guitar player/Johnny Cash singer than he was a basketball player - poor shot, poor defender, awkward and slow. The other center was a 6'5" skinny black kid I think named Charles. He was a sophomore, extremely nice, but only an average ball player. The other forward was a 6'3" black kid, extremely muscled and great jumper who had never played on a school team. He was a fabulous athlete but not a basketball player. He was the other walk-on. There was one other guy that had been given a full scholarship. He was a 6'3" black center from Chicago. His coach had played at ETBC and recommended him. He couldn't handle the cultural differences. He was used to the big city and dating white girls. That was definitely not Marshall, TX in 1968, so he went home after a few weeks.
The subs at guard included a 6'2" sophomore from Indiana, an overall decent player, and a nice guy. There was also a guy named Easterling from another small school in Arkansas. He was 6'3" with big buck teeth and was on a track/basketball scholarship. I beat him in the 880 at the track meet, his specialty. He played guard/forward. The last guy besides me was a 5'9" black kid from class A Cushing, TX. He was a good jumper and agressive defensive player but an inconsistent shooter and ball handler. He was a baseball/basketball scholarship guy. Lastly, you had me, a 5'11" guard from a big school, the only one besides Donny. Of course, I thought I should have been starting.
Quite honestly, I wasn't a better player than the guys starting but I knew more about basketball. Some of these guys had never played any sort of zone defense, much less half-court or full-court zone presses, traps, etc. With me on the court I could direct them where they were supposed to be, so it made the team better.
A week before our first game we had a game-like scrimmage at Jacksonville Junior College. The 6'3" guard from whom I had stolen the ball several times during the ETBC tryout was playing for them. They also had a 7-footer. Late in the game I beat the guard at the top of the key and started down the lane. With the 7-footer coming toward me I stopped at the free throw line for a jump shot. I never got it off. The 7-footer hit his knee to my right knee as it was planted for the jump. I crumpled to the floor and had never hurt so badly.
They basically did nothing for my knee. No ice, no nothing. It swelled up overnight so badly I couldn't sleep. The next morning I was sent to a doctor. X-rays showed nothing torn so they drained my knee by sticking me with the huge syringe and drawing out the excess fluid. Even though I had been given a local anesthetic it hurt like heck every time he bumped the needle into one of the bones. I was given some crutches and told to stay off of the leg for a week. 25 year later I had surgery to remove a bone splinter that had calcified into an object the size of your little finger. I know it was from that injury.
The first game fell on the last day of the period I was supposed to stay off the leg, but I wanted to play anyway. So, I suited up and had my knee wrapped with tape and an ace bandage. We were playing Louisiana Tech. They were much taller than us and we stayed 8-10 points behind. The closest I got to the game was marking shots and turnovers on a clipboard until there was about 2 minutes to go in the game. We were down by 8 and the coach asked me if I wanted to play. I said "Heck yeah! I didn't suit up to do nothing."
I went in as the point guard. They were playing a man defense. We ran a motion offense with a set pattern. Obviously, after running it the whole game the defenders knew where we were supposed to go and started cheating there. I was supposed to pass it into the center, go into the center of the lane, and try to rub off the defender for a possible pass back and a jump shot on the right side, free throw line extended. I passed it in but, instead of going down the lane, I went directly to the shooting spot. My defender went where I was supposed to go and left me with an open 18-footer which I promptly swished. They missed there shot and we got the rebound. I was dribbling at the left side of the top of the key when I noticed the lane was open. Our center had moved over to the right of the lane at the free throw line to set up our offensive pattern. Instead of setting up the standard offense I quickly drove by my guy, down the lane, and laid it in. We had cut the lead to 4 with more than a minute to go. Their coach quickly called time out.
Up in the stands James Hoffpauir, my roommate, was sitting with a couple of his upper classmen friends in front of the sportswriter for the newspaper. "Where has this guy been all game?" the sportswriter asked. One of James' friends said, "He suffers from big school disease. He went to a 4A school and didn't make All District so he can't be as good as the 1A or B guys." The sportswriter had heard that before and just nodded his head.
