High School Basketball - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

High School Basketball

Congratulations to Loramie girls and Botkins boys for winning state basketball championships. What an accomplishment for both teams as well as a testament to the Shelby County Athletic League and Shelby County schools in general.

The long history of the athletic programs in the SCAL schools originated for the most part during the Great Depression when the federal government established the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and hired unemployed workers to build infrastructure projects like schools, libraries, roads and bridges. It was during this time that many of the Shelby County schools were built or expanded to include gymnasiums. Those old cracker box gyms written about in this previous blogpost provided the foundation for the time-honored athletic success of the SCAL.

Ft. Loramie's basketball program officially started when their old school pictured on the left with the fire escape was expanded with WPA-built classrooms and gymnasium on the right that opened in 1935. Altogether, the WPA built or expanded over 9000 school buildings and other infrastructure projects across the country, employing over 3.5 million people.

Prior to that time, I recall my dad telling about playing other teams from around the area in about 1930. They played in the upper level of Brucken’s Café and those initial games eventually led to the creation of Ft. Loramie’s basketball program and eventually the Shelby County Athletic League. After a recent meal at Brucken’s, my brother and I, along with our sons, climbed up to the Brucken’s upper level to see the setting for ourselves and to share the story with our sons. There were a lot of cracker box gyms prevalent back in the day, but upstairs at Brucken’s literally takes the cake!

The Shelby County Athletic League is very special. As evidence, here’s an impressive list of every Ohio state champion from the SCAL over its long history, starting out with the Russia Boys baseball in 1971:

Click To Expand

A few final points, the Pleiman boys, who starred in the Botkins state championship run, have Ft. Loramie roots!! Also, my niece, Lauren Francis, was a key member of the 2013 3200 meter relay State Championship team. As a member of the self-proclaimed inaugural County golf league, I’m still waiting patiently for a golf state championship for SCAL. What do you say, Ross Fiessinger? Learn from your grandpa; he’s the best!

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Uncle Gene - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Uncle Gene

My uncle Gene called me recently from his home in Sun City, Florida, where he lives with his lovely wife Pat pictured above. It was a beautiful night here in SW Florida, so he called just as the sun was setting. Uncle Gene is 92 years young and is my mother’s younger brother. He's the little guy on the right side of the bench in this 1937 family photo. My mother is in the back row, third from the left. Mom was 20 and Gene was 8.

Gene is in good health and as always, was in great spirits. He is the only family member in the photo still living, so he represents the last connection to my mother. I really enjoy the stories he tells about growing up on the farm in St. Patrick's. He told me his nickname for my mother was Mom, Jr. as she was the designated baby sitter for Gene and his younger brother Pat seated on the left end of the bench.

Here they are riding a horse drawn sled in 1943. The two youngsters would be given their weekly bath by my mother, and Gene recalls always imploring my mother that he really wasn’t that dirty and could hold off on the bath for another week. But Mom, Jr did not relent so into the tub he went.

One of my fondest memories of Gene was at his wedding to his first wife Liz from Coldwater as documented in this previous blogpost. Before marrying Liz, Gene graduated from the University of Dayton with a chemistry degree and also served in the Army during the Korean War. He and his six brothers are all honored at the Sun City War Memorial with a commemorative brick.

After their marriage, Gene and Liz moved to Chicago where he was in the perfume business where he could apply his chemistry degree; however, his gift of gab quickly got him promoted to the marketing department. Mom and my sisters loved the perfume samples (and the stories) he would bring home every time he visited.

On one of his visits, he also brought back his golf clubs, which us kids enjoyed whacking the ball around the farm yard. I was hooked on golf from that moment on as described in this blog. Years later, after retiring and moving to Sun City, Gene would host an annual golf outing for any relatives visiting Florida over the winter. He’d meticulously plan every phase of the weekend-long event, including the grand finale at the local Sun City German restaurant to celebrate a fun-filled weekend and our German heritage. Any of his nieces attending would be given special treatment, as literally he told every one of them multiple times, and still does to this day, that each was his favorite. Nephews not so much, especially when it came to golf competition!

Gene’s team always seemed to win as evidenced by these photos. What a ringer!

There was one year when I did take Gene's money, fortunately having been paired up with his wife Pat.

As the old saying goes, gambling money has no home - except in Gene’s pocket. Now you get some sense of why dad’s nickname for Gene was Slick!

