When earning a high school 'letter" is all that mattered

A long and winding path to a cherished goal

As I watched a 20-year-old from Walnut Creek win the gold medal in Olympic women's wrestling earlier this week, it brought back memories of my own illustrious wrestling career at my alma mater, Davis High School, proud home of the Blue Devils.

Like all young boys who grew up in the 50s and 60s, my first love was clearly baseball, followed closely by hide-n-seek.

To play in the Davis Little League in those days, you had to be eight years old by August 31 of that year. My birthday of September 12 was nearly two weeks past the deadline and I was crushed knowing that many of my slightly older third grade classmates from West Davis Elementary would be playing baseball that summer and I wouldn't be. I mean, you got your own T-shirt and everything.

Sensing my sadness, as all good parents do, my dad pulled out my baptismal certificate from the Archdiocese of Portland that was signed by the esteemed Catholic priest, Father John Laidlaw, but listed only the year of my birth and not the actual date, even though I was baptised in the hospital on the day I was born, beating even Jesus by about 30 years.

Success. I was going to be playing Little League baseball after all.

Since I was not exactly a terror at the plate or on the basepaths, nobody would have worried about my age anyway, but I did confess that sin one day just to be sure I was right with the Lord.

I stuck with baseball through Little League and Babe Ruth League and even earned a spot on the Davis High junior varsity team, though I was never a star or even a starter.