Dapper Dan, Greenway H.S Class of 1960

This afternoon I talked with Dapper Dan, a tennis team mate of mine from high school. He was in town visiting relatives. We had talked previously to arrange the meeting after a chance reconnect through his sister, Cherie and my sister, the often mentioned Santini. We had a couple of hours' chat at the Black Bear Crossing on the shore of Lake Como. It has been a few weeks short of 50 years since we have been in each other's company, but we still have a lot in common to talk about. We have , however, taken divergent paths. He spent most of his working life teaching junior and senior high school students in our alma mater. He is a recent widower and is, like me, retired. He gave up tennis some years ago, but is now thinking of taking it up again, an activity that I personally recommend. In the interest of history I am posting his photo, and a cropped photo of the 1960 tennis team. Dan is the second from the right, standing next to our young, at the time, coach, Paul Bouchard.



Looking at the photo and the tennis rackets that we used that year in playing the game, it is pretty apparent that I was wielding a poor kid's excuse for a racket. Especially pitiful by today's standards, but good enough to win a few matches and to spark a life time love of the game. I'm at the far left in the photo. The line up includes only Coleraine players, all living within a five minute walk of the courts. Dapper Dan lived about a block away from me at 207 Hartley. Left to right: Jim, Tom, John, Dave. Dan, and Coach Paul - all good Anglo-Saxon names.
I don't intend to exclude today's tennis activities. I played my third day in a row, meeting with the youngest of my usual combatants at Wooddale Tennis Emporium, the Fun Zone. At least one of the players is still in his thirties. We managed two very close and entertaining sets, 8-6, 7-5. Indoor season is nearly done and we're beginning to play outside on nice enough days. Tomorrow, for example.

Has any one noticed that if the French Open was to begin this week, some of the U.S. fans would not be able to get to the action? The air ports in northern Europe, including Charles de Gaulle International are closed by volcanic activity in Iceland. I'm hoping that it settles down soon, because I'm aware of some folks who plan a trek in that direction.

I saw my first shirtless bike rider of the season, a guy who was tooling down Selby unaware of his unique status. It wasn't really that warm today, but it's an encouraging sight. And entertaining.