Malcolm GauldMy piece on Hailun brought to mind other examples from my memory where young men or women have put best foot forward, inspiring their peers to think, “Oh….So That’s What You Mean.” Here are a few from the old days.
– I was a freshman when senior Bob Greason ’69 dressed down the whole student body (with no faculty present) for our disrespectful behavior during an assembly. He bluntly challenged all of us to do better, and we all listened. I’d never seen someone do that before.
– My classmates (’72) Neil Alexander, David Hopkins, and Jeff Jennings decided that they were going to take art seriously in the face of the jock mentality that tends to rule in an all-boys school. They changed the culture.
– At the late Gary Kent’s (One of my “Oh, So That’s What You Mean” inspirations) induction into the Maine Wrestling Hall of Fame, a seasoned Maine coach remarked, “Maine wrestling came of age when Hyde’s Arnold Goodgame ’77 put the Russian kid on his back and pinned him.” Part of a Maine all-star contingent that hosted the seemingly invincible Russians, Arnold decided that enough was enough, inspiring his team, his school, and the whole state.
– I’ll never forget the day I saw Lothar Batcheldar ’78 participate in tackling drills on the first day of full contact in 1977. He had yet to have been enrolled at Hyde for a full 24 hours and I had yet to have taught for a full week. Suffice it to say that the bar was set anew on that day. (I also recall an unusual number of guys repeatedly bending over to tie their shoes.)…. Nearly two decades later, I remember Chris Easterbrooks ’97 offering a refresher course as a freshman ball carrier. Must be a North Shore (Boston) thing.
– “It’s a Family Affair” – Al McClain ’80 quietly and anonymously shooting foul shots before breakfast. (Four years later he was drafted by the Houston Rockets.) The next year, I remember look-away passes glancing off the faces of her unsuspecting teammates – “Ouch!…..Oh, So that’s what you mean by a look-away pass!” – after sister Almanda ’81 came to town. Brother Wes ’83 wasn’t too shabby either.
– Wendy Bedell ’81 singing like Patsy Cline in the Western section of the America’s Spirit show.
– Tom Burhoe ’81, a baseball player, picked up a lacrosse stick and never put it down, becoming ambidextrous before his first season was over. Never saw that happen: before or since.
– Tim Munson‘s ’90 paper opposing capital punishment in my history class. It was twice the minimum length and then doubled once again with an appendix detailing all the known cases where an individual had been executed and later found to be innocent.
– With darkness falling, Tracy Annis ’90 working on ball (soccer) juggling skills in the rain…..her team mates already showered and dressed. (I’ve yet to see a Hyde player match her skills.)
Send me your entries. Onward, Malcolm Gauld
