Earlier in the week I had a message from Jerry Johnson, McCaskey Class of 2001 and current athletic director/basketball coach at La Academia Charter School here in town. Their program is still relatively new, it started in 2019 and they play most of their games on the road since they have no home gym. Jerry worked out a deal to play some games at Stevens College (a small two-year technical school on King Street not far from where the late dek hockey rink was at Reservoir Park) and he asked if I'd be available. I was not for the game on the 21st because of the Royals (and had there been no hockey I would have been at JPM anyway) but the following night worked out. Thursday was a miserably rainy day, it was still coming when I arrived at Stevens an hour before the 6:00 start. I had never been in this gym before but it is an excellent facility for a school its size, I was told it has only been around about ten years or so. I noticed a plaque in the lobby honoring the memory of the late Steve Powell, longtime JPM coach who was an advocate for the college and a member of its board of trustees. This game was varsity-only (L.A. doesn't have a JV squad) and very competitive, visiting Columbia (from LL League Section Four) won 50-48. I did two games for Jerry in 2021 when they played "home games" in the state playoffs and I'm more than willing to help when I can because he's a good man and a class act. The all-day rain was gone by Friday morning, it ushered in a weekend of bitterly cold temperatures. We had our usual Saturday lunch in Quarryville, daytime highs were in the teens with wind chills below zero. On Sunday (which to some people was a holiday of some kind although it's been nothing to me for decades) Helen invited me in for her traditional dinner of ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, lima beans, carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie for dessert. I was there around 3:00 or so, the meal was ready a short time later and it couldn't have been better. Of course the most important thing was being with Jenny for a few hours, it sure as hell beat sitting around my place doing absolutely nothing. Take care, thanks for reading.
