I miss my Dad’s voice . . . a distinctive baritone. But I have been able to listen to him as I am getting some recordings together to share with my sister Charlotte (who requested them this past week) and the rest of my siblings as soon as I am able. On Friday as I hit a nice three-point shot from the wing on the court in the Smith Fieldhouse, I thought of this story, in his own words, that I had come across the day before.
“I played Church basketball and softball until I was 57 years old. I never quit until I was in American Falls. We went to All-Church which was the big thing in those days. If you beat everybody in your end of the state, you would go down to All-Church and they put you up in a hotel for a couple of nights, then they had a big All-Church Tournament. They don’t do that now but in those days it was a big thing. I was 27 years old and I remember they had the Smith Fieldhouse that had a floating floor in it. It was one of the first elevated floors with some kind of a support system set in there separate, anyway it was fancy. We went down to All-Church and I was the oldest person on our team from Oakley. And I remember going down and shooting that jumpshot out of the corner, the first shot, and I gave a big jump and kicked that up out of the corner, and it went swoosh. And the great feeling that was to go to BYU and play in All-Church. I’ve got a little trophy about yay big with him shooting a basketball. That was a big deal.”
I love being able to play in the same building where my old man played back in the day. I think he was a big deal.
1 comments:
I remember watching him play first base at Willow Lane from under the old wood bleachers. And play hoops in the "big" gym at the church on Hill Road.
And the Walkers beating the Wards in American Falls...
Yeah...He was larger than life.
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