With Ida bringing 3 to 6 inches of rain to Central PA tomorrow, I had to go to the archive again to point out how 18 inches of rain led to the best week of my life. Agnes was great to me.
1972
was a great year. Nixon was at his peak, the Vietnam War was about to
be ended and Americans had been on the Moon 5 or 6 times. My sport was
basketball, and I needed to get much better at it to compete with the
likes of teammate
Curt Clawson (who later became the greatest shooter
Coach Keady of Purdue ever saw, including Michael Jordan!) I opted for the prestigious Pocono Mountain Basketball Camp run by
Coaches Bill Foster and Harry Litwack. I headed off with spirits high and with ridiculous sneakers not really suitable for basketball.
My joy turned to ecstasy when I found out that
David Thompson
was going to be my Coach for the week. After his sophomore year at NC
State, he wasn't yet a household word, but he was certainly one of the
premier young players in college ball. His teammates
Monty Towe and
Phil Spence were with him.
Tom Burleson had gone to another camp.
The
first day was spent getting to know the camp layout and the set up for
the coming week of intense drills, practices and games.
Then, the rain began. Hurricane Agnes had
hit Florida and meandered up the East Coast, delivering torrential
rains which was only was made worse when it stalled over land. Worst
hit happened to be where we were in the Poconos. All roads were washed
out and we were marooned at our camp. Only the two indoor courts were
usable by the hundreds of kids there, many counselors staying elsewhere
weren't available, and we were on our own mostly.
Lord of the Flies type stuff, may I add?
When
the bridge over the little stream leading to the indoor courts washed
out when it became a raging river, we improvised by swinging across the
stream on a rope hanging from a tree. Those little kids that invariably
fell in were retrieved downstream with the help of a dam we fashioned
out of canoes left over from the camp's previous life. We never lost a
single camper! Each day became worse with the rain and the inability of
anyone to reach us from the outside. The menu deteriorated noticeably
each day, with meals becoming a mish mash of whatever was available.
The nightly movie reel (the World War II flick,
Triple Cross)
was repeated each night, and all of us learned the entire dialog by the
end of the week. We were able to shout the words to the entire movie
before the actor would, which somehow never got old. I remember the joy
on David Thompson's face with this each night,
pure innocent joy. I find it hard to believe that he later ended his basketball career in the throes of substance abuse.
Days
were spent watching the college guys play pick-up basketball. Only one
court at a time was available, as they tore down rim after rim with
spectacular alley-oops and jams (Monty Towe and David Thompson invented
the alley-oop!) none of us could believe. Those handy with tools would
remake the backboards and rims on the one court as the players switched
to the other.
Players were true amateurs in those days, and none
of them was receiving any money outright, just room and board (eating
the same crap the rest of us were!). We supplemented David by putting
quarters on top of the backboards. Any quarter he jumped up and
retrieved was his by default. And he pocketed a lot of change that
week. I've been challenged on this many times, but I saw him do it
hundreds of times. His vertical leap was unbelievable, even with just
one step. He had a kid follow him just to hold all of his quarters.
And I would have volunteered for the duty if someone else hadn't gotten
there first!
It was a simply magical week, and I didn't mind
eating Cream of Wheat for three straight meals by the end of the week.
When the rain finally stopped and my parents picked me up, I was amazed
to see all of Pennsylvania flooded. We didn't have a TV and no one
bothered listening to the radio, we were there to watch basketball and
there was none better than what was on the court live.
You can know a guy 30 years and still learn something new about him. This was a nice story. RW
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