Last night here in Austin my wife had the AC on to high So I didn't want to put on a sweatshirt since all of them had a hoodie attached. I had just come home from YMCA volleyball practice and my granddaughter who is in 8th grade and a head taller then everybody is learning to spike and block at the net.And in the fall will go out for her HS team anyway I went into the closet and put on a sweater since the AC is on automatic and looked in my closet and grabbed a sweater . It was a championship sweater from my HS basketball teams back in 1988 It had my school logo with a net and basket emblem . Think I have worn it 3 times in my life. As I put in on I thought back about how I got that sweater and the crazy Vinny J .
So lets go back to 1988. My HS basketball team won our conference,then sections then won our Regional vs he Long Island Champions and won the 1st game in the Final 4 at Glen Falls NY. Then lost the championship state finals to a team from Roschester NY .. