Jim Black's letter to the class
Posted Sunday, May 21, 2017 01:51 AM
Dear Classmates,
I missed our 50th reunion due to having a new Liver installed.  Pat Burke was nice enough to call and see if he could give me a ride but I just couldn't pull it off. Thinking of  Pat reminds me of our arrival  to sixth grade  at the old Junior High. Does anybody remember playing "murder ball" back behind the school. I wasn't very could at it. Pat was.Here I am in 6th grade wearing Buddy Holly thick glasses, special shoes and Kathy Holecek was my height. What a deal! I spotted a cute girl(Cheryl Carlson,bless her little heart) but she chose Pat with his brille creamed ducktail , American bandstand look. Get used to that I told myself.  
Memories. how sweet, sort of. Does anyone remember Joe Rich's gym class? I'll never forget the "swat line"! When you made a mistake, the whole class formed two lines and you crawled through on your knees with each classmate swatting your butt. The line seemed so long. It hurt bad. remember? I know Pat does he seemed to be Mr Rich's favorite. Why wouldn't he be! He looked good and drove a 1956 Chevy convertible to school. Really! He did. We took it to band day in Lindsborg in May of eighth grade. Good memories! Before I leave junior high please let me get another "horse bite" from Mr.Barkley! No one can forget those if they got one. Believe me! Ask anyone. Pat again got his share. Ask him to describe it. Much pain! A full grip and pinching finger nails on the inside of your thigh. Man!
 
OK here we are now freshmen in high school. I am towering over Kathy H. What happened here? What I wanted most was a flat top like Pete Talbot and a letter jacket. Butch hair wax did not help with my hair  but did help me get out my new contact lenses once.  I not only looked uncool but dumb too. What a combo! I had a long way to go!  Letter jackets. Bill Mills was the first in our class to get one. He lettered in Football our Freshman year. He was big and fast, and he would like to add good lookin. George lettered in Basketball . But our sophomore year on a good football team, I lettered along with good old Glen Shipman and I think  Dennis Frederick. 
 
I still did not have a girlfriend but I still had  sports. That summer of my sophomore year at 15 years old, there was a Pittsburgh and a Yankee  scout come to watch me pitch at light capital diamond against the defending state champions Wichita Air National Guard. We committed(my grandpa did) to the Yankees following a 12 strikeout game. God gave me a good arm. They wanted me to come right away to AA Columbus. There were 3 high schoolers in the major league at that time. Lindy McDaniel was the only one I can remember. I told them not right now I had a basketball team Jay Frazier had groomed. Tommy Markham, Bill Hill, Dave Leach, George Czaplinski, and myself. Told the Yankees I would come right after basketball season. During that fall in football while grooming to play QB, I had a bootleg 90 yard run.  I fell in the end zone and could not breathe. Blood clots had arrived and so did hospital stays averaging 10 days a year from then on.They said I would not make 30 years old.  My folks  were continually told I had 90 days to live.
 In 1984 , UCSD developed an experimental surgery to remove blood clots from the lungs. They were losing 1 out of 2.9. Sounded like good odds to me. I was number 27. Even though I was  on life support(ventilator) for 23 days, they did not lose me.  A couple of weeks later I celebrated by 40th birthday at the house of Carolyn and Ronnie Wilson there in San Diego.  The next 30 years I was stronger than I been since I was 15. I could breathe again. I felt very blessed! I was a tournament tennis player, won racquetball events, and have a basement room dedicated to trophies won coaching baseball. God has been good to me.  The "peace that surpasseth all understanding" always seemed pretty magical  to me , and still is my life long goal. I am 72 and  feel grateful everyday to still be here!  I wish all of you the very  best  and hope you have a wonderful mayday celebration!
Your classmate forever,
Jim Black