History since graduation:
Won some - Lost some, still playin'
At the risk of sounding like a contributor to Curmudgeon Quarterly, I'll continue. After four years in the hallowed halls of SPCH, I spent two years in Ann Arbor, bastion of liberalism . . . talk about culture shock. This confused boy then ventured back to the cornfields, this time for two years in Seward, for a BS in Educ and DCE certification.
The next four years I taught and coached at Lutheran middle schools in Ft Wayne and Houston. I really liked the coaching part and decided I wanted to move to public high schools. Unfortunately, my 30+ hours of Lutheran theology didn't help with certification in any public school teaching field. I went back to school full time at Stephen F Austin University (SFA)in Nacogdoches, TX for a year to earn my secondary public school certification. I double majored in kinesiology and English and eventually earned a first masters degree in English. The next few summers were spent half on the basketball camp road and half on campus.
In '82 I landed my first 1A head coaching job. It suited me. Many small schools of East Texas don't have football, and the towns take very seriously their other high school teams. They run their 6th-8th grade basketball seasons in the fall. Then the HS program with the same coaches runs Oct to Feb. Picture a darker Hoosiers with a drawl and cajun food.
Still living in Nacogdoches, I changed schools in '85 and stayed there until we moved to Houston in 2003. I met Cynthia at SFA in '85 and we married in '87. Summers were now half on the basketball camp road and half vacationing.
I love summers. We were Nevada regulars.
When Sofia was three in '96, I quit coaching year round (XCountry, BKB, BSB or SB). I started playing golf again and taking her with me. The next year we started a golf program and a six year run on regionals.
In '98 my HS and I started offering dual credit English classes.
In 2003 we moved to NW Houston, primarily to get closer to Cynthia's folks. Since then I've taught English (mostly dual credit) for three more Houston area districts and two more colleges. I've also done some assistant coaching, most recently golf the last six years with Katy ISD. Meanwhile, Cynthia remained with the same district moving from bilingual administration to instructional specialist to assistant principal. She retired in 2013 and I followed in 2014 in time to attend and photograph all of daughter Sofia's volleyball matches her final year of eligibility. Our 10-year club, hs and college volleyball run is over. Now the kid can return to golf. . . I hope.
I can't play basketball or softball or Ultimate well anymore. Still this games addict loves to play golf, poker, darts and horseshoes. I also like birding, photography and SCUBA. Health issues (lymphedema in right thigh) prevent me from running anymore. Cynthia and I travel frequently, do movie dates every Tuesday (in afternoon so I don't fall asleep) and now read as much as we want.
