High school tennis by Mike

Based on a 1955 Mounder, I think I know the people in this story. (nbruce, blogger)

"I happen to know someone who holds a world record. He holds the record for the world's longest tennis racket throw. (Unsubstantiated of course, it has never been entered into the official record books because, I suppose of embarrassment). My doubles partner in high school had a terrible temper, it was pretty funny, you know? He'd miss a crucial shot in an important match and he'd jump up and down, hit his racket on the court surface, and sometimes break it.

It was all his fault when I began to manifest the same behavior. ( Notice how I'm blaming him). We were in high school and he and I were winning a match against our rival team from Rochelle, Illinois. The coach, Lew Behrens was watching, and one of us settled under a lob in order to put it away for the final point in the first set, and hit the ball on the racket frame, rather than the strings, and the ball went into orbit over the fence and into the adjacent ball field. Well, I turned in anger and threw my racket high and far. It helicoptered onto the roof of the high school. How am I admitting this? Oh, the embarrassment! The coach admonished me, but not too much to affect my game, but he then loaned me HIS racket with the appropriate threat.

After the match, which we fortunately won, without any more foolish tantrums, I had to go fetch my racket somehow. So, I went inside to find the school custodian, Art Goldberg, and borrow a ladder. I found him in a stall in the Men's Room. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Mr Goldberg, where can I find a long ladder?
Art:  It's in the back.... Why do you need a ladder?
Me: Well I need to get on the roof.
Art: Oh, well it is in the back room behind....... Why do you need to get on the roof?
Me:  Something of mine is up there.
Art:  Oh, look in the storage..... What of yours is up there?
Me: My tennis racket.
Art: Oh. Well, get the ladder out and... How did it get up THERE?
Me: Uhhh.. I threw it there, I guess.

 By this time Art flushed and came out of the stall and said, "Oh it's you, Well I'm not surprised. I'll get it for you this time, but next time you'll need a new racket!"

 Bless his heart.

1954 Mounder photos

 

Local Happenings 2015

I gleaned a few tidbits from Dave and Sylvia's Christmas letter about what's going on around town.  I used to rely on Murray Trout for updates on activities in Mt. Morris as he'd ride his bike through town, but he left us a few years ago.

• There is a new Sullivan's Food Store.
• There was a retirement party for Kable Band Conductor, Warren Reckmeyer, who has logged 59 years with the band. Warren was the high school band director when we were in school.
• The class of 1957 had two get-togethers in 2015.
• There is a new Casey's Gas Station/Convenience Store coming to town in 2016.
• Dave has been on the Mt. Morris Planning Commission of the Village Board for 12 1/2 years.
• Sylvia has been playing with the Kable Band for 59 years.

Boy Scout Jamboree by Mike Balluff, memories from 1953

In 1953 I got about as political as I want to get. Let me tell you about it. 

There was a Boy Scout World Jamboree held in Santa Ana, California. I was chosen to be a patrol leader (yay) and my parents put me on a train early in the morning on July 9 in Rockford, Illinois. I left my folks knowing that I wouldn't see them again for 2 weeks. Separation anxiety was short as the train loaded with Boy Scouts from all over northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin left for two weeks of fun on Southern California. We sang songs, played cards, and played pranks on each other. It was fun sleeping in the Pullman bunks. The clack of the tracks, swaying of the cars easily put me to sleep. In 3 days we were in Santa Ana at the Irvine ranch with 50,000 other scouts. We swam in the ocean, cooked our own food, pitched our tents, had trading sessions where we traded things from our home town and state, and great hikes exploring the ranch. The evenings featured stage shows and entertainment by many movie stars, such as Debbie Reynolds, Jimmy Stewart, Roy Rogers , Mitzi Gaynor, Danny Kaye, and others. A bunch of us waited at the gate where the celebs came in hoping to get autographs and Richard Nixon, the USVP came in riding in a convertible limo with his bodyguards. The car stopped right in front of us and one of the bodyguards gave me a stick of Wrigley's spearmint gum. WOW I chewed that gum for 5 days, saving it overnight on the bedpost. From that time on I was a Nixon man! I knew then he didn't have any idea about Watergate!

[This memory first appeared on Mike's Facebook Wall, and is used with his permission.]

Jamboree Road now is one of the major thoroughfares in Orange County, California, running from just west of Irvine Lake, all the way south to Pacific Coast Highway.main street, but in 1953 it was a gravel road through a tent town of boy scouts.





Images are from OC Register story. Patch from Orange Co. Memories.

Here are some photos, including Nixon, from the OC Register.  I wonder if the bartering and trading are  what launched Mike's later antiques career. http://www.ocregister.com/.../webb-649572-jamboree-scouts...

http://www.octhen.com/2006/09/jamboree-road.htm

Back in the day--a memory of Christmas past by Mike Balluff

Christmas when I was a child was going to Grand parents for the whole family, probably 25 aunts, uncles, cousins, brothers, sisters, etc. We lived in Northern Illinois where we got a lot of snow. Gramma's house was a farm near Byron, Il, about 20 miles from home for us. We would drive in the ice and snow to a bridge, stop, park, and Grandpa would come get us in a single horse drawn sleigh. It would hold 2 adults besides the driver. It was very cold, and Grandpa would wrap us in a very scratchy coarse wool blanket that I remember to this day. The rest of our journey was up a hill, about a mile to the farm. The hill was the reason for parking at the bottom.

Dinner was eaten there in the dining room, consisting of turkey, duck, goose, capon with many sides. The birds were all stuffed with a dressing that had OYSTERS in it. I wondered at the time what those things were, and was flabbergasted that I actually liked those slimy things. The house had no running water to wash dishes or to flush toilets. They brought in water from the well in a tub which was heated on a big wood stove. The toilet was an out house 50 ft from the back door. Much to our (the kids) dismay we couldn't open any of the many presents under the tree until all the dishes were done and food put away. 

Aahhh, those were the good old days. (Originally posted on Facebook; used with permission)

Class of 1957 has a Christmas tree

The Mt.Morris High School class of 1957 offers its Christmas greetings to the village by placing its tree as an addition to the village square band shell collection of holiday trees.

 

 Submitted by Lynne, who still lights up the world.