Here are the descriptions of the players I remember. Frank was a 6'2" guard from Many, LA, a class A school. He was on a full scholarship and was a very good shooter. Bert West was a 6'3" guard/forward from a little town in Arkansas. He was a class B All State player and played center in high school. I think there were only about 10 boys in his entire high school. He was a great pure shooter and really nice guy. I think he is the basketball coach at ETBC now. Donny was a 6'3" guard from Pasadena, TX and a pretty good all around ball player. Joe Redfern was a big 6'4" center from Mt. Pleasant, TX, a 3A school. He was on a golf/basketball scholarship. He left after his freshman year and went to SMU. He is now a big insurance guy in Mt. Pleasant. The last starter was a sophomore black kid named Waymon. He was 6'3", a good rebounder and defender, physcially strong, but not a very good shooter.
The center/forward subs were my Gomer Pyle-like suite mate, a 6'7" skinny center from class A Grapeland, TX. He was a much better guitar player/Johnny Cash singer than he was a basketball player - poor shot, poor defender, awkward and slow. The other center was a 6'5" skinny black kid I think named Charles. He was a sophomore, extremely nice, but only an average ball player. The other forward was a 6'3" black kid, extremely muscled and great jumper who had never played on a school team. He was a fabulous athlete but not a basketball player. He was the other walk-on. There was one other guy that had been given a full scholarship. He was a 6'3" black center from Chicago. His coach had played at ETBC and recommended him. He couldn't handle the cultural differences. He was used to the big city and dating white girls. That was definitely not Marshall, TX in 1968, so he went home after a few weeks.
The subs at guard included a 6'2" sophomore from Indiana, an overall decent player, and a nice guy. There was also a guy named Easterling from another small school in Arkansas. He was 6'3" with big buck teeth and was on a track/basketball scholarship. I beat him in the 880 at the track meet, his specialty. He played guard/forward. The last guy besides me was a 5'9" black kid from class A Cushing, TX. He was a good jumper and agressive defensive player but an inconsistent shooter and ball handler. He was a baseball/basketball scholarship guy. Lastly, you had me, a 5'11" guard from a big school, the only one besides Donny. Of course, I thought I should have been starting.
Quite honestly, I wasn't a better player than the guys starting but I knew more about basketball. Some of these guys had never played any sort of zone defense, much less half-court or full-court zone presses, traps, etc. With me on the court I could direct them where they were supposed to be, so it made the team better.
A week before our first game we had a game-like scrimmage at Jacksonville Junior College. The 6'3" guard from whom I had stolen the ball several times during the ETBC tryout was playing for them. They also had a 7-footer. Late in the game I beat the guard at the top of the key and started down the lane. With the 7-footer coming toward me I stopped at the free throw line for a jump shot. I never got it off. The 7-footer hit his knee to my right knee as it was planted for the jump. I crumpled to the floor and had never hurt so badly.
They basically did nothing for my knee. No ice, no nothing. It swelled up overnight so badly I couldn't sleep. The next morning I was sent to a doctor. X-rays showed nothing torn so they drained my knee by sticking me with the huge syringe and drawing out the excess fluid. Even though I had been given a local anesthetic it hurt like heck every time he bumped the needle into one of the bones. I was given some crutches and told to stay off of the leg for a week. 25 year later I had surgery to remove a bone splinter that had calcified into an object the size of your little finger. I know it was from that injury.
The first game fell on the last day of the period I was supposed to stay off the leg, but I wanted to play anyway. So, I suited up and had my knee wrapped with tape and an ace bandage. We were playing Louisiana Tech. They were much taller than us and we stayed 8-10 points behind. The closest I got to the game was marking shots and turnovers on a clipboard until there was about 2 minutes to go in the game. We were down by 8 and the coach asked me if I wanted to play. I said "Heck yeah! I didn't suit up to do nothing."
