This was not just another after school football practice session. At Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington, in the 1930s football was rising in popularity.
Normally I played Half-back. During practice, I was playing defense. And one of my friends, Sperling, was running towards me intent on scoring a touchdown. My job was to tackle him, which I did. The problem is I didn't use proper technique. I ran into him using my head and shoulders. Sperling was lying on the ground writhing in agony and I was also in considerable pain. I resolved to follow conventional procedure in the future in tackling and quit improvising.
The coach was jumping up and down, shouting, wanting me to hit 'em like that again.
He didn't care how much I'd hurt my friend. One of his players was there on the ground. And he was more concerned with my potential to hurt other players.
He had been an Olympic sportsman at the Greek Olympics in Crew. So he was admired and idolized by most of the local sports fans.
For me - Sperling was my catcher in baseball season. He was the last person I wanted to hurt.
That should not be the object of high school sports - hurting the players.
I never forgave that coach for his attitude. And I lost my stomach for that sport entirely. You shouldn't have to knock a fellow down to prove your worth.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Educational Conferences - work or play?
1967 was a memorable year for me.
My school, Federal Way High School, gave me $50 for gas to go to the National Education Association convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The gas got me as far as Idaho. From then on I was on my own. Do you think they were trying to tell me something?
I finally got to Cleveland after a long drive in my little VW Bug. Even slept through a snowstorm in Idaho by sitting in the passenger seat wrapped up in my sleeping bag.
Mr. Chandler, the leader of our state delegation, was a very capable leader. He was well informed on Educational history and was highly respected amongst the teachers. So I waited for him to call a meeting of our state delegation to brief us on the issues to be discussed and on which we were to vote. No briefing was held.
Everyone got together and talked all night, simply socializing without booze or broads. But on the following day, I went to the auditorium to hear the important keynote speaker who had been paid a large fee to come talk to us about the future of the education profession. I was surprised to find very few of my fellow teachers in attendance.
They had gone across the street to watch a double-header baseball game at the baseball stadium when they should have been in the auditorium listening to their keynote speaker.
At the speech, the keynote speaker proclaimed that education was destined to become the dominant profession of the future - starting salaries would double in the next six years. None of which happened of course. Perhaps the members of the NEA were too busy watching sports players earn bigger and bigger salaries to care about their own?
My school, Federal Way High School, gave me $50 for gas to go to the National Education Association convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The gas got me as far as Idaho. From then on I was on my own. Do you think they were trying to tell me something?
I finally got to Cleveland after a long drive in my little VW Bug. Even slept through a snowstorm in Idaho by sitting in the passenger seat wrapped up in my sleeping bag.
Mr. Chandler, the leader of our state delegation, was a very capable leader. He was well informed on Educational history and was highly respected amongst the teachers. So I waited for him to call a meeting of our state delegation to brief us on the issues to be discussed and on which we were to vote. No briefing was held.
Everyone got together and talked all night, simply socializing without booze or broads. But on the following day, I went to the auditorium to hear the important keynote speaker who had been paid a large fee to come talk to us about the future of the education profession. I was surprised to find very few of my fellow teachers in attendance.
They had gone across the street to watch a double-header baseball game at the baseball stadium when they should have been in the auditorium listening to their keynote speaker.
At the speech, the keynote speaker proclaimed that education was destined to become the dominant profession of the future - starting salaries would double in the next six years. None of which happened of course. Perhaps the members of the NEA were too busy watching sports players earn bigger and bigger salaries to care about their own?
Heros are not always rewarded
A tough decision back in World War II
As a B-29 pilot, you are in command of the aircraft. But your success or failure depends on the efforts of a large crew. Their performance as a team is critical. One person's error can lead to the death of everyone.
One time on a training flight out of San Antonio, TX, I had a dangerous situation develop that I remember clearly to this day.
We were preparing for take-off. My copilot, Lt. Jackson, called the tower for taxi instructions. I was about to advance the throttles to move into take-off position when Jackson noticed that we were losing oil pressure on No. 3 engine. Jackson then feathered No. 3. Lt. Trammell, an observer, sitting in the jump seat between Jackson and myself, reached over and feathered #4 - the wrong engine. That put the plane in the possible situation of having only two engines...
Taking off with two starboard engines out is not recommended.....it's suicide.
So I was supposed to write up a report about this potentially lethal incident - and it would all be officially recorded for all to see and review. Which would mean the simple and probably one time mistake that Lt. Trammel made could really have terminated the rest of his flight career.
So I did write up that there had been a problem with #3 - but left out what happened with Trammel and Jackson. Which meant Trammel could learn from his mistake.
