Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself - PART XVII

There is much to be said about attending a high profile University like Syracuse, unless you are into the smaller schools where you get to have dinner at the chancellor’s home every Friday night. With 14,000 students, Syracuse is far from being huge like University of Maryland (45,000), but it is big enough to feel a bit impersonal if you aren’t into to mixing it up and partying all over campus on the weekends.  That’s how you get to meet the most students. That’s what I did.

Another way to meet many fellow students is by attending sporting events at the Carrier Dome.  If you are into sports, there is nothing like being part of a crowd in the tens of thousands, cheering the Orange on in football and basketball; SU’s biggest sports. 

Back in the 70’s, there was no climate controlled and spacious Carrier Dome.  There was a bitter cold and often snowy Archbold Stadium and a tightly-packed and rowdy Manley Field House, where the teams fought hard and sometimes suffered the miseries of many embarrassing, lop-sided defeats (especially in football).  In either case, we Orange fans were always there for our teams in great numbers to support the players and trash the competition.  In fact, my aim was pretty good as one of the oranges I was throwing actually made its way to Pitt’s Tony Dorsett’s shiny gold helmet.  His reaction was a simple finger point towards the football scoreboard that was counting up to an eventual 38-0 blowout by the Panthers. 

The results on the field were often ugly during the Frank Maloney years as SU football’s head coach. Former Detroit Lions head coach, Dick Macpherson turned the Syracuse program around shortly after I graduated.  Until then, we were often left cold and wet at Archbold all for nothing and often couldn’t even see the field during the very common and infamous central New York, lake effect snow squalls.

The basketball results at Manley field house were much more respectable under then coach, Roy Danforth.  In fact, nothing was more exciting than SU’s improbable run to the Final Four during my freshman year, the 1974/75 season.  With a TV set up in the lobby of Brewster 4, we all gathered to watch “Roy’s Runts” (Hackett, Lee, Sease, Seibert and Kindel) upset one powerhouse team after another on the way to an eventual loss to a huge and very athletic Kentucky team, which went on defeat at the hands of UCLA in the championship game; the last UCLA national championship with the legendary John Wooden at the helm.  For SU, that was also the last year for Coach Danforth, who would turn over the reins to a bright, young assistant coach named Jim Boeheim.

I loved attending all of the games on campus and would usually attend with a group of friends that also included Betsy.  Immediately, after the game Betsy and I would head for the dining hall at Brewster Boland for dinner.  The food was usually lousy, except for the special dinners they offered now and then. Those dinners often included steamers, shrimp and other campus rarities. Otherwise, we subsisted on the good things the salad bar offered.  That held us over until we either made our way down to Marshall Street for a Varsity pizza or even a famous “THB” (Toasted Honey Bun) from Cosmos.  For me it was an Acropolis pizza, a Jreck’s sub or the middle-eastern sampler at King David’s.  Sometimes, we ordered the stuff to be delivered to the dorm.  At one point, I ordered a small Acropolis pizza to the dorm every night.  The weight piled on fast, too.

When we weren’t eating, we were heading over to “Hungry Chuck’s” (Hungry Charly’s) to listen to some foot stomping music.  Betsy would be sure to stop at Brad’s Brews and Victuals” to pick up some goodies for the room.  I still don’t know what a “victual” is and I am quite sure I never bought one, either.  But, Betsy bought her weird stuff there, such as Friehoffer cookies, smoked trout, smoked oysters and the occasional box of prunes to ward off constipation.  Yes, Betsy was unintentionally funny back then, too.

During the summer of 1975, Betsy and I stayed close and spent lots of friendly time together.  When we got back to campus for sophomore year, I moved into a split double with Jim Keehn on Brewster 4 and the real fun began on campus.  In the fall of that year, I also met Betsy’s best friend Susan Brown, who came up to campus to visit.  She was attending Albany State University and took the bus up to Syracuse.  I liked Susan, immediately.  Not only did I think she was cute, but she had a great personality.  We began dating.

For the next several months, Susan and took turns traveling to each other’s school for the weekends. It was like a vacation for each of us.  Albany State had a very sterile campus.  It was like a fortress in a very run down and uninteresting state capitol city.  The campus is compact with everything underground and four tall dorms on the corner looking very much like a prison compound.  So, the main attraction at SUNY Albany for me was Susan.

When Susan came up to Syracuse, we also enjoyed ourselves.  We did things together and had fun.  The fun and relationship continued on throughout the year and included many visits to each other’s homes; hers in Jackson Height’s Queens and mine in Manalapan.  At times she complained that I wanted to see her in New Jersey more; probably, because I had my car and we went places.  Susan was the consummate New Yorker and loved going around the city to dine and enjoy the happenings from Times Square to Lincoln Center.

It was nice having a relationship with someone special once again.  That relationship continued on for a good year with none of the “Mona-style” drama and heartbreak.  Susan and I were committed to each other with no games or BS involved.  Yes, we eventually did end our relationship based on some personal growth issues, but we ended it in such a way that we and our spouses are still good friends to this day.  This is especially important, since Betsy and Susan are childhood friends.  It worked out very well for all involved.

During the time Susan and I were going out, Betsy was still very much in the picture.  It was nice that both Susan and I shared a history with her and we could all laugh together at each other and at ourselves.  One time, Susan and I went to visit Betsy at home; nearby Susan’s parent’s apartment.  Betsy sat on her bed and Susan and I sat down on chairs.  As we were talking I asked Betsy, “how’s your love life?”  At that precise moment, Betsy’s clock radio alarm went off to a loud shrill.  We took that to be an answer from above and laughed our heads off.

I also remember spending the Bicentennial weekend in New York with Susan and her friends, Stew, Jeffrey and Alan.  These three guys reminded me of the
Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion. Funny guys.  By the way, Susan ended up marrying the tin man, Alan.  That night we all went to China Town and had a great meal at Hung Fats.  The city was abuzz with activity until the wee hours of the morning.  We actually took the subway home to Susan’s house at 2 am.  It felt so safe.  That weekend, Betsy was visiting Israeli and it was the eve of the Raid on Entebbe.  We were worried that Betsy would be alright. We pictured an Israeli celebration taking place in the streets with Betsy carrying a shopping bag from store to store buying candy and – then (to us) disgusting things like – chopped herring and baked salmon salad.  We were at an age when eating a dirty water hot dog from a street cart was cool; not chopped herring.  Not for American 20 year olds.  We roared just thinking about that.

Susan and I broke up the day before my sister was making me a twentieth birthday party at her house. Why a twentieth instead of a twenty first, I have no clue.  Desly loves to make parties so that she can be the center of attention.  In any case, all of my friends were invited and I felt bad that Susan and I had broken up.  Betsy was always the soft shoulder to cry on and my sister was speaking to her on the phone about my breakup.  I was happy that Betsy would be coming to the party.

Sophomore year at college had ended on a nice note and it was to be the last year of dorm life for me. Jim and I teamed up with another friend, Phil Hertzog, to take an off campus apartment.  We located an old house on Standart Street,
which was on the edge of the roughest area in the city.  Mom and dad weren’t too happy with our choice, but went along with it.  Mom still says that for two years she laid awake at night imagining us all burning up in that fire trap or getting mugged and killed on Standart Street late one night.

I was very excited about having my own apartment to share with friends and better yet, to have my car on campus, finally.  It was a new chapter in college living as an upper classman.

An apartment, a car, two dogs and Betsy.  Choosing a major and seeing the college finish line in my sites. A fire, a break-in and news of a lost love lead to something special and enduring. To be continued….