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Nancy DeCola

Wow!  You all brought back some great memories of some fun places.  Even though I left Clintonville before 7th grade - Clintonville always seemed like "home" to me.  Started out on Richards Rd., then E. Beechwold, then Kelso.  David Dunn has kept me up to date on the destruction of Olympic Pool - must have spent almost everyday there during the summer.  And even after moving to UA - I spent a lot of time at 100 W Como - with Vicki & Sharon Smith. Watterson was some good years with you all...glad the 50th was such a success.  Keep posting - I'm enjoying it.  

Nancy D.

Bill Reid

I think I have the answers to Jim Hamilton's quiz. The area is called Overbrook Ravine Park. The name of the waterway is Adena Brook. And the large structure to the north is good old Bishop Watterson High School! The "springs" he refers to is Indian Springs Road, which is at the southern boundary of the Watterson property. An "aerie" is another word for an eagle and we all know where eagles nest -- at 99 E. Cooke Rd. Our reunion sure has ignited discussion on this board and I'm enjoying it! But it makes me feel old; I hardly remembver any of the places the rest of you remember so well!

James Hamilton, M. D.

Bill, Congrats, you are totally correct! You even got the "springs" clue. An aerie is an eagle's nest and, as you mentioned, BWHS is where the eagles do nest. The other clue about the canyon refers to Canyon Drive which comes off of Overbook. Overbook goes north to Cooke and you must get on Cooke for a short distance and then turn back on to Overbook. Please send me a private email with a mailing address and I shall send your prize through the post office. Jim

David Mitchell

First let's give all honor and praise to Bill for a beautifully deducted answer.                                                 (did I really say "deducted"?)

U da man!

And to Jim for a brilliant set of clues. 

I should have known this because I grew up on the other section of Overbrook Drive. That section also used to connect to Cooke but has been cut off due to the danger of entering traffice between those steep hills. I walked that section every day coming home from OLP after school - up Shreyer Place with John Jackson and Tommy Lizinger, and then alone over the old "golf course hill" and through the woods to Cooke and Overbrook Drive and up the hill on Yaronia. That hill was great sledding as a kid, until the City screwed it up with salt trucks. 

Looking at that map alone brings back many memories. Glenmont Road is a reminder of two early memories.

First, the site of Glenmont Grade School where I went to kindergarden. I was in the same class with Billy and Dick McNamara (who re-joined our class as seniors when Aquinas closed). One or the other would start crying almost every day and that would induce the other one to cry. The teachers had so much trouble getting them to stop that they would usually call Mrs. McNamara and sure enough, Evelyn would drive over to the school in that big, black '53 Cadillac and take them home early. Billy was the last person I said goodbye to when I left Columbus 17 years ago. I walked into his hospital room as he was checking out of OSU with his second (and last) go-around with cancer. He was there with his wife Monica, brother Dick, Father Jerry Staluka (a few years ahead of us at Watterson), and me. From the look on everyone's face I knew it would be our final goodbye. But I am pleased to say we had enjoyed a few years of renewed friendship after I moved back to Columbus before I watched him go through both episodes. 

Second, I was aware that Glenmont was the boundary between I.C. and O.L.P.  But before we ever started school, and became "parish segregated", a few brothers would always wander down our street (Overbrook, but accessed from Yaronia) from their house at the end of Glenmont to my big yard where everybody gathered for baseball and football (and later, basketball). They were the Strange brothers - Terry, Frank, and Johny (and rarely, sister Bonnie, coming to tell them they were in trouble). Frank and I were the same age and became good "football buddies" (he never seemed to like to come down for baseball). But high school seemed to pull us apart until later in life when I moved my family back from Denver. We had one great lunch together when he was still a VP at E.F. Hutton. He invited me out to see the big new house he was having Tommy Swain build for him - with two of the biggest damn fish tanks I had ever seen, lowered though a hole in the roof by a crane. I always thought Frank was an odd combination - a rough-edged "street tough", but with the kind heart of a child.  

Funny what triggers a memory. 

James Hamilton, M. D.

Mark Schweickart

To: Dave Mitchell-- Well I have no memories of sledding on Overbrook, but I am surprised no one has mentioned that its seclusion provided the perfect romantic getaway within the heart of  the city for another favorite pastime -- slutting on Overbrook. Where else could you pull off the side of the road, and feel as if you were in a far-off woods, safe from prying eyes, until that is, Chief Wiggams tapped on your window with his flashlight and scared the bejeezus out of you. 

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

Mark, you are now going to take this discussion off in an entirely different direction. Never met Chief Wiggams but I think seclusion could also be found down by the casting pond at Whetstone Park. Mind you it was only that one time and there was that inconvenience of the gearshift gizmo thingy right there on the floor but I think it felt safe from prying eyes. Seems like I heard of somewhere on Walhalla or in the ravines back there, too. Of course, we hadn't heard of the Zodiac killer yet!  Clare

David Mitchell

Yup to all three of those spots (and a couple others I won't mention - well okay, the parking lot at Dominion Jr. High was a bit obvious). 