I went in as the point guard. They were playing a man defense. We ran a motion offense with a set pattern. Obviously, after running it the whole game the defenders knew where we were supposed to go and started cheating there. I was supposed to pass it into the center, go into the center of the lane, and try to rub off the defender for a possible pass back and a jump shot on the right side, free throw line extended. I passed it in but, instead of going down the lane, I went directly to the shooting spot. My defender went where I was supposed to go and left me with an open 18-footer which I promptly swished. They missed there shot and we got the rebound. I was dribbling at the left side of the top of the key when I noticed the lane was open. Our center had moved over to the right of the lane at the free throw line to set up our offensive pattern. Instead of setting up the standard offense I quickly drove by my guy, down the lane, and laid it in. We had cut the lead to 4 with more than a minute to go. Their coach quickly called time out.
Up in the stands James Hoffpauir, my roommate, was sitting with a couple of his upper classmen friends in front of the sportswriter for the newspaper. "Where has this guy been all game?" the sportswriter asked. One of James' friends said, "He suffers from big school disease. He went to a 4A school and didn't make All District so he can't be as good as the 1A or B guys." The sportswriter had heard that before and just nodded his head.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
ETBC - part 1
Fall of 1968 found me in Marshall, Texas entering East Texas Baptist College. My main purpose of going to ETBC was to play basketball and get away from home for a while. ETBC had a record enrollment that year with about 600 students and they had no football team, so basketball was the sports king.
I think everyone should go away to school for a least a year. It's good for you to be on your own a little and face new challenges. ETBC was a somewhat protected atmosphere since it was a small Baptist school that took the word "Baptist" seriously in its rules and campus life. For example, they rescinded the scholarship on the freshman starting guard I had met because he shacked up with a girl from the school one weekend.
Chapel met on Tuesdays and Thursday and attendance was mandatory. Seats were assigned and the roll checked. An unexcused absence was 5 demerits, 25 demerits got you expelled from school. You could also get demerits for a dirty room, being too loud in the dorm, or using the fire escape as regular stairs.
I was assigned the last room on the second floor of the northeast corner of Fegan Hall, the primary dorm residence for men. The room was about 10 x 14 with two built-in single beds taking up the entire east wall. The room also had two small 3x3 closets, some built-in drawers with a counter top and mirror on the west wall and a small bathroom with shower that was shared with an adjoining room. It also had two small wooden tables and chairs to use as a desk. Just outside my room was the fire escape exit. The regular stairs were in the middle of the building, a long way away.
Initially, I had no roommate which I thought was good. The room was so small I could use the extra room and there was no bookcase on the north wall as there was in the other rooms. It had a window instead, since it was the outside wall of the building. That provided better ventilation since it also was not air conditioned. I chose the bed that had the cross ventilation.
My suite mates were both freshman scholarship basketball players. Donny was a 6'3" guard from Pasadena, TX and a 6'7" Gomer Pyle clone from Grapeland, TX. Donny was the only other 4A school player besides me. Grapeland was a class 1A school. The Grapeland guy was tall, skinny, and awkward. He also played a guitar and sang Johnny Cash songs. He was pretty good at that, if you liked country music. I wasn't a country music fan at that time.
After a few days I was convinced that I wasn't going to have a roommate until I came in after class and found some clothes thrown on the extra bed along with a Bible and some theology books. "Oh no, " I thought. "I'm going to get stuck with a preacher." Essentially, you went to ETBC to be a preacher or teacher. They didn't offer much of anything else.
James Hoffpauir was a preacher allright, but he was also a former class 3A All-State basketball player at Sillsbee, TX. He had played one year on scholarship at Lamar University until he had a conversion experience, felt called to preach, and transferred to ETBC. He did not play basketball at ETBC. He was about 5'9", had long thinning floppy hair on the top of his head, and a country drawl that would quit. We became great friends.
