a relay to remember

On a hazy, lazy summer day, up at The Park...there was nobody around...in 1976...Where was everybody...the whole gang is gone...Am I being ditched...???...I wander up to the field house...and Rich the Park Instructor tells me...

"Get your buddies together, we are having a track meet here, today...Right Now...!!!..."

I don't know what to do, but somehow Fitz and Eddie B wander up, but Rich tells us, "You are gonna need a 4th guy to run the relay race..."

Us 3 look bewildered at each other..."Whadda we gonna do...???...Out of nowhere, Marty Rogers shows up, out of the blue...What strange luck to have us all together, right at that crazy moment...

So, we set up for the Relay, Fitz up first, ME the 2nd leg, Eddie B the 3rd leg, then Marty Rogers bringing it on home as the anchor...Have we gotta chance at winning, I ask Fitz and Fitz says, Don't worry about this, it's a piece of cake...

I never seen any of these kids who showed up by the carload, to race that day...I had no clue, what to expect...or did I...???...

The race starts...Fitzie's got a head full of steam, handing the baton to me, about 3 feet ahead of his counterparts....I took hold of the baton and darted, way fast, my mind racing faster than my feet. As my 2nd leg is finishing, I feel other competitors catching up.

Boom...I get a sudden burst and slap-over the baton to Eddie B, who rips the baton out of my hand and ferociously, takes off like an angry tiger...No-nonsense Eddie B, was in full power mode and out to do some damage, running each step, harder and harder.

Me & Fitz are bent over, huffing and puffing, with Fitz saying, "All Bar's gotta do, is get that baton over to Marty, without dropping it..."....And Eddie Bar, did just that, almost coming to a complete stop, just relaxing with a big lead...

...easily handing it to Marty, with a big smile, who takes off, in a puff of smoke. You see, everyone, all of my buddies know, Marty Rogers was quicker than lightning...His mercurial speed was amazing and he blew the competition away by 40 yards....

VICTORY WAS OURS...!!!...

I left the "track meet", after we got our trophies. Believe me, I was flying high...What a rush that was. Totally, out of the blue, excitement...It cleared my mind of missing the basketball cuts a few months back, and had me so sky high...But then, about a block from home, I dropped my trophy, to the ground, breaking it into 3 pieces...

I burst through my kitchen door, anyway, elated, on 86th Street....and threw the broken trophy on the kitchen table and told of my exciting day of running the relay...up at The Park...My Mom was very happy, and my Dad even smiled...He said to me..."Jimmy, jump in the car, let's go get that trophy fixed."

We rode up to some special novelty store 0ff 95th & Western with long aisles full of trophies...

My Dad slips the trophy guy a $10 bill and says..."Do what you can..."

Next thing, you know, I'm walking down the street with big golden column, with a golden runner on top..."....It's a top notch trophy now....and my Dad cleared away, all my brother Joe and Danny's dozen trophies...and set mine in the middle...looking like a million bucks...

It was a clear cut memory, that I would have some mark of acheivement, in my sports activities, and surely something I will never, ever, forget...Secretly, I think my Dad, wanted to show everyone he knew, his son was a bit disabled...

...But that, Jimmy, was never gonna stop, trying, to be his best, like my Uncle Jimmy, a great football player, my Dad, named me after...his brother, JIMMY O'LEARY, a star running back for Mount Carmel H.S. and University of Detroit...in the 1950's...

The wild relay race that day, put us 4 crazy kids together by pure chance, and it just felt like an unbelievable, magical day I didn't want to end...anytime soon...

(...BTW...I "googled" my Uncle Jimmy's name...and he was inducted into a Hall-of-Fame as a quite successful football coach...in the Detroit area...back in 1977...Jimmy had died tragically of a brain anyerism, in his early 30's...back in 1962...)