Written by John McElligott
Starman was long gone since finishing Little League baseball with the Western League losing to the Central League in the All Star game. Last batter hit a home run to win by one run in the bottom of the 6th inning. I was floored. The latter part of that summer I spent in the hospital. Then on to Alamo Jr. High.
Lance McIntyre was not only the quarterback on the football team (along with Tommy Clark and Glen Davis), but the brains in the advanced classes at Alamo. Somehow I was put in the advanced classes, and after a few days I requested to be returned to the “dumbass” classes. The school said, “OK”. There, I was reunited with Paul Shepard, who also rode the bus from Pegasus Road, but was as equally dumb and funny.
Everyday Larry Mitchell and Teddy Bisbee would set the style with their shoes and hair cuts. And everyday I got to sit next to Karen Goodrich in home room. Also, everyday I would run the class bully, Willy Massey, to near collapse since he could never catch me. I would hit him hard and run like the devil across campus. We later became friends when Janna, his sister, expressed a bit of romance towards me, but she was not a chime ringer.
Now, I did meet Cathy Blackaller. She rocked my world and she taught me how to dance at Club 15. This spilled over to the next year.
The band was a real treat. I met people who I had never met before. I got to sit on the bus with girls who were very snugly, and I always found them again on the next trip. Sitting in the bleachers with a snugly band girl was great and most likely the same as described above.
John Duff Chesney played more instruments and was a Student Director the next year. Yep, The Duffer , did it all.
I played my first and only year of Pony League Baseball.
Somehow I passed and went on to the 9th grade.
The summer was swimming, raking rocks at the post office and washing cars.