Megisi, who provided this artifact, writes: "We came in from the 'burbs to play at Dort Field behind Central High School. These are the patches they handed out to the center champs at the I.M.A. Auditorium with kids from all over the city there and Mickey Stanley doing the honors."
You know, upon reflection, I don't think it was Mickey Stanley that year ... he must have emceed one in subsequent years.
ReplyDeletemegisi regrets the obvious error, which is not nearly as egregious as that misplaced apostrophe in "Boy's."
Bad punctuation trumps weak memory every time.
I'm sure there are those who remember what a spectacle those events were in those days. An auditorium full of excited kids wearing their team shirts, sitting together, blocks of color held together with the glue of neighborhood allegiance.
Good stuff, topped off at the I.M. A. perhaps only by the annual new car previews (J.P. McCarthy! Sherm Lewis! Meatballs on toothpicks!), the Harlem Globetrotters' occasional forays and the annual mid-winter encampment of the venerable Shrine Circus.
Later, it was Hendrix and Roxy Music shaking the rafters above wafting blue clouds of herbal bliss. Loved that old joint, er, place.
An auditorium full of excited kids wearing their team shirts, sitting together, blocks of color held together with the glue of neighborhood allegiance.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds a hell of a lot like the gang problems we've got going on. The only difference is, we probably couldn't get them to all sit in an auditorium peacefully.