Sunday

1977 Post script, Boise, Idaho June 17th, 2007

Two years ago I found myself in Austin, Texas. I remembered that the Dickinson' boys from camp were living in the Long Star State, there was my Idaho State Tennis Teamate Bobby, Roger who graduated from Texas Tech, and then Todd. Todd was such a good kid on all levels, he could handle any task, but also thoughtful and a great player to boot. The Dickinson family all were deeply entwined in Mercersburg and Northern New Jersey Tennis. I did a Google search and found Roger's Dad in Arlington and he told me that Roger was working at the Texas Department of Labor just blocks away from Driscull Hotel where I was staying. I called him and two hours later that smiling face that I hadn't seen in more than 25 years was there in the Lobby of that great hotel, he took me and my colleagues to lunch.


He hadn't changed a bit, it was a glorious reunion and we talked about old times and people we knew and the years fell away. Roger is a lawyer, a grandpa and is back playing tennis again. He looked to so good that I thought twice about setting up a match.


Roger had asked what I've been up to since camp and it was almost too big of a question to answer. I was a teaching pro for three more years, doing a stint in Toronto, Canada and Florida.
I taught school for a year, was television news photographer for two years, then a reporter for the NBC affiliate in Boise for 13 years. Press Secretary to the Attorney General of Idaho for two years and now Broadcast Services Manager for the Idaho Farm Bureau Federation. During the years I had covered a couple of wars, hosted a talk show, flown in fighter jets, met Presidents and even a King. I had won an Emmy, was appointed to a few board of directors and did just about everything on my to-do list...but as I told Roger over lunch in Austin, It all started with FXB. He funded my college education, taught me how to succeed, taught responsibility and how to compete. Roger agreed that Mr. B had prepaired him for law school and had been a force and inspiration in his life as well.


November 20th, 1997 I was out jogging and felt a sharp pain in my chest. I could have paniced but didn't. I kept my cool. I got back to the car and drove myself to the hospital. I was immediately admitted and a few hours later I had heart surgery. I was lucky, I had a blocked left ventricle and was able to have a stent rather than an open heart surgery. I was back up and working in just two weeks. But I was sentenced to a life of either a couch potato or daily workouts by my doctor. I chose to work out and started lifting and stair stepping but found it extremely boring when one day an old friend invited me to play tennis. I hadnt picked up a racquet since 1985 and all the joy and memories came streaming back. Its like this, on the court its always summer and I'm 20 and all the worries of the world disappear and things FXB had told me on the court and off come back like boomarangs tossed in 1977.

My wife Sheryl, step daughter Kalina and I were moving in the summer of 2005 and it was a hot day in the dusty garage. I was digging through some boxes and found a big shoe box filled with diaries, letters, photos from Mercersburg. In the streaming dusty light I sat there and read caught in time, suspended in 1977 and it was so sweet that I didnt want to come back. All of my friends were with me in that garage, all young, smiling with racquets in hand. We were all so handsome and young. I realized that the garage was my cornfield, the diaries my field of dreams and then I thought If I build it they will come...I heard Frank Brennan's voice ringing in my ears..."...he missed that overhead and the ball went across the street and into the Ford Dealership a block away..." or "Think of ways to win, not lose," or "Go out and play your own game."

I built a blog and the friends, like ghosts came back to the field of dreams, to the har-tru courts.

Ive heard from Roger, Mark Sanderson, Eric Riley, Chris Russel-Vick, former counselors Eileen Brennan, Coleen Brennan, Skip Schwarzman, Eric Anderson, Jim Hall, Jonathan Markson, James Haft camper Jonathan Mudd and Joyce Hackett. I hope more will make it back .

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jake,

If I haven't said it before, thanks so much for doing this. I can't tell you how many people I've told about your blog diaries, and how much it's meant to me to read them.

Today my older daughter, Amelia, graduates high school. She is a great kid, and I hope Lynn and I have taught her all the lessons we carry with us from Mr. Brennan.

Certainly she knows how tennis can be a valuable and important part of your life; she knows how much we've gotten to do and see over the years thanks to my being a solid player which, as Mr. B said, will make you welcome all over the world.

If you have more to publish, I promise to follow it as religiously as I did your summer of 1977. If this is all we get to see, well, that's great, too.

All the best to you, and do keep playing. I'm sitting here typing, sweaty from an early morning hit. It's not the quite the same as walking to the courts, across the track, on a beautiful Mercersburg morning, but then maybe, just maybe, it really is.

skip

Jake Putnam said...

Skip;
Its been fun and thanks so much following 1977...Were your years much different?
I dug out the old shoe boxes and went through all the mail from campers and home. Funny to think that its the same mail that we treasured, that Mr. B. dropped off under that big tree near the courts.
I will start in on '78 and you're invited for the ride!
By the way you made an appearance in '78...FXB had you some for a few days during adult week to get Eric Riley and I squared away. FXB must have thought a lot of you and your management skills to bring you on board and straighten the rookie Head and Assistant Head counselor.

Jake

EiSpy said...

Well, the end of summer has come. Thank you so much for sharing your diaries - it was such a great trip down memory lane in so many ways. The academy, the hot summer, the indoor gym, the dorms, the chapel, the downtown, the friends made, the summer crushes -- but more than anything bringing my father back to life -- how fortunate you were to see his morning talks as lessons in life so early on. I don't think I realized that until I was a little older. He was truly a special man and I know how lucky I am to have had him as a father.

I hope others find this blog and get reconnected -- it would be great fun.

Like Skip, I would relish reading future summer diaries, but we'll alway have 1977! :-)

Thanks Jake!
Eileen

Jake Putnam said...

Eileen;
If you have any photos to share and even better yet a story to go with the story send it and I will publish...I love the photo that Skip sent, its amazing.

Jake

EiSpy said...

Yes, great picture of Skip and Alan. I met up w/Jan Short Johnston last Sept and she gave me the picture to copy. I just sent Skip another picture of him. I have a few more that I'll send you. I have two poems that Harry Drummond wrote too. ;-) Thanks for continuning w/the blog. We have to figure out a way to link your blog to a search engine for people to find.

Jake Putnam said...

Eileen;
Send the photo and little story and I'll publish it, I think the camp photos are all treasures and offers a glimpse into camps I only heard about.
I hear you guys were much wilder, FXB had us figured out and kept the hammer down.

Jake

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