Last time you said there were a few things you wanted to talk about.
Right. Some things before I get into the subject of volunteering.
For instance, I competed in a few sports. Not many, and not to a great extent. But enough worth mentioning.
Okay.
First thing that comes to mind is golf. Remember I said I caddied as a youngster?
Right.
Well, I learned a good bit from that experience. And I eventually ditched that oddball collection of clubs people gave me. And I bought a matched set and got serious about the sport.
While I was in the Army I played on a Chicago public course.
But it was when I came to Maryland that I really got into it. When I started with Westinghouse I found that they had a golf league that played once a week after working hours. So I joined. We played at the Sherwood Forest course near Annapolis.
It wasn’t a long course, but it had its challenges. Trees and sand and water. And hills. I used to joke that you had to be part mountain goat to play it.
And I was not a great golfer, but I enjoyed it. I was happy to shoot in the 90s. Dropped down into the 80s a few times, but that was it. Still, I won two trophies.
What kind?
Well, I was not known as a slugger. My talent, such as it was, was playing a controlled game. Cautious, not explosive. But during one tournament, on one hole, they had a long-ball-hitting contest. And I figured — what the heck — I’d let ‘er rip. So I swung harder than I had ever done before. And my driver hit it cleanly and I won the contest. Have a trophy to show for it.
Nice.
And I have another trophy for actually winning. We played as couples. My partner, Dave M., was another engineer in radar development. And one year we beat out all the other twosomes in our division. Here’s the trophy each of us won.
And here’s me holding it.
Nice souvenir.
Yep. That’s on my shelf too.
Then there was softball. I didn’t go very far with that. I played in college. And then, where I lived before the Army, in the Ivy Hill apartment complex. I played there.
We got up some competition between buildings. I pitched for our team.
That’s not me, of course. I’m a left-hander. But that’s as far as I went in softball.
However, I did go a bit further with bowling. I bowled for my fraternity in college. And when I was in Chicago we had a bowling league with teams representing different sections of the Quartermaster Depot. I was on a team of soldiers that bowled against others like the accounting section.
Did your team have a name?
Yes, we called ourselves The Dirty Birds, and I’ll tell you why. Right about that time George Gobel was popular on TV. Remember him?
Yes, now that you mention it.
Well Gobel had an expression he’d use whenever he was somewhat surprised. He’d say, “Well, I’ll be a dirty bird.”
Okay.
We GIs were called Specialists Third Class. Sp3, for short. And our insignias included an eagle.
So, eagle. Bird. Dirty bird. That’s where our team name came from.
I see.
I guess we won our share of games, but I don’t have any trophies to show for it.
However, when I came to Maryland, I joined a league for a while, and my team did win one.
Impressive looking.
That’s on my shelf too. Can’t remember if that team had a name.
But I didn’t stay in that league long. Each team’s score competed with the scores of the other teams, but we didn’t play side-by-side with other teams. I bowled with the same people each time. Got boring after a while.
Anyway, that’s about it for competitive sports. Next time I want to talk about some sports personalities I met.
See you then.