But Jackson was not recognized for his quick thinking and knowledge. By leaving this whole affair off the record - neither person would benefit or suffer officially. Protecting Trammel meant slighting Jackson.
Was I wrong in omitting all reference to Jackson and Trammel?
As a B-29 pilot, you are in command of the aircraft. But your success or failure depends on the efforts of a large crew. Their performance as a team is critical. One person's error can lead to the death of everyone.
One time on a training flight out of San Antonio, TX, I had a dangerous situation develop that I remember clearly to this day.
We were preparing for take-off. My copilot, Lt. Jackson, called the tower for taxi instructions. I was about to advance the throttles to move into take-off position when Jackson noticed that we were losing oil pressure on No. 3 engine. Jackson then feathered No. 3. Lt. Trammell, an observer, sitting in the jump seat between Jackson and myself, reached over and feathered #4 - the wrong engine. That put the plane in the possible situation of having only two engines...
Taking off with two starboard engines out is not recommended.....it's suicide.
Jackson - quick as a flash - reached over and pulled the feathering button on #4 before it actually had a chance to feather. He immediately saved the lives of all of us and the airplane as well.
That allowed me to abort the take off. I taxied back to the flight line and turned the plane over to the crew chief.
The flight chiefs are the really the unsung heroes of the Air Force. You put a small note about a little unknown noise in your plane in your report when you land from a mission - the chiefs and their crews would stay up all night to go over the plane with a fine tooth comb to find any possible complication. All without ever really getting that much thanks from the aircrews -- no medals. But they want their reports.So I was supposed to write up a report about this potentially lethal incident - and it would all be officially recorded for all to see and review. Which would mean the simple and probably one time mistake that Lt. Trammel made could really have terminated the rest of his flight career.
So I did write up that there had been a problem with #3 - but left out what happened with Trammel and Jackson. Which meant Trammel could learn from his mistake.
But Jackson was not recognized for his quick thinking and knowledge. By leaving this whole affair off the record - neither person would benefit or suffer officially. Protecting Trammel meant slighting Jackson.
Was I wrong in omitting all reference to Jackson and Trammel?
Stopping Sex among the Salmon
Sometime around 1940, I was the Anklin River Tallyman at the Libby McNeil and Libby Cannery in Yakutat, Alaska.
The Anklin River was not a major river. But it was a spawning stream for the local salmon runs. Four different species of salmon went there to have sex and die - the Coho, Sockeye, Humpback, and King.
I did not have to go up that river to collect salmon. But I was offered $20 (a major sum in those days) to go up river and pick up the salmon that two particular fishermen were catching. And so I was greedy and went up to collect the fish.
The two sons of Yakutat's Presbyterian minister fished the upper Anklin between courses at the University of Washington. By spreading their nets across the entire river they were able to block access to the spawning grounds upriver and make a tidy catch, every single fish. But thereby destroying the complete salmon run.
And where was the fisheries commissioner? He was at the cannery playing bridge with the superintendent. He should have been on the fishing grounds keeping an eye on things. When they finally left Yakutat to attend college (to study fishing) the salmon returned. Hopefully the University of Washington School of Fisheries took some of the greed out of them.
But what I learned was that most of the people I met connected with fishing in Alaska were motivated by greed and greed alone. They were only motivated to make money as quick as possible without any concern for the future. So the commissioner is supposed to be there to keep the long term view. Playing bridge meant he wasn't keeping an eye on anyone but his bridge partner.
If you wipeout the run - how will you make a living the following year?
Has anything changed?
The Anklin River was not a major river. But it was a spawning stream for the local salmon runs. Four different species of salmon went there to have sex and die - the Coho, Sockeye, Humpback, and King.
I did not have to go up that river to collect salmon. But I was offered $20 (a major sum in those days) to go up river and pick up the salmon that two particular fishermen were catching. And so I was greedy and went up to collect the fish.
The two sons of Yakutat's Presbyterian minister fished the upper Anklin between courses at the University of Washington. By spreading their nets across the entire river they were able to block access to the spawning grounds upriver and make a tidy catch, every single fish. But thereby destroying the complete salmon run.
And where was the fisheries commissioner? He was at the cannery playing bridge with the superintendent. He should have been on the fishing grounds keeping an eye on things. When they finally left Yakutat to attend college (to study fishing) the salmon returned. Hopefully the University of Washington School of Fisheries took some of the greed out of them.
But what I learned was that most of the people I met connected with fishing in Alaska were motivated by greed and greed alone. They were only motivated to make money as quick as possible without any concern for the future. So the commissioner is supposed to be there to keep the long term view. Playing bridge meant he wasn't keeping an eye on anyone but his bridge partner.
If you wipeout the run - how will you make a living the following year?
Has anything changed?
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