Mr October
Super Bowl, World Series, or Final Four stories – they’re all the same to us sports widows.
A few years ago my friends Pat and David and I were planning a reunion for our former teaching colleagues at Jane Addams, the small inner-city high school where we first met in the 1980s. Pat was our principal then and she was justifiably proud of the school, described by the local press as “an oasis in the south Bronx”. And indeed the blight and devastation in the neighborhood was countered by the warm, nurturing environment within the school, and by the achievements of our students. The faculty was made up of a close-knit group of skilled and dedicated teachers, and many life-long friendships were formed there.
(For more of my Jane Addams memories see. The Diary of a Young Girl , Magazines for the Principal, The Parking Lot Seniority List, A Favor for the Coach, and Educator of the Year – Remembering Milton)
Now, anticipating the reunion, we chose a restaurant, selected the menu, drew up the guest list, and Pat and I found a mutually good date. Then we got David’s email.
”No good ladies, that’s the weekend of the Elite Eight games.” he wrote.
March Madness was upon us we realized, and we well knew that David was a college basketball fanatic, but we hoped to make the date work nevertheless.
”You could tape the games.” Pat suggested.
”You could check the scores on the TV at the bar.”. I proposed.
”Neither of you seems to get it.” David shot back. “And you Dana, would you ever ask Danny to miss a World Series game?”
David’s words hit home and I told him the following story.
In the fall of 1977, just a few years after Danny and I had moved to Manhattan’s eastside, I was asked to join the board as secretary of the Carl Schurz Park Association. That volunteer civic group worked hard for the benefit of our wonderful neighborhood park, and I was flattered by the request. Proudly I told Danny he would see his wife inducted at the coming association meeting on October 18.
But the Yankees were in the World Series that year and Danny had tickets to Game 6 which was to be played that same night. I implored him to give up the game and somehow he relented.
On the fateful night I waited to bask in my 15 minutes of fame as the meeting dragged on. Then, as it was drawing to a close and folks were already scrapping back their chairs and putting on their coats, it was announced that I was running unopposed for association secretary. A few obligatory acclamations were called out, and without further ado I became a member of the board. The president banged her gavel and the meeting was adjourned.
Meanwhile up in the Bronx, Reggie Jackson belted three home runs on three consecutive at bats, the fans in the Stadium went wild, and the Yanks won the World Series.
”Wow”, David said as I finished my story, “I’ll never forget that game, and I bet neither will Danny!”
By the way, to avoid any other March Madness conflict we moved our Jane Addams faculty reunion to a date in May, but first I checked the Yankee schedule.
– Dana Susan Lehrman
Dana Susan LehrmanThis retired librarian loves big city bustle and cozy country weekends, friends and family, good books and theatre, movies and jazz, travel, tennis, Yankee baseball, and writing about life as she sees it on her blog World Thru Brown Eyes!
www.WorldThruBrownEyes.com
Another fun story, Dana! Wonderful flow, and I love the way you mixed with dialog.
Thanx BB!
And I love hearing about that support group for sports widows, was just about to write to you about that!
I meant to say “the way you mixed exposition with dialog.” I need to learn to take a breath before clicking “post comment” to make sure I say what I mean to say. 😉
Got it! We’re all sometimes too quick on the trigger!
Wow, how frustrating that must have been! There you were expecting this wonderful induction, and you just got a few obligatory acclamations. You and Danny must both have been disappointed, for different reasons. Thanks for this story, Dana.
Yes Suzy, but I got over my disappointment, whereas Danny won’t let me forget his until this day!
Dana, great story of the ever-present conflict between trying to set up social engagements and the need to accede to the calendar of sporting events. But your World Series vs induction onto your neighborhood park board takes the cake. Truly surprised that Danny acquiesced and then, the juxtaposition between the obligatory but hardly breath-taking welcome by the park committee, vs. Reggie Jackson’s MVP accomplishments in the winning game. It makes for a wonderful story.
Thanx Betsy! To this day I don’t why Danny agreed to give up that game, and to this day he doesn’t let me forget it!
Dana, your story about Reggie’s feat reminded me of the story that the Robin Williams character tells Will Hunting – the night Robin’s character met the love of his life at a bar. It was night of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and Reds. Great game. Boston tied it up in the 8th inning and Carleton Fisk for the Red Sox won it with a memorable home run in extra innings. But Robin’s character, who had a ticket, slid it across the table to a friend because he had something more important to do, i.e. get to know the woman who would become his wife. Of course, this is fiction.
Thanx Tom!
Why my husband gave up that game I’ll never know and I much regret that I begged him to!
He never lets me forget it, it’s still a sore point even these 40 odd years later!
That is a very snappy and very credible story. It would be hard to be responsible for making someone miss that famous game with the three home runs–so famous that I can still picture exactly where i was when I watched it–at one of my neighbors’ houses in Dorchester!
Thanx Dale.
My husband will never forget where HE was that night!