Stories From My Life

Base Camp When I was 14 my parents sent me on a 12-day New Mexico adventure at Philmont Scout Ranch in late June of 1973. We took Amtrak from York, PA to Chicago to Cimarron, NM. About fifteen 14-year old boys and three men to supervise. On Day 1 we arrived at base camp where we were briefed on what our 10 days in the mountains (plus 2 in base camp) was going to be like. Susie Van Gorp led our hike for the first 3 days making sure we knew the basics, and training us where we lacked. She was probably 19 or 20 years old and all of us were smitten. Blond, fit, and tanned we were putty in her hands. On our days in the mountains of New Mexico we did a lot of fun things: go down into an old mine, pan for gold, wrangle burros to carry our food for 3 days, fall off a cliff and roll down a mountain, etc. That fall off the cliff gave me the biggest charley horse of my life. My right thigh hit a pointy rock during my tumble down the mountain and I thought I'd never get that muscle loose again...

September 20th of 1973 was a memorable day for me. For some time there was a lot of hype surrounding Battle of The Sexes II, a made-for-television tennis match between Bobby Riggs and Billie Jean King in the Houston Astrodome. In this match 55-year old Bobby Riggs had to defend the entire court; basically the doubles court while Billie Jean King defended the inner lines, the singles court.  That same day the Red Lion Lions freshman football team played York Catholic at their field. It was the 1st game of the season.  During the entire pre-season I practiced with the tight ends and was schedule to be the starter. Greg Hileman was my backup. In truth we were pretty close - Greg was the better receiver, I was the better blocker. So a few days before the York Catholic game the coaches approached me and asked if I'd play left tackle. So I was the right end when we were on defense, the left tackle on offense, and place kicker for kickoffs. The second half began with us on defense. A...