Bob “Figs” Newton talked me into going out for Cross Country. It was coached by Col. Vander Pyle. Neither of us had any thoughts of making the team that actually participated at home and away meets. Figs plan was simple but brilliant. We would make the required laps around the track and then head out to run to course through the woods. It ended at the end of the football field. We knew would would come in last and we ran it enough to learn who was just ahead of us. At a point where the course came near the woods behind Shorty’s we would stop and light up a couple of cigarettes wrapped in plastic and hidden in our waist band. We even got to the point where we would hide a couple of cans of Coke from the grill at our Smoke & Coke spot. When we were finished we would meander down near the finish point. When the last guy came by, we would start running and as always, we came in last. No one noticed that we barely broke a sweat.