justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Who would have thought?

Have you ever had an experience that was incredible for you but you knew it would not mean much to anyone else?

Well, a conversation came up the other day while I was attending an annual meeting of the “Knights of Olde”.  The “Knights” are a group of 100-plus guys from my high school that had been involved in sports. It includes graduates from 1945 up to 1963 – the year our old school, Castlemont High School in Oakland, was torn down due to not meeting the earthquake standards for schools in California.

From an early age, I was a sports nut, although one without much athletic ability until excelling in wrestling after military service. I managed the football team (water boy), the wrestling team (wash the mats and hand out the gear), and the baseball team (batboy).

In my junior year, I went out for quarterback on the JV football team. Due to the kindness of the coach, I “made” the team as a 3^rd string, five foot, six inch, 125-pound QB. I loved the practices and logged well over four minutes of playing time over the span of five or six games…usually when the game was either already lost or we were so far ahead there wasn’t much I could have done to affect the outcome.

While my playing experience wouldn’t mean much to anyone else but me, I was blown away when another Knight –  a student who was one grade behind me – came up to me and asked, “Didn’t you play quarterback on the JVs?” Here it was, nearly 60 years later, and he recalled my brief and inconsequential football experience. Unbelievable that he had remembered…

I replied, “Yes, that’s true - and thanks for remembering.” In addition to being appreciative someone remembered an experience I didn’t think anyone but me would recall, I learned that we never can tell when something we do will be memorable for someone else.