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Lone Ranger & Tonto - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Lone Ranger & Tonto

While growing up, my favorite TV shows were westerns and my #1 show was the Lone Ranger. His sidekick was Tonto. Even though the TV series began in 1949 with 221 episodes over 8 seasons I can vividly recall the riveting pilot episode that got me hooked on the series as it was played at the beginning of each fall TV season on a Saturday morning. In the pilot, a group of six Texas Rangers were searching for the notorious Cavendish gang of outlaws when they were suddenly ambushed by them after being led into a blind canyon by a double crossing informant. Only one Ranger survived the massacre and he was nursed to health by a native American named Tonto who came upon the injured Ranger after the ambush.

Tonto also buried the five dead Rangers, including digging a fake sixth grave to deceive the bandits and any others who might return to the scene. Thus emerged the Lone Ranger, who along with his new sidekick Tonto, avowed to track down the villains who ambushed them. The two hour pilot ended with them bringing the bad guys to justice. The pair then decided to continue their joint efforts to track down other bad guys in the old West. Tonto’s name for the Lone Ranger was Kemo Sabe, which means trusted scout. His famous horse was named Silver.

The series actually began in 1933 as a radio show that Dad recalled listening to the episodes with his family around the big radio console in their living room. He claimed the way he imagined the characters in the radio show was very similar to those on the TV show.

Check out the opening segment of the TV show featuring the William Tell overture. And here’s Glen Campbell giving a tribute to the Lone Ranger during one of his concerts. The end of each episode had the Lone Ranger and Tonto riding off into the sunset after saving the day, with someone holding the Ranger’s trademark silver bullet asking “Who was that masked man?” High Ho Silver Away!

There was a 2013 Lone Ranger movie that was a flop at the box office, but I did see it and enjoyed the movie, especially the ending, William Tell overture and all.

The Lone Ranger's usage of silver bullets was satirized in an episode of Robot Chicken where after the Ranger expertly shoots a tin can in the air, Tonto laments that the amount of silver the Ranger thoughtlessly wasted could have bought enough food to feed Tonto's entire village for a year.

Couldn’t pass up including this Covid Mask Up ad photo featuring the pair. And recall when President Trump said wearing a mask made him look like the Lone Ranger!

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Art Garfunkel - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Art Garfunkel

Hello Darkness My Old Friend, the opening line of a memorable Simon and Garfunkel song inspired by their college roommate who went blind - reveals an untold story. One of my favorite songs of all time, Simon & Garfunkel's hit The Sound Of Silence with that famous opening line topped the US charts for weeks. I was reminded of this classic song when a friend recently sent a People Magazine article on the subject.

Sound of Silence was named among the 20 most performed songs of the 20th century, included in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and provided the unforgettable soundtrack to 1967 film classic The Graduate staring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.

But to one man The Sound Of Silence means much more than just a No 1 song on the radio with its poignant opening lines: "Hello Darkness my old friend, I've come to talk with you again."

Sanford "Sandy” Greenberg (right) is Art Garfunkel's best friend, and reveals that the song was a touching tribute to their undying bond, and the singer's sacrifice that saved Sandy's life when he unexpectedly lost his sight.

"He lifted me out of the grave," says Sandy, now aged 79, who recounts his plunge into sudden blindness, and how Art Garfunkel's selfless devotion gave him reason to live again.

Sandy and Arthur, as Art was then known, met during their first week as students at the prestigious Columbia University in New York.

"A young man wearing an Argyle sweater and corduroy pants and blond hair with a crew cut came over and said, 'Hi, I'm Arthur Garfunkel'," Sandy recalls.

They became roommates, bonding over a shared taste in books, poetry and music.

"Every night Arthur and I would sing. He would play his guitar and I would be the DJ. The air was always filled with music."

"Still teenagers, they made a pact to always be there for each other in times of trouble. "If one was in extremis, the other would come to his rescue," says Sandy. They had no idea their promise would be tested so soon. Just months later, Sandy recalls: "I was at a baseball game and suddenly my eyes became cloudy and my vision became unhinged. Shortly after that darkness descended." Doctors diagnosed conjunctivitis, assuring it would pass. But days later Sandy went blind, and doctors realized that glaucoma had destroyed his optic nerves.

