Like Tom, at 14, I began caddying a lot for pay at the Lancaster CC, ranked #44 in the country by GD at the time. Carried double for $6 (including the $2 tip). Not too bad, in those days. But at 16, I got my "dream job" mowing greens with a hand mower (5 greens took all morning) and all 20 tees and fringes in the afternoon with a motorized 3-wheel Toro reel mower. What a great job! Sneakers, shorts, tee shirt and out in the sun, ball hawking between greens, conversations with passing players (I knew them all). Today's kids are missing all that. Bill Mellon was the best greenskeeper in the east and President of the PA Greenskeepers Association...also responsible for Eisenhower's private green at his house in Gettysburg. We had the best greens that I've ever played on and Bill was extra fussy about how we mowed them. Rode 2-1/2 miles to the course from home every morning on my bike...except when my mowing buddy Chuck Landis would pick me up in his '37 Ford coupe. We decorated it with a giant crab grass plant on each door. Pay was $44 a week and a summer of that paid for a whole year of college tuition at PSU in those days. Then, after we finished at 4PM, I still had time for a round of golf (we had a family membership there). Mowed greens until the end of my sophomore year in college.
During WW II (age 7-12) the kids on our street would go down to a couple of big fields and play war...dig trenches, wear heavy shirts and any kind of helmet we could get (some guys used kitchen pots), plastic glasses and go at each other with Red Ryder BB guns. (Moms weren't aware of all that, but weren't too worried about BB guns then.) Those BBs would sting, but nobody ever got hurt. Today they'd put us in juvenile jail for that. Had asthma so bad in the Fall that I didn't do any sports in HS, but was the head Basketball manager in winter. We had a "cage," full of unifirms and equipment and, you're right...it did get quite pungent in there. Then, played varsity tennis in the Spring (because I was too slow for track) and there was no golf team. Bernie Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Al Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 11:57 PM Subject: Re: ShopTalk: The Sun is Shinning > Seems that all rolled up like TFlan said was the way we took them home once > a month too. Forgot setting pins at the local alley and working at the car > wash for .10 a car. Of course that was on weekends when you didn't have to > deliver the papers. > > Al > > At 11:07 PM 2/11/2003, you wrote: > >I think I was the first "paid" manager for the high school track team. I > >worked in > >practices and local meets for nothing. Then for big meets the coach insisted > >on paying me > >a quarter to guard the locker room. Can't figure out why. The stench would > >kill > >anyone not used to it. These lockers were wire baskets, so the whole place > >was > >pungent. > > > >Same type uniforms, same way to store 'em ;-) > > > >Those were the days. > > > >Cub > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "tflan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 5:22 PM > >Subject: Re: ShopTalk: The Sun is Shinning > > > > > > > I meant to rsvp to this but dumped it in my haste. Regarding "gym." Did > > > youse guys do what we did with our gym clothes? We had gym pants - blue > > > shorts with white stripes, white socks, a jock that never fit - way too > >big. > > > I couldn't ever figure out what the hell it was for; come to think of it, > >we > > > knew what condoms were . . . rubbers! We had one. We all tried it on. We > > > couldn't seem to figure out how to make it stay on. What was the point? > >Also > > > a pair of sneakers - Red Ball, Keds, Converse, with some some guy, Chuck > > > somethings, name, and a towel. We carried the whole shebang by stuffing > >the > > > socks in one shoe, the jock in another, wrapped the shorts around the > > > shoes/jock/socks, and wrapped all with the towel. Then, the package was > > > stored in lockers until gym 2 days later. I'll tell ya, them lockers were > > > pungent. > > > > > > Food storage? We had an ice box for summer, and a box on the windowsill > >for > > > winter.I don't recall any problems with either. > > > > > > Work? Hell, we were required to work. Pick tobacco, strawberries, > >tomatoes, > > > caddying, shining shoes in saloons in the summer. Winters shovelling snow, > > > scraping ice, hauling coal and kerosene. Work for a 10, 11, 12 year old? > > > Hell no. Them was "chores." > > > > > > I could go on but I agree with Cub. Life was easier/simpler then. Nobody > > > interfered but parents, and then they interfered with a swat on the ass. > >Did > > > it hurt? Yep. Did it matter in the long term? Nope. It did a lot of us a > > > hell of a lot of good, I think. > > > > > > TFlan > > > >
