The more I think about it the more I believe that I could write about high school endlessly.  However, there are three themes that dominate my memories of high school.  First, endlessly laughing and laughing and doing stupid stuff with the guys.  From the Lexington Ave. gang to all the new friends I met in high school, it was a nonstop ball.  I have no idea how the poor Sisters survived.

Next there where the girls.  I was equally attracted to, mystified by and  totally terrified of the pretty girls at st. Al’s.  You’re looking at a guy who was an altar boy through 12th grade and  went to Confession every Saturday,  unfortunately with nothing to confess.

But most of all there was running.  Running dominated everything.  I could not wait for practice at the end of every day and for the next competition.  In 10th grade I made Varsity cross-country.  Training with Kevin Hennessy , who  had replaced his brother Brian as the running alpha male in the area, forced me to get better and better.  With Eddie and Jack Healy and Richie Brown we won all the Championships.  Next year Eddie graduated and joined the Marines.  My childhood buddy, Richie Graham,  joined the cross country team for the first time in 11th grrade.  Richie was an All County basketball star.  Kevin and I dominated, and with Rich’s help we again won the major championships.  In Spring at the Penn Relays I was offered a full scholarship to run at Seton Hall by Coach John Gibson.  I had  run the 3/4 mile leg of the Distance Medley Relay again, this time in a pretty memorable 3:18.  Now, that’s pretty average today, but in 1960 it was pretty solid. That year Al Adams of St. Michael’s in Jersey City anchored the Distance Medley to win the Championship of America.  He was awarded High School Athlete of  the Meet for running a 4:23 mile.  Today that is considered pretty average too.  I’m certain that a good deal of Coach Gibson’s offer was due to the fact that John was running at the Hall at the time , and Coach Gibson lovedJohn!  Nevertheless, I was getting faster and  sitting on top of the world.  Summer after jr. year I trained harder than ever to prepare for my senior season. Summer training was not as common back in the 50s, so I think that gave me an edge.  By this time Willie was also running Varsity cross-country and along with Cliff Sprague, Richie and Billy Marino,  Pete Doody and Kenny Beil, we again won a number of championship titles.  I had a dream senior season winning City, County and Catholic Conference titles. I broke all of Brian and Kevin Hennessy’s records , set a new course record at Lincoln Park and was selected Runner of the year by the legendary sports writer  Ed Grant.  I was flying high and ready to conquer the world.   Next was Seton Hall University and probably the Olympics.

Now, the reader might have noticed that  there’s no mention in this entire High School discussion of academics.  That is actually because I don’t remember anything about academics in high school at all.  I must have learned some algebra and how to diagram some sentences and maybe even some history and English literature.  That is because I actually do know some of that stuff.   I think  a comment by my brother Eddie helps too explain a lot of this. He told me one day, “The only things I remember from any class in high school are the things my teachers told me about themselves.”  I have tried to remember that during my 35 years teaching in High School.  I took every opportunity possible to tell students about things going on in my life. Not personal things, but unusual things like about my dog chasing  a skunk or my car catching fire in the driveway.   And Eddie’s words come back to me everytime I meet a former student and they tell me,  “Hey Mister O,  remember that story about your dog chasing skunks ? That was hysterical!”  Hardley ever does the conversation turn to the War OF 1812 .