Sandy was the son of a rag-and-bone man. His family, Jewish immigrants in Buffalo, New York, had no money to help him, so he dropped out of college, gave up his dream of becoming a lawyer, and plunged into depression. "I wouldn't see anyone, I just refused to talk to anybody, says Sandy. And then unexpectedly Arthur flew in, saying he had to talk to me. He said, 'You're gonna come back, aren't you?’ I said,: ‘No. There's no conceivable way.' He was pretty insistent, and finally said, 'Look, I don't think you get it. I need you back there. That's the pact we made together: we would be there for the other in times of crises. I will help you’."

Columbia University at night - NYC

Together they returned to Columbia University, where Sandy became dependent on Garfunkel's support. Art would walk Sandy to class, bandage his wounds when he fell, and even filled out his graduate school applications.

Garfunkel called himself "Darkness" in a show of empathy. The singer explained: "I was saying, 'I want to be together where you are, in the black'." Sandy recalls: "He would come in and say, 'Darkness is going to read to you now.' “Then he would take me to class and back. He would take me around the city. He altered his entire life so that it would accommodate me.”

Garfunkel would talk about Sandy with his high-school friend Paul Simon, from Queens, New York, as the folk rock duo struggled to launch their musical careers, performing at local parties and clubs. Though Simon wrote the song, the lyrics to The Sound of Silence are infused with Garfunkel's compassion as Darkness, Sandy's old friend.

Grand Central Station - NYC

Guiding Sandy through New York one day, as they stood in the vast forecourt of bustling Grand Central Station, Garfunkel said that he had to leave for an assignment, abandoning his blind friend alone in the rush-hour crowd, terrified, stumbling and falling. "I cut my forehead, says Sandy. I cut my shins. My socks were bloodied. I had my hands out and bumped into a woman's breasts. It was a horrendous feeling of shame and humiliation. I started running forward, knocking over coffee cups and briefcases, and finally I got to the local train to Columbia University. It was the worst couple of hours in my life."

Back on campus, he bumped into a man, who apologized. "I knew that it was Arthur's voice," says Sandy. For a moment I was enraged, and then I understood what happened: that his colossally insightful, brilliant yet wildly risky strategy had worked. Garfunkel had not abandoned Sandy at the station, but had followed him the entire way home, watching over him. Arthur knew it was only when I could prove to myself I could do it that I would have real independence, says Sandy. And it worked, because after that I felt that I could do anything."

"That moment was the spark that caused me to live a completely different life, without fear, without doubt. For that I am tremendously grateful to my friend." Sandy not only graduated, but went on to study for a master's degree at Harvard and Oxford.

While in Britain he received a phone call from his friend - and with it the chance to keep his side of their pact. Garfunkel wanted to drop out of architecture school and record his first album with Paul Simon, but explained: "I need $400 to get started. Sandy, by then married to his high school sweetheart, says: We had $404 in our current account. I said, 'Arthur, you will have your cheque.' "It was an instant reaction, because he had helped me restart my life, and his request was the first time that I had been able to live up to my half of our solemn covenant.”

The 1964 album, Wednesday Morning, 3 AM, was a critical and commercial flop, but one of the tracks was The Sound Of Silence, which was released as a single the following year and went to No 1 across the world. "The Sound Of Silence meant a lot, because it started out with the words 'Hello darkness' and this was Darkness singing, the guy who read to me after I returned to Columbia blind," says Sandy.

Simon & Garfunkel went on to have four smash albums, with hits including Mrs. Robinson, The Boxer, and Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Amazingly, Sandy went on to extraordinary success as an inventor, entrepreneur, investor, presidential adviser and philanthropist. The father of three, who launched a $3 million prize to find a cure for blindness, has always refused to use a white cane or guide dog. "I don't want to be 'the blind guy'," he says. "I wanted to be Sandy Greenberg, the human being.”

Presidents Ford and Carter with Sandy Greenberg

Six decades later the two men remain best friends, and Garfunkel credits Sandy with transforming his life. With Sandy, "my real life emerged," says the singer. "I became a better guy in my own eyes, and began to see who I was - somebody who gives to a friend. I blush to find myself within his dimension. My friend is the gold standard of decency. Says Sandy: I am the luckiest man in the world”. Sandy recently penned his memoirs not surprisingly entitled Hello Darkness, My Old Friend” as a tribute to Garfunkel.