But Heck, you didn't need to go to all that much trouble. After one of the proms, Blanche Rish suggested the safest place was right there in her own driveway. She said her parents would not be up that late and those pesky Arlington cops would never come right into someone's own driveway.  WRONG !

(Note: It's the same flashlight tapping on the windshield and the same "bejeezus" in Arlington too!)

And speaking of where to go for a smootch. Didn't we all take the ritual walk from Watterson Basketball games down the alley on the east side of High Street all the way to Ricardi's? Okay, so you had to walk out in the open on High street until you passed the gas station and Our Lady of Peace, but then the alley took you the rest of the way - in almost total darkness. 

I had to do it my first time as a freshman with a sophmore "big sister" who I didn't even want to kiss - she made me do it. But I learned the routine that night. When I had a crush on Donna Bain, we did the "alley" after a ball game. But I was so scared of kissing her we simply walked - that was all - then had a coke at Ricardi's. I guess that didn't sit well with her. I took her out on a double date one time shortly after that. But when I called her a week later to ask if she got the 16 yellow roses I sent for her birthday, her little sister answered the phone and I could hear Donna yelling in the background, "TELL HIM I'M NOT HOME!"

Shoulda, coulda, woulda in the alley. 

p.s.

Gotta share this - years later on the alumni fundraising "phone-a-thon" (which I did for several years while back in Columbus, I got Donna on the phone in Arizona and we shared a wonderful laugh about that one. 

David Mitchell

Tim, You forgot "Lash LaRue". All dressed in black and had a bull whip that was as fast as any cowpoke with a six shooter.

And speaking of famouse landmarks, how could we forget "Jet Stadium"?

Remember "Catholic Youth Nights" at the ballpark? I saw Boog Powell playing 1st base for the Rochester Red Wings, and Richie Ashburn hit four home runs (minor league of course) for the Arkansas Trevelers. And there were the Richmond Vees, the Syracuse Chiefs, Buffalo Bisons(?), and for a while, the Havanna Sugar Kings (who had to sneak out of the country late one night for their own safety) and became the Jersey City Jerseys (later Jacksonville).

I saw 6'7" pitcher Tom Cheney who struck out 21 batters later for the Senators, Julian Javier, Gene Alley, Don Clendennon, and Big Bob Veale - who struck out 22 batters one night at old War Memorial Stadium (featured in "The Natural") in Buffalo - and LOST! 

My dad took me out one Sunday afternoon and we sat way out in right field past first base, pretty close to the right fielder, a big, black rookie, just up from Asheville in the AA league. The first two opposing hitters lofted easy fly balls that this kid camped under, caught, and then dropped - both of them. My Dad turned to me and said, "this kid will never last the summer here". Dad was right - sort of. That "kid" finished that summer and the next 17 or 18 in Pittsburgh. His name was Willie Stargell !

Lordy, how would I have ever gotten through my pre-teen years without Joe Hill calling those games on WMNI ?

James Hamilton, M. D.

Fred Clem

Gil McDougald, New York Yankees, hit the line drive that smashed into Herb Sore's face.

Fred Clem

Speaking of the Indians, in 1954 (the year we started 1st grade), they were 111-43.  It was the most wins ever for an American League team under the 154 game format and the winning percentage was .721.  In the World Series, they were swept by the New York Giants 4-0.  After the 1957 season the Giants moved to that "City by the Bay".

In that Series, Willie Mays (Bob Curtin's idol) made that fantastic catcch of Vic Wertz's dive to centerfield in the Polo Grounds.

In the 50's the Yankees won the American League pennant 8 times.  The 1954 Indians and the 1959 White Sox were the only exceptions.  Both of those teams wee managed by Al Lopez.

David Mitchell

Wow Tim! How could we have both forgotten.......

"A firey horse with speed of light, and a cloud of dust, with a hardy Hi Ho Silver.

The Lone Ranger!

Robert Berkemer

Mary Clare!..... "the Casting Pond", I'm shocked! But please tell us what kind of car it was... ;-)

James Hamilton, M. D.

Janie Albright (Blank)

Because my brother and dad were big baseball fans one year we went to Jets opening night on my birthday, April 20!  My brother collected cards and still has some although my mother - without Tommy's permission- gave many away to the neighbor kids. :(. I can clearly recall Dizzy Dean snd Pee Wee Reese on our tv in the living room on the weekend. Singing the Wasbash Cannonball!  

Another baseball connection - you guys will remember the name.  The condo we are renting in PV is owned by a lady named Jeannie Maloney in California. Previously she rented it out by the week during high season b/c she thought she could make more money. I wanted it for 3 months. When we talked I said I was from Ohio and she said where? I said Columbus and she said oh, I used to go to Cincinnati a lot.  I asked if she had family there and she said her brother used to pitch for the Reds!  I quickly made the connection and pulled the name Jim Maloney out of my head!  Very good looking on his baseball card. Lol. We have become fast friends ever since and stay in her unit every year now. :)

David Mitchell

Bob, touche!

I too am stunned, and share in your surprise at Clare's revelation. I didn't think nice Catholic girls ever went to "the casting ponds" (other than to watch their dad's actually practice casting in broad daylight).

But then, girls from Whetstone were a differnt matter. I was 2 for 2 there. Two romantic visits and two frightening "tap, tap, tappings at my window". And that god-awful light they shined in your rear window. I think that's what they meant by the phrase "I saw the light". I realized every cop in the north end knew that spot, and I gave that place up for greener pastures.

But yes Mark, Overbrook Drive towards Indianola, right behind my own house (across the creek and belwow the cliff), was the best spot! But you are lucky you weren't a bit older. In late grade school we used to ride our bikes down there on Friday and Saturday night's with big powerful flashlights and wreak havoc with the "visitors". Oh, the things the devil made us do?

Mark Schweickart

I am glad to hear (am I, not sure?) that I was not the only one bejeezed by the tappping flashlight. You have to wonder what was going through the cops minds as they approached still another unsuspecting roadside attraction. Do you think there was a betting pool back at the station with the winner determined by the most provocative stage of undress illuminated by said flashlight? Probably not or they would have no doubt also popped a flash photo in order to claim their winnings. 

Note to Clare-- I just used "Wiggams" as a stand-in name for your favorite harrassing police officer, as in Chief Clarence "Clancy" Wiggams on The Simpsons.

Mary Clare Hummer (Bauer)

Sorry, Bob. You can't get the make & model out of me that easily. It would be a good clue, though!!  😁         Who do you think had the coolest car at Watterson?  Remember when Linda Testa got her Mustang?  I always rode to school with Mary Margaret & crowd with her Dad driving the station wagon. I don't think it was considered cool. And then we walked home every day . . . 3 miles through the pouring rain . . . Wonder why we didn't take the bus???

Clare

Michael McLeod

It's interesting how some of the memories are attached to the hidden glens of our part of Columbus - Overbrook, Walhalla - though I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you, to hear about what went on in them.

Then again I'm in no position to judge. I was always getting into trouble, mostly in grade school.

I got to thinking the other day about the Omar Bakery distribution station that was behind our house on East North Broadway. Remember Omar? Remember a tv ad that went "Ma! Oh, Ma! Here comes the Omar man!" ?

Staples like milk and bread were delivered in those days. Don't know how common it was in the homes of that era but we even had, at the side of our house, beneath the kitchen sink, a rectagular metal cabinet, about the size of a small suitcase, that opened up from the outside so  the milk man could deliver bottles of milk in the morning. Then I think my mom would leave the empty bottles in that little cabinet for him to pick up. And of course we had a coal room, too, with an opening for that pre-gas-and/or-electric-heating necessity, which was delivered through a chute in a basement window. I remember watching my dad shovel coal into the furnace every winter evening.

Anyway the Omar distribution warehouse, where the delivery trucks would go each day to pick up their orders of bread, rolls, and most importantly donuts, for delivery to the homes on their routes, was within view of my bedroom window. An 18-wheeler filled with fresh-baked items would arrive regularly, in the night, and back up to the building. And I watched from my bedroom outpost, and figured out the schedule, and would sneak over in the dark of night, when the warehouse was still vacant, squeeze in between the building and the back of the truck, and steal boxes of still-warm donuts.

I would tell my mom "the guys at the warehouse gave them to me."  Sometimes she had me take a box down to the convent for the nuns at I.C., who never knew they were eating stolen pastries. That may even count against me as a second-degree sacrilege of some sort.

Those donuts, forgive me, were the best donuts I have ever tasted in my life. I never got caught. Don't think I ever confessed it, either. It's a wonder I didn't wind up in organized crime.

James Hamilton, M. D.

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

Janie, I am thinking this would be a great time to take up another collection for the continuity of our website!!  

The fun we are having remembering and sharing the memories is fantastic. We owe you big time. Right, everybody?

Donna Kelley (Velazquez)

That was just a way of saying many thanks, Janie, for providing us  with this forum to allow for sharing all these fun memories.

Guys, your memories and embellishment of your recollections are hillarious. Mike, it would appear that your  bedroom had a window on the world. Who knew?

Mark Schweickart

Clare--I imagine your tryst at the Whetstone casting pond took place in the dark. Are you sure that "inconvenient thingy" you were bumping up against was in fact a "gearshift gizmo" -- just wondering?  

James Hamilton, M. D.