He was a preacher but didn't wear it on his sleeves. He wasn't pompous or sanctimonious or "holier than thou". He was just a good guy. He was a junior who had been engaged to be married and scheduled to live in the married housing area, but he broke the engagement and didn't get married. He gave me, and I still have, the Bible his fiancee had given him. We played a lot of basketball together. He also taught me how to bowl. (He had come within 4 pins of qualifying for the PBA tour.) He also taught me some life lessons that I still remember and practice today. I had the honor of being his Best Man when he got married a year later to Cathy Bartels. Sometimes, when James was at the girl's dorm visiting with Cathy, Ricky Hargrave and I would go over there and ask Cathy, "can James come out and play?"
Registration for classes was done on a seniority basis, except they let the basketball players inside the building early and the coaches let us into the registration room well ahead of our assigned space. They also visited with us and told us which classes and teachers to take and which teachers to avoid. One of the required classes was "Appreciation of the Arts" and was taught by two different teachers. They said to avois one guy at all costs but his class time matched what I needed to I took him.
I think everyone should go away to school for a least a year. It's good for you to be on your own a little and face new challenges. ETBC was a somewhat protected atmosphere since it was a small Baptist school that took the word "Baptist" seriously in its rules and campus life. For example, they rescinded the scholarship on the freshman starting guard I had met because he shacked up with a girl from the school one weekend.
Chapel met on Tuesdays and Thursday and attendance was mandatory. Seats were assigned and the roll checked. An unexcused absence was 5 demerits, 25 demerits got you expelled from school. You could also get demerits for a dirty room, being too loud in the dorm, or using the fire escape as regular stairs.
I was assigned the last room on the second floor of the northeast corner of Fegan Hall, the primary dorm residence for men. The room was about 10 x 14 with two built-in single beds taking up the entire east wall. The room also had two small 3x3 closets, some built-in drawers with a counter top and mirror on the west wall and a small bathroom with shower that was shared with an adjoining room. It also had two small wooden tables and chairs to use as a desk. Just outside my room was the fire escape exit. The regular stairs were in the middle of the building, a long way away.
Initially, I had no roommate which I thought was good. The room was so small I could use the extra room and there was no bookcase on the north wall as there was in the other rooms. It had a window instead, since it was the outside wall of the building. That provided better ventilation since it also was not air conditioned. I chose the bed that had the cross ventilation.
My suite mates were both freshman scholarship basketball players. Donny was a 6'3" guard from Pasadena, TX and a 6'7" Gomer Pyle clone from Grapeland, TX. Donny was the only other 4A school player besides me. Grapeland was a class 1A school. The Grapeland guy was tall, skinny, and awkward. He also played a guitar and sang Johnny Cash songs. He was pretty good at that, if you liked country music. I wasn't a country music fan at that time.
After a few days I was convinced that I wasn't going to have a roommate until I came in after class and found some clothes thrown on the extra bed along with a Bible and some theology books. "Oh no, " I thought. "I'm going to get stuck with a preacher." Essentially, you went to ETBC to be a preacher or teacher. They didn't offer much of anything else.
James Hoffpauir was a preacher allright, but he was also a former class 3A All-State basketball player at Sillsbee, TX. He had played one year on scholarship at Lamar University until he had a conversion experience, felt called to preach, and transferred to ETBC. He did not play basketball at ETBC. He was about 5'9", had long thinning floppy hair on the top of his head, and a country drawl that would quit. We became great friends.
He was a preacher but didn't wear it on his sleeves. He wasn't pompous or sanctimonious or "holier than thou". He was just a good guy. He was a junior who had been engaged to be married and scheduled to live in the married housing area, but he broke the engagement and didn't get married. He gave me, and I still have, the Bible his fiancee had given him. We played a lot of basketball together. He also taught me how to bowl. (He had come within 4 pins of qualifying for the PBA tour.) He also taught me some life lessons that I still remember and practice today. I had the honor of being his Best Man when he got married a year later to Cathy Bartels. Sometimes, when James was at the girl's dorm visiting with Cathy, Ricky Hargrave and I would go over there and ask Cathy, "can James come out and play?"