After reading this remarkable story, take another listen to this memorable tune. Also check out this powerful 2016 version by Disturbed with 120 million views.

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Covid Vaccine - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Covid Shots

My wife and I were able to register on-line for both Covid vaccine shots while wintering here in Florida and were administered both shots (Moderna) this past month. Fortunately, the injections were no worse than the typical flu shot with the only side effect for me was minor arm soreness and for my wife the arm soreness and a headache for a day. The shot was much less fearful than the vaccinations I recall as a kid as described in this past blog. The most challenging part of the vaccine process was navigating the on-line sign-up process, which meant getting up at 6:00am to log into a Publix Pharmacy website via multiple devices and reloading the webpage every five seconds until one device got through and you could set up an appointment. First time we got shut out, but the second time worked. Once in, you can also sign up others, so I was able to get 7 others scheduled before all the time-slots were full. One friend and his wife had to go all the way across the state for their two shots.

On top of all that, just before our first shot was scheduled, a monkey wrench was thrown into the process limiting the vaccine to only Florida residents. As a result, we had to scramble to provide written proof of residency via two documents showing we were property owners in Florida and resided on the property, even though we maintain our primary residence in Michigan.

It was a huge relief to finally get the shots after almost a year since the pandemic began here in the US. Covid first came to our attention when President Trump blocked all travelers from China from entering the country on January 31, 2020. We’ve been extremely careful over that year, primarily by following the mask and social distance guidelines and by spending most of our time in the great outdoors when not in our home. I did have a Covid scare last summer that turned out negative as documented in this previous blogpost.

Outdoor activities over the year included most of the activities on the left in the above chart while avoiding those on the right. For example, we dined only at home, via curbside pick-up or at restaurants with outside seating. I played a lot of golf either by walking or using individual carts, and also enjoyed tennis, biking and walking.

Of course, we watched a lot of TV, mostly binge-watching Netflix shows and Trump’s nightly news conferences. Family get-togethers were unfortunately avoided, except a periodic one-day trip to Russia visiting my wife’s 91 year old Mother. Incidentally, she also has been given the vaccine recently after having successfully avoided contagion for over a year in somewhat isolation living at home.

She spent a lot of her pandemic time doing jigsaw puzzles from the large stock at the Russia Gathering Center. Fortunately, she’s safe, primarily thanks to the wonderful care provided by my wife’s siblings over that long year. However, a number of family members, primarily those who live in Shelby County, did get the virus, fortunately most had relatively minor cases, with only one overnight hospitalization.

As an engineer, I preferred to “follow the science” regarding the virus by staying on top of all the data that was published about the pandemic. Watching the trends in Ohio, Michigan and Florida were always first up in my daily routine to analyze Covid. This Johns-Hopkins Covid website was most useful. One study I followed throughout the year was an analysis by the Universities of Iowa and Illinois about a region involving adjacent counties in eastern Iowa and western Illinois about the virus trends in two states that had dramatically different approaches to control the virus. The region surrounds the Quad Cities of Davenport, and Bettendorf, Illinois and Moline and Rock Island, Iowa, each divided by the Mississippi River and the state line.

Illinois enacted one of the strictest lockdowns in the Country while Iowa had only minor restrictions. Yet the infection and death rate data does not show that much difference. On the other hand, the economic activity showed a huge difference with the Iowa side much better. Initial cursory conclusions assumed the Illinois lockdown minimal affect on stemming the virus; however, further research showed that the Iowa population essentially voluntarily locked themselves down to almost the same extent as the dictated shutdown in Illinois. This may be explained by the fact that both areas have essentially the same media providing coverage on the virus.

Similar results occurred with the contrasting approaches by Michigan dictating strict lockdowns and adjacent Indiana with few restrictions. Ditto for Florida versus California as described in this article. The peaks and valleys in the state-by-state data varied somewhat, with the strict lockdown approach showing more immediate impact but not sustainable longer term, while the more lenient areas took a little more time to react but were able to sustain the better levels longer. Plus the economic impact was much less severe in the less restrictive states. In monitoring the data and following the science, I never could figure out what Ohio's Covid approach was! Seemed like it was a flip-flop/knee-jerk approach especially this fall when cases and deaths peaked. But what do I know?

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