In 1955, when I started my freshman year at Carl Sandburg High School, I was in a daze.
That summer, my parents had moved from Oak Lawn, where I’d just graduated from St. Gerald’s Catholic elementary school, to rural Hickory Hills. When I started at the just-opened “Sandburg” everyone was a stranger to me. And I was shy.
Worst case scenario! My first day I missed the school bus! Fortunately, a CSHS teacher driving to school saw me waiting…on the wrong side of 95th Street! He kindly stopped, and gave me a ride to school. I don’t remember his name (in a daze)…but thanks!
Growing up I had played few organized sports, and those not very well. But I was big - a pudgy, six-foot, 200 pound freshman!
Between classes, dozens of other dazed students and I scrambled to find our next classrooms. A smallish teacher/coach stopped me in the busy hall, looked me up and down, and asked, “are you trying out for football?” I needed friends. I was taught to respect my elders. I said, “Yes?”
The first few days of football practice were punishing. I recall doing jumping jacks in a team circle, my body rippling, but not with muscle. I rubbed my aching stomach and grimaced. I overheard another player say, “he won’t last long!” To my surprise, I decided to last long. Starting as a freshman couch potato, I ended up earning letters in football, track - and wrestling - all four years.
CARL SANDBURG HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
• 1957 - 1st place - Southwest Suburban Conference Tournament - 175 pound weight class
• 1958 - 2nd place - Illinois State Wrestling Championships - 175 pound weight class
• 1959 - 2nd place - Illinois State Wrestling Championships - 165 pound weight class - 27-4-1
CSHS provided me with opportunities to make friends, some I still correspond with today. I also learned to write “verbose” essays, date girls, sing in the choir, act in plays, dance, make tin scoops, play pranks, and speak Spanish. I transformed into a buff, outgoing athletic type.
(In the early days Sandburg’s school mascot was “Baldy the Eagle.” Now appropriate for me.) My senior year at Sandburg, 1959, Northwestern University offered me a wrestling scholarship (thanks coach Devine!). This paid for my Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science.
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY (NU) WRESTLING
• 1961 - 1st place - Big 10 College Conference tournament - 191 pound weight class
• 1963 - 3rd place - Big 10 College Conference Tournament - Unlimited weight class
• 1963 - 4th place - U.S. National Collegiate Wrestling Championships - 191 pound class
In 1967, I earned a Masters degree from NU’s Medill School of Journalism. Soon I was writing a daily business column in the Chicago Tribune.
Years later I got to give back by coaching kid’s wrestling (as young as 5 - fun!) in Oregon.
Today, I’m happily retired in Southern California. My wife Linda and I enjoy living close to our two children and four grandkids. I still play sports. But I find golf and tennis now more appropriate to my age. I’m currently in the 210 pound weight class. Thank you, CSHS coaches, teachers, staff, and fellow students. “Once an eagle, always an eagle!”