Registration for classes was done on a seniority basis, except they let the basketball players inside the building early and the coaches let us into the registration room well ahead of our assigned space. They also visited with us and told us which classes and teachers to take and which teachers to avoid. One of the required classes was "Appreciation of the Arts" and was taught by two different teachers. They said to avois one guy at all costs but his class time matched what I needed to I took him.
Under him, Appreciation of the Arts was not a gimme easy arts survey course. He had 5 different masters of music degrees and had completed the work to get his doctorate in all of them. However, he didn't want to be called "Doctor" so he never took the final oral exam. He also always wore two watches. It seems he was behind enemy lines in Korea and his squad was supposed to get to a pickup point by a certain time. He was the squad leader and his watch broker. Evidently, no one else had a watch. They were late getting to the pickup point and got there in time to watch the rescue helicopters fly away and had to spend another night behind enemy lines. So, you can tell he was a little bit eccentric. He said he wasn't qualified to teach anything about painting and sculpting. He knew music and was going to teach music. He taught a course equivalent to a Music History course required for music majors. We had to be able to listen to snippets of songs and identify the song and composer. If we spelled the composer's name wrong we got no credit for the answer. We also had to recognize when new instruments were introduced to the orchestra. I brownie points one day in class by recognizing what was not authentic in a record of a 17th century piece. I recognized they were using an electric organ instead of a pipe organ. Miss Ellis always gave me extra points for taking this course so that I could relate to Kay Ellen more. I never told her it was a required course.
I also took an idiot's math course. It transferred to UTA as College Algebra but it was really a simple, almost remedial high school math course. A couple of weeks into the class I realized that I didn't really need the book and I could save some money if I took the book back. Unfortunately, it had been 2 weeks and 1 day since I bought the book and I could only get a full refund in I had taken it back within 2 weeks. I kept the book but usually took the Dallas Morning News to class, when I went. I'd also go 20-30 minutes late for the hour and twenty minute class. When Mr. Jimerson would take roll at the start of class and I wasn't there he often say, "Well, Mr Goodyear will probably show up in a litle bit" and wouldn't mark me absent. When I got to 8 absences he erased them all and started over. Nine absences was supposed to be an automatic F. I made a 92 in the class.
Basketball practice was just like the preseason practices at EHHS. We ran a couple of miles before we got to go in and start shooting and working on basketball drills. The coach asked me if I had run track in high school. I told him no but did say I had been timed at 4:38 for the mile.
One Saturday morning early in the semester I got up at my usual 7:00am time, went up to the cafeteria, ate pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage with orange juice and milk, and went back to my dorm room and went back to sleep. At about 9am the team manager was knocking on my door. "Coach wants you down at the track field." He didn't say what for. I put on some jeans , t-shirt, and regular shoes. I also wore gym shorts under my jeans, just in case. When I got to the field the coach says, "You're in lane 4 running the mile." ETBC was having a dual track meet with LeTourneau College from Longview. "I don't have any track shoes" I said, but the manager reached in to the equipment bag and pulled some out that were my size. So, I got in lane 4 with no warm up to run the mile. I finished 2nd. "Can I go home now?" I asked. "No," the coach replied, you're going to run the 880 (1/2 mile) in a few minutes." 15 minutes later I ran the 880 and finished 1st with a time of 1:58. By then, I wanted to run in the mile relay. It was going to decide who would win the meet, but the coach wouldn't let me. He had some fat kid on a track scholarship who was supposed to be a sprinter. He would run in the slot I wanted. We lost as that kid got totally whipped on his leg. I still think we would have won if I had been allowed to run.
Well, enough about that. My next post will be about basketball season.
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