John Fitz & Danny Casey

I knew Johnny Fitz & Danny Casey since the 3rd Grade....They only lived a couple blocks away, next to The Park, on 85th Street...and they were street-wise and cool as you get.

Wild kids, sure, but they also had wonderful family atmospheres abound. Danny had an old grandfather we would always be amazed by his wry humor as Danny sent zingers at him, to get him riled...But the old codger knew it was a fun game they shared and everyone had a big ol' laugh from the antics....

Johnny Fitzpatrick down the street, had 2 brothers to rough it up with and just an onslaught, make it a passion of being the best basketball player, he could be....They had a blacktop cement pavement top, featuring your typical basketball net strung on the garage....

The basketball seemed to really bounce higher in Fitz's backyard lot...and it gave you a bit of zip, roughing it up, with endless games of HORSE and pick-up games that would go on until it got too dark....

The Fitz's were your proto-typical Irish South-Siders...his Dad a valiant Fireman and his Mom taking care of the 3 boys, Mike & John & Jimmy and little sister Maura too...I always remember going into Fitz's kitchen with WGN-AM radio 720 blasting away...

John's Mom quickly throwing dinner together, as his Dad would walk in, covered in smolten ash. Mister Fitz worked in the harder neighborhoods, where he had more than his fair share of brushes with fire danger...

Meanwhile....Us kids, all us silly little nomads, making it an adventure every day....

One time, me and Fitz, got a ride out to this new indoor amusement park, called OLD CHICAGO. It was indoors....wow....but it was far, far away in a suburb called Bolingbrook, that had a rugged indoor roller coaster, that was super cool, looking in the constant commercials on TV....

Well the 2 of us, Fitz & Me...first, got on a ride called THE SPYDER, that spun you in wacky wild action, up and down and spinning....It was quite thrilling until John started barfing his guts out, 30 seconds into the ride...

Here's this vicious vomit, spewing out, flying out in a chaotic blast, sending shrieks, for other riders. I got hit with some of it.....TTTHHHWAAACCKKKK....!!!...

But others, unfortunately, faired much worse....probably some sticky & cheesy red Chef-Boy-ardee ravioli found its way across the entire park....at that moment...lol...

I too can recall when Fitz and Me and Hop and Danny were gonna start a band...I was gonna play harmonica and we actually tried to play a song together which turned out massively atrocious. See, Hop's older brother, Mike, had started a great "garage band"...so why not us....

Back then, Mister Fitz was the coach of the junior varsity in the 7th Grade basketball team. I gave it a shot...and I could execute running up and down the entire court and throwing the ball up for a lay-up, flawlessly....and as luck would have it....That drill was the final drill that would decide the final cuts....

Boom...I'm flawlessly getting the job done...while the bigger kids stumbled a bit from the added pressure....At the end...I was the last one cut from the team...It was kinda devastating for me, but Mister Fitz had John tell me...I'd never last if I got double-or-triple teamed as a game wound down....and they were right...I was much too short, to handle some ugly scrum, for a ball, so it didn't sting as much....

A classic young FITZ moment when he wasn't as punky....was when we raced home from Saint Thomas More because John wanted to learn to play the Beatles song...YELLOW SUBMARINE...on his trumpet...This was a genuine cool song. Fitz had the sheet music and he puckered up, ready to rock it out with his new trumpet....

Well, John got about 3 notes into the song and it just fell off the Earth and sounded like the most gurgly ill, spasmic noise, ever heard on any planet...We all laugthed at his trumpet efforts...but Fitz didn't care....He knew he'd get it right....with a little practice...

At heart, we were all good kids, who thought we could talk the talk and walk the walk with any punks we encountered....And...All 3 of us went on to Brother Rice High School...Fitz, Case & Me, a few years later and are still very proud of going there, too...