Great memories conjured up for this class of ‘73 graduate. Please keep up your research and reporting. One quick story, as SOL has expired and the principal actor has long since passed away. I had gotten to know a certain freshman linebacker mentioned in your post since we both lived in Walsh. I lived on the first floor right inside the front entrance (he lived upstairs with Mike Escalante). At 2 am on a weekday night first semester he burst into my room with two electric guitars - he’d gotten into a “dispute” with a band at a bar somewhere in SB and had “confiscated” their guitars. He wanted to hide them under my bed. I was in no position to refuse as he was clearly not compos mentis. What he did with the guitars after they stayed under my bed for a day or two I have no idea. This was shortly after he’d “allegedly” (it was widely reported but I didn’t witness it) bitten the head off a gerbil. Not surprisingly he didn’t return for second semester.
Escalante seemed like a very nice guy and reportedly was very good but was homesick for SCal. Having this roommate probably didn’t make his attempted transition to the Midwest any easier.
Our class may not have been so talented but it didn’t lack for colorful characters.
So many more stories...so little time...
A comparable list for my classmates from the class of 72?
...screamed it at the big wooden cabinet Motorola set we had. I was 8. Alan Page was my favorite player. I immediately moved all my Cowboys football cards to the back of my NFC shoe box filing system. I still smile and laugh when the Cowboys lose. Offensive pass interference should be an automatic ejection...not really...but that one should have been.
Another woeful chapter in the tragic saga of life as a Vikings fan...
Great job! I've been scanning Cartier Field, awaiting another effort. Once again, BIG GUY, you hit for the circuit.
Skip partnered up with Domer George Blaha on Detroit radio back in the 80's.
Used to listen to them all the time on CKLW and Skip was a funny guy. Very good storyteller and had a riotous laugh. Blaha helped get him his start in radio. Those guys were entertaining to listen to even though I didn't live in the Detroit market. They talked enough ND to pique my interest at times.
I looked up Skip and was sad to read that he passed of cancer at the age of 60 in 2012.
John Kondrk. A massive human with terminator-like qualities and a permanent scowl that inspired fear whenever he walked down the halls of Keenan. I never witnessed him in a converstion with anyone. When he took one of his acid trips, word traveled quickly. We (freshmen) ran to our rooms and locked the doors.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the story. It soon became apparent, especially after the many washouts that my classmates would comprise the worst recruiting class of Ara’s tenure and one of the worst in modern history. I attended the Michigan freshman game primarily because a high school classmate and friend was quarterbacking the Wolverines and some of his teammates had received scholarships there as well.