[Eugene Church]

MY LIFE IN 1955
EC's Tryin' To Survive in '55

It's early June... school is out... EC has completed the 9th grade at Barton Academy... grades were mostly A's and B's... got C's in algebra... I made the huge mistake of not studying algebra and doing the homework... this would haunt me well into college... the lack of a good foundation in algebra.

I don't remember a lot about the kids at Barton Academy or the teachers... it was a lost year for EC... I didn't get involved... the only friends I had were the guys I played basketball with in the Mobile Recreation League and the Mobile YMCA... I didn't socialize with them off the court, just played ball with them... we didn't win the Rec League title this season... my Baltimore Knicks came in second to the Toulminville Tigers, who had Harvey Creighton, Calvin Clay and Bert Miller, some very talented ballplayers... we had a 13-point lead with 4 minutes to go in the third quarter... we were playing really well and were in control, but we got too cautious and tried to slow the game down and use up the time... big mistake... they slowly got back into the game and tied the score... they won on a last minute shot by Billy Crow... he hit a jumper from the top of the key as time ran out... probably the worst loss I ever suffered in all of my playing days... it was our only loss of the season in the Rec League... we were unbeaten and the champions at the Mobile YMCA league... the only time we lost was when we went out of town to other YMCA tournaments in places like Columbus, Mississippi and Pensacola, Florida... we would usually go 2-2 or 3-2 in the double-elimination tourneys played Friday, Saturday and Sunday on the weekend... the YMCA talent was pretty darn good... a step up in talent from us... I had a typical season for me... averaged 8 points a game... Tommy Williamson, George Hayes and George Hoyt were out top scorers with about 12 points a game each... Dix Riggs and my best high school friend, Richard Yelverton, also tallied 8 points a game apiece... and Bobby McNew scored about 5 points a game... we had seven players and played equally... no one played the whole game... we averaged about 65 points per game as a team... we played together for about 4-5 years and really worked well together... none of us were selfish players... thank goodness, I had basketball and these guys in high school... it was one of the few joys I had in high school.

I didn't play Rec League football, softball or baseball this year... I didn't live in the old neighborhood in Mobile... I was living in Prichard now, a town adjacent to Mobile... Prichard must have not had a Rec League... I tried out for the Barton Academy Junior High basketball team, but didn't make the cut... and rightly so... I was just not good enough... but two of my buddies and teammates did... Carl Vernon Smith and George Hayes were starters and leading scorers... Barton won the league title and were unbeaten in 8 games... they beat Toulminville Junior High for the league title... that was the same bunch that beat us for the Rec League title... but I did make the baseball team at Barton... played a good solid third base... didn't make any errors and hit about .275... EC was no great shakes at the plate, but I could handle the glove and the hot corner... I really had a strong and accurate throwing arm... record-wise we wound up 5-3 and came in third in an 8-team league.

EC had a huge crush on one of the Barton cheerleaders, an 8th grader named Louise Regan... better known a "Weesie" Regan... I had a crush on Weesie all through high school, but didn't have the nerve to tell her or ask her out... at Barton she and my basketball buddy, George Hayes. were a steady twosome that year... yes, EC was in love with the girl of my best friend... I used to moon over Weesie while she and George were walking home together holding hands each day after school... I walked behind them every day, wishing it was me holding her hand... yep, EC was smitten... but they never knew this.

Boy, was I smitten with Louise Regan... I did a silly, silly thing... EC carved my initials and her initials on all of the my desks at Barton Academy... silly me was hoping she would see "EC Loves LR" carved on those desks and find out someone secretly adored her... I was hoping she would respond by carving "LR Loves EC" on all of those desks and we would finally get together.

Sadly my plan to capture the heart of Louise "Weesie" Regan didn't work out as planned.

So it's summertime and time for EC to head to Northwest Alabama and visit my relatives in the Sheffield and Florence area... but it's not the same... I'm 15 now... I didn't spend the whole summer there like I usually did... just a week or so... I did play one baseball game while I was there... Sheffield played Huntsville in some sort of league for 15-16 year olds... it was sort of an All-Star Team from the PONY League I starred in the previous summer... I played a new position, second base, but didn't do too well... I lost a high fly in the lights and dropped it... this was something new to me... playing baseball under lights... making an error was something new to me, too... I think that was the only fly ball I ever dropped in my entire career... the Huntsville pitcher was really good... I led off for the team... I popped out to shortstop to start the game... the pitcher struck out the next eight batters in a row... the second time around I got a walk... we ended up losing 3-2... I think the pitcher struck out 18 batters that night... I was the only one on my team who did not whiff... I went 0-2... got another base on balls the third at-bat... grounded out to short the last time at bat... that was the last baseball game of my life... never played it again.

I often wondered why I never played baseball again...growing up, I was always one of the best players on the baseball team... but when I hit 15, it seemed many of the other kids caught up with me and surpassed me in talent and skill... looking back on it, the problem wasn't age, it was due to my lack of playing experience, practice and playing time... I no longer played baseball at the playground sunup to sundown, year-round... I just played the short junior-high season and didn't get the endless reps that I needed to progress in the game... my basketball skill continued to progress because I never stopped playing it for endless hours and endless years until I was 55 years old... my doctor told me to stop playing sports because I had bulging discs in my neck caused by too many auto accidents... over a 30-year period I had the misfortune to get hit from behind in a car while sitting stopped at traffic lights... it happened 5 times... my discs got worse each time it happened... my doctor told me I might be in a wheel chair if I fell on the softball diamond or basketball court... it was an easy decision to make... I dearly loved my sports, but good health easily won out.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it... I think EC had my first real date this summer in Sheffield... my cousin George got his girlfriend Jeannie to get me a date with her best friend... I think we went to a movie... I knew the girl, Ann... I went to school with her briefly in the sixth grade and the whole year in the seventh grade when I lived with George's family after my stepfather passed away suddenly in 1952... Ann always had a crush on me... She was a really nice girl, but the relationship went nowhere... there were no sparks on my part.

Got some good news at the end of the summer of '55... so long, Prichard... EC is moving back to Mobile and will attend Murphy High School in September.