(Bob Dylan)
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January 28, 2017
Keep on,
Larry Adamson
I just wanted to say a quick thank you to those of you who over the past months- couple of years have bothered to take a look at the various blog postings on Larrygram.weebly.com . You have been most kind in doing such and to those who gave a get back note to me.... a special thanks. "Take good care of all your memories, for you cannot relive them." (Bob Dylan) Again, thank you---Larry Adamson
========================================================================================= January 28, 2017 Keep on, Larry Adamson
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Just some thoughts: February 1st ---February 28th is Black History month. Who is, or was, the most impressive person you've ever met? I was recently asked that question.
I told the person asking, "That would be like asking someone sitting in the front row of a performance of the Rockettes, 'who is the prettiest girl in the group?''" I said I could not name one specific person, but over the years I could name a few that I was fortunate to meet in which I was greatly impressed. One of them was a man named Fred Gray. Mr. Gray is one who I would consider a part of American history. In May of 1996 I spent an afternoon and evening with Fred Gray. Some of that meeting might be a story for another time. Many people might recognize the name of Fred Gray and associate it with two figures in American civil rights history; Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King. At age twenty-five Gray was their lawyer. Mr. Gray was an African American born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. While many associated Mr. Gray with the civil rights movement cases of Parks and King, they fail to know, what I think, is an equally important civil rights story. Looking back on history it is easy to say or think what one might have done, because we can now look at the outcome of such decisions. Not so when all was taking place. Nine months before Ms. Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus, Gray represented a young fifteen old girl, Claudette Colvin, for a similar act of resistance. In March of 1955 Claudette refused to obey a Montgomery city bus driver's order to give up her seat to a white person. When she boarded the bus that afternoon to go home from school she made her way to the back of the bus, the area where all blacks were expected to sit. She did not sit in the section reserved for whites, but she sat in the back of the bus. The number of riders that afternoon was many and she was later told by the driver "Get up and give your seat to these folks." She told the driver, "I'm not getting up, I paid my money and I'm sitting where the black folks are told to sit." The bus driver called the police and she was taken, some say dragged, from the bus and arrested. Interesting note, Gray, being a young lawyer and in my opinion a very astute one, asked a more experienced lawyer, Clifford Durr, to help him prepare the case. Durr was a established white lawyer there in Montgomery. Durr agreed. Durr did this at great cost. ”He and his wife, Virginia Foster Durr, endured public scorn and social ostracism from prominent whites in the city for their sympathetic support and involvement in these lawsuits. I (Gray) will always be grateful to Clifford and his wife, Virginia, for assisting me in becoming a good lawyer. Durr provided this service without charge." Bus Ride to Justice - Fred Gray Having taught American history during the years I taught high school, I considered it an honor and a privilege to be in Mr. Gray's presence even if it was only for a day. Mr. Gray was there when history was made and I believe Mr. Gray helped shape history, not many folks can say that. The world could use more folks like Mr. Gray and Mr. Durr. ================================================================================================ February 17, 2014 Keep on, Larry Adamson Just some thoughts:
He came marching toward him from the garage area and all the boy could think of was, “What have I done wrong?” As he approached him he stuck out his hand, “Kid, you’re going to be ok, you are going to be one of the best.” The year was 1985, the kid was fourteen years old, and his name was Jeff Gordon. The one shaking his hand and offering congratulations was one of Gordon’s heroes, the king of sprint cars, the old veteran, Steve Kinser. Kinser had just done one of the best things someone can do for another, he had affirmed the young man. Webster describes the word affirmation as declaring something to be true, a statement of truth, a positive belief, encouragement. In 1960 when I was a senior in high school I can still remember the words of my baseball coach. “Adamson, if we can get you to hit the curve ball better, I think we might be able to get you some scholarship help to a small college.” Wow! That encouragement coming from my coach meant so much to me. He had played professional baseball, he knew baseball and for him to say that meant much. Well, I never learned to hit the curve ball much better, but I’ll tell you what I did do, I tried harder in baseball that year than any previous year. I tried to be worthy of my coaches statement. Many years later I had the good fortune to be offered a position with an elite sports organization, United States Golf Association; a world recognized organization that was beyond my imagination. I remember how inadequate I first felt when coming on staff. The people I met had credentials and sports backgrounds so much more than I had acquired. I asked myself the question, “What am I doing here?” Not long after arriving on staff two or three veteran staff people said to me in various ways: “You’re going to be fine. You can do this job. You have the necessary skills to do well at this position.” I spent twenty-three years on staff so I guess I did, at least better than I did trying to hit that curve ball. However, those words of encouragement did wonders for me. I believe Jeff Gordon’s life was changed by the encouragement he received on that day. I know what those words of support and encouragement did for me. When you see people with possibilities in various areas of life, encourage them and tell them, especially the young, “You can do this, you will be good at this.” ================================================================================================ March 7, 2013 Keep on, Larry Adamson ===========Just some thoughts: "I've come to recognize that one of the functions of a grandparent or family elder is to pass on these stories, in an effort to sustain a sense of family history across time and the many separations that occurs. This is an important function --the forces that blow families apart have reached a gulf force in our time. One can see this in the demise of the family dinner table. In my childhood it was uncommon for the family to eat less than two meals a day around the same kitchen table." "But dinner (called supper then) was a virtually inviolable ritual. Only natural disasters, severe weather or some catastrophic breakdown in the day's work schedule could daily or abrogate family dinners at the kitchen table. In this I don't believe we were exceptional. Working and middle-class families sat down at the dinner table every night--the shared meal was the touchstone of good manners. Indeed, that dinner table was the one time when were all together, every day: parents, grandparents, children, siblings. Rudeness between siblings, or a failure to observe the etiquette of passing dishes to one another, accompanied by "please" and "thank you," was the training ground of behavior, the place where manners began." Larry McMurtry--Dairy Queen In reading such I though of how in my own childhood how this was true and at those times stores were told and family history remembered. This practice would still serve our families well. =========================================================================================== January 24, 2017 Keep on, Larry Adamson Just some thoughts:
"Why do old men wake so early? Is it to have one longer day?" Ernest Hemingway--The Old Man and The Sea My 75th birthday is just a few weeks away. I seldom have need of that alarm that sits on my night stand next to our bed. Hum... ================================================================================================ January 5, 2017 Keep on, Larry Adamson |
About Larry
Larry Adamson was raised in Indiana. After teaching and coaching for several years he worked as Director of Championships at the United States Golf Association in NJ. He's retired, living just outside Nashville,TN. He blogs about his favorite things: sports, music, old cars, and the good ole days. Click on the about page for more information. Archives
May 2018
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