About 9 or 10 years ago, I was "visiting" here in Harrisburg, Pa. I was stationed at Quantico, Va. and would "commute" here on some weekends. About my third visit here, I decided to try the fishing. I got to my "spot", only to find it occupied by a couple of older African American gentlemen. My memory is that they were both very warm and friendly to me, right from the start. They also helped me with the appropriate bait, beer and tackle.
Over the next couple of years, I would repeatedly visit the spot, and learned through their conversations between each other that they were both former local high school football coaches. One of them had coached Bishop McDevitt, the other coached John Harris High, which subsequently became Harrisburg High. I noticed that they spoke of some pretty famous football players, but never made much of a big deal about it. I also remember one of them telling me that the other one was probably the best high school coach in the country, but there was racism, etc. I took all of this in.
One Saturday there was three of them there. The third guy was Dennis Green. I remember him telling me that the (I want to say Harrisburg High coach, but I'm not sure) "coach in question" WAS the best coach in the country. I know Ricky Watters was brought up in the conversation... I also remember that day Dennis Green also told me that he had personally witnessed Wilt Chamberlain score the 100 points in a game, and that it was played here in Hershey. This was beyond fascinating, and I am sad to report that I stopped going down there several years ago, which was a huge mistake in retrospect.
Flash forward to last night, while also flashing back to this past summer. My step-son says to me, "Do you remember meeting Shady?" I said, "No, who is he?" He says, "He's the guy me and my buddies were hanging out with that you gave the lecture to this past summer." This I did remember. Shady was the center of attention on my patio one night. You see, my step-son and all his "buds" smoke cigarettes, and normally when I would go out there, they would be puffing away at (hopefully) tobacco products. Not that night, and I was struck by the fact enough to ask why. It turns out that this kid Shady had athletic aspirations (like THAT was anything new amongst my son and his friends), but what WAS new was the fact that all of his friends were honoring a request of his not to smoke in his presence. The fact that this was being honored made me think that there might be more to this kid than the usual adolescent pipe-dream.
I decided to find out what his story was. He told me he attended Pitt, that his big brother played in the NFL, and that he was going to also. He said he had attended McDevitt, and I brought up those two old guys I had fished with for a couple of years, that I had met Dennis Green as a result, yada, yada yada. To my complete surprise, EVERYONE knew exactly who I was talking about (I think there were like 10 kids on my patio), and I had NEVER mentioned any of this to my step-son. One of them (old guy) was both his and his big brother's mentor.
I "semi-lectured" him on the odds of making it into the NFL, he seemed to absorb what I was saying...stay in school, yada, yada yada... seemed like a really nice young man. As I said, I had completely forgot about it.
Last night my kid hits me with this, and says that Shady thinks he's going to the Arizona Cardinals IN THE FIRST ROUND. He also tells me that Shady is an arrogant prick. I didn't even remember what position Shady played. I went on the internet and looked. Shady is LeSean McCoy. His brother is LeRon McCoy. (looks like a 2nd-rounder to me, but I'm nit-picking) Dennis Green apparently really did see that game...I thought I was being bullshat about that, as we were fishing, even though it WAS Dennis Green and I must admit I had developed a bit of skepticism about everything being told to me down at that fishing hole, including the part about Dennis Green showing up to fish with these old guys, which was of course eliminated right about the time when he actually did. I mean, really--- Wilt Chamberlain at HersheyPark when he did that? Now I'm absolutely picking my brain trying to remember all those fishing stories, PLUS I'm going to pay a little more attention when my kid tells me something. This may be a semi-boring story, but I am absolutely flattened by my ignorance, and now wonder if Shady WILL turn out to be an arrogant prick, because my kid said so, or not, because of his quiet respect for my viewpoint.
I'm going back to that fishing spot this summer, that is the only thing I'm sure about. I also plan to start believing more fish stories. :thumbleft: