What is one of your favorite memories of being at Robinson?
I had a special group of classmates from which many are my close friends today to include James Hyde, Rodney Sapyta, Robert Rios, and many others who grew up on or near Bay Avenue. Some memorable moments would be the days Teddy Morgan, Ruben Hernandez and myself would torment Band Director, Zigmund Skowronski. We would play so many tricks on him that I really lose track of them all. One of my trademarks would be drawing cartoon pictures of "Zig" on the chalk board or on the back of pictures hanging on the wall and then reversing the picture. There were also moments when Teddy, Ruben, Daniel LeCompt, and myself would play "stunt man" and literally crash our bodies into the front row of the Samsonite chairs, totally mangling the chairs! I was later caught by Mr. Skowronski "hulking" out some old band uniforms in the storage closet but Teddy took the rap for me and Zig punished him by making him do some tedius chores! And of course, I can't forget many days sitting in back of the bandroom having spit ball fights using my Tuba mouthpiece against others like Sapyta, Bill Tyree, and many others.
There were many memorable "jam sessions" with our rhythm section at pep rallys with Frank VanAtta at the drums, Tony Tramantano, David Dunn and myself. I'll never forget the pep rally in the gym when Tony and I were jamming with "Stairway to Heaven" and Coach Valdes scolded us for having our amps too loud and turning the rally into a rock concert.
There was also the time in Junior English class that Jerry Lambert talked me into trying out for linebacker on the football team. I spent the entire Spring practice '79 getting beaten and battered and not having a clue on what to do? Getting jacked up by Quentin Cope helped me decide that football was not for me- not to mention getting dragged down the field ten yards by Jimmy Scott was no fun. Thanks Jerry!
