In the spring of 1974, the Altoona Parochial League held an Olympiad of track and field events at the BGHS practice field at Pleasant Valley. I did well. In the 50 yard dash, I finished second to Matt Schimminger from Our Lady of Lourdes and I think the other medal was gold for some sort of sprint relay with some other guys from McNelis.
(I'd like to tell y'all that I was some sort of fast little white boy. But the truth of the matter was this was Altoona and the APL. Not exactly a rich fertile recruiting ground for high major athletes like, say, Dade County in South Florida.)
What strikes me about the above photo, beyond the obvious impression of what a dork I looked liked then, was what I was wearing. Dress shorts, some sort of weird tank-top, knee high tubers, and a belt! Geez, I am thinking if I had some proper running apparel, I could have maybe beaten Schimminger. You don't see Usain Bolt blazing away wearing a black leather belt!
