Last OT--Season Starts!!

[SC in DC]

OK, I'm happy I found this treasure trove of memories for me---and maybe some of you. After I write this I'll be chucking my last yellowing, dog eared, flacking copy of the Xavier News. Thanks Mom and Dad for caring enough to keep all this. But as I turn 77 soon I think it's time to let it finally make its way to the trash bin.

I'll keep this one short except for my ending.

In probably the strangest bball game ever played between X and UC, the Frosh tied 89-89! And this game did go to a short OT. In the last 45 secs UC was up 87-82, but Jim Hengehold got an old fashion 3 pt play (oops, they weren't old fashion then!) and on a steal and OR Dave Lynch knotted it at 87 all. In a 3 min OT each team got a bucket and that was it! Why, because the varsity game was to begin. (I guess ESPN was trying to keep on schedule! ) Hengehold led all scorers with 38 points and a guy named Paul Weidner topped UC with 23.

Now I digress for a moment of my life. The next year, my soph, I started dating my future wife in nursing school from Good Sam. One of her best friends was from Cincy as was Paul Weidner, who was his boyfriend. So over time we went on many double dates and became good friends. We kept in touch for several years but we lived in MD and they married also and stayed in Cincy (just snail mail) Don't remember his full time job, but he started officiating all 3 major sports at the local hi-school level--moved to college level, and wound up as a long time NFL official. He was the replay official at Super Bowl LII (Philly beat the Pats).

FOUR SENIORS END CAGE CAREERS (Sports section headline)

Joe Geiger, Bob Pelkington, Ray Mueller and Tom Freppon will play their last game at the Fieldhouse against the Marquette Warriors (back in the day) and the game was televised by WCPO-TV, their first (and only) appearance on TV that season. (How many out of towners joined me over the years sitting in your car listening to static filled WLW broadcast the games)
Joe and "Pelk" were starters and Tom and Ray were contributors off the bench. Joe was a 1000 point club member (harder when you only played 3 yrs and no 3 pt shot) HE was clutch from the line and going into his last game was shooting a Xavier season record 51.1% of field goal attempts.
"Pelk" is a legend who led the nation in rebounds at 21.8 per game, pulling down 31 in a single game. He was drafted by the Sixers but didn't make team. Wound up as a tight end for some minor league football teams. (6' 7", 250lbs!)

Can't wait for tomorrow night even if I'm back at WLW (is it on?) But, X was good to me and I have had a good life, and while Xavier Bball brings joy to me and you guys still reading, as I reach closer to the end (I do hope I get to see Ward and Craft) I realize that we are living in turbulent times and this GREAT country needs to get its ***** together. Remember, ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL! We need to listen to each other and not hate each other. So I guess I'm getting sappy in my old age but I'll leave you with this story and show how there is more then one way to go dancing. God Bless, and let's go X!!

I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. 'Just a minute', answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90's stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940's movie.
By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.
There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.
'Would you carry my bag out to the car?' she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.
She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. 'It's nothing', I told her.. 'I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.'
'Oh, you're such a good boy,’ she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, 'Could you drive
through downtown?'
'It's not the shortest way,' I answered quickly..
'Oh, I don't mind,' she said. 'I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice.’
I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. 'I don't have any family left,' she continued in a soft voice.. ‘The doctor says I don't have very long.' I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.
'What route would you like me to take?' I asked.
For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator.
We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she'd ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.
As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, 'I'm tired. Let's go now'.
We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.
Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move.
They must have been expecting her.
I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.
'How much do I owe you?' She asked, reaching into her purse.
'Nothing,' I said.
'You have to make a living,' she answered.
'There are other passengers,' I responded.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly.
'You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,' she said. 'Thank you.'
I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life..
I didn't pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day,I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don't think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We're conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.
PEOPLE MAY NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID, OR WHAT YOU SAID ~BUT~ THEY WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE THEM FEEL.
At the bottom of this great story was a request to forward this - I deleted that request because if you have read to this point, you won't have to be asked to pass it along you just will...
Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we are here we might as well dance!

[edgecliff hall]

Beautiful.

[X-man]

Wonderful story. And the lesson is absolutely true. Would that all the angry partisans, the ones who forget that we are all fellow citizens of planet earth and who think that anyone with a different point of view is either stupid or evil, remember that moral.