The Jacket
It was around 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning
and I was bent over my parent's dining room table reading the sports page of
the Los Angeles Times. It
was 1966, half way through my senior year in college and I needed a jacket. I walked into the kitchen and
dialed Hickson's apartment.
He answered, "Hello?"
I said, "I need a jacket."
Hickson said, "Jesus, ten in the
morning and you're off and running with the weird stuff already."
I said, "Nothing weird about
it. I need a jacket."
Hickson said, " You want to borrow
mine?"
I said, "Why would I want to borrow
a jacket when they're giving them away? Did you see the sports page
yet?"
Hickson sounded annoyed, "Hurry,
you're losing me."
Where upon I unveiled my plan,
"There is an article in here that explains why our track team lost a meet
to Arizona State Arizona State
Hickson, still annoyed, "I'm done
with that."
I asked facetiously, "Hickson, where's
your school spirit? They don't have anyone that can compete in these
events and there's only 3 or 4 more meets left. The track coach is
new. He doesn't know us from Adam – we'll have a clean slate. We
just volunteer our services, score a few points for the team, and a month from
now, collect our jackets."
As freshman, Hickson and I competed in
these events but we both lost interest before the year was out. Even
though it had been three years since we had put on a pair of track shoes, we
were better than no shows. Hickson was actually quite a bit better.
Four years ago he was ranked the fifth best high school pole vaulter in the
entire USA
The following week we meet with the track
coach, Dean Brittenham. We told him that we wanted to come out and try to
help fill in. We were expecting that he would welcome us to the
team. Coach Brittenham said he was against the idea but he would let it
be a decision made by the team. He would schedule a team meeting, call
for a vote and get back to us. He told us that to his way of thinking, it
would be an injustice to the track team members who work out all year, if he
were to allow us to show up out of the blue. Hickson and I were
speechless.
Outside after the meeting with the coach,
Hickson asked,"What the hell was that all about?"
I offered, "Maybe he was playing us,
like that Solomon deal where he threatens to cut the baby in half?"
Hickson, angry now, "Lets forget the
whole thing. How did this get blown up into such a big deal?"
I said, "We needed to say that in
there, it's too late now. We just have to see how it goes".
We were informed later that the team had met and voted to allow us to join the team. The following Saturday, the University of California
at Berkeley CAL CAL
On the following day, Sunday, I went to
the kitchen to answer the phone. It was Hickson, "Did you see the
paper?"
I said, "No, why?"
Hickson continued, "You won't
believe it! I'm going ape shit!"
I said, "I'm happy for you."
Hickson, still excited, "Our names
are in the paper, a big column about the track meet that Oxy almost won thanks
to two ghosts from out of the past. This is outstanding, you've got to
see this."
The following Monday we were met by Coach
Brittenham at practice. He was livid. He told us he should have
gone with his instinct and never let us join the team. From his point of
view, the paper had made us out to be the cavalry and the rest of the team, who
had worked hard all year long, were the klutzes who were responsible for
blowing it. We reminded him that we were just in the track meet, we
didn't write the article. This was not well received. Eventually,
he cooled down and we finished the season with the team and got our
jackets. Forty nine years later, I still have my jacket. I wore it
to play poker a couple of months ago.