School Story:
Secondbaseman when Bob Karn was a first-year neophyte assistant coach under our one-year fill-in: dour business teacher "Sad" Paul Wenner. We lost to Cretin in Catholic state tourney.
The mythical "Jim Simpson" actually attended one of my classes . . . an elaborate hoax which provided years of entertainment: "Simpson, come back!" hollered at the classroom door . . . phantom footsteps pounding down the stairs of the old North Building . . . classmates rushing to the open windows and yelling "Simpson!" . . . the bewildered Father Tim Wenzel simply said, "Just let him go." Birth of a legend.
Witnessing a rebel student being physically slammed into a locker by an irate teacher ("Mad Jack") -- an indelible image
Larry Haws perched cross-legged atop his desk teaching Geometry in a basement classroom in the Old North building
Father Speiser ("Spike") ridiculing Brendan Doyle for artwork on his notebook: "Did you paint that with your toes?" Spike liked to remind of his experiences as a boxer.
Biology ogre Colonel William Lorimer III ("Picker") telling his all-boy 10th grade class about being laid up with a back injury and being warned to refrain from sexual activity without the threat of permanent damage: "Now you'll hear about sex being a good thing," said the Colonel, "but I can tell you it's not that good."
Watching in amazement as students dropped globules of mercury from Lorimer's upper floor windows and seeing them disappear as they struck the sidewalk below.
Driving in Dave Callahan's '65 Mustang to watch the Crusaders lose a football game at Sioux Falls O'Gorman which ended the 30+ game winning streak.
Watching Sister Paulette repeatedly get the long window rod out and attempting to close the top section of the big windows in Old North as Mark Conway continued to make subtle wind sounds.
Having Jerry Vos recruit me for keeping the shot charts for his state championship basketball team when we were juniors.
Sitting next to Tom Henry at the end of the B team (sophomore) basketball bench (we rarely got to play). I would cheer our good plays by yelling, "All right!" and Tom followed with, "Up tight, outta sight!" Coach Rich Chalmers, who smoked Camels on the bus rides to games, once abandoned us in the lockeroom at halftime in disgust. So, Bill Manthey and Gary Loven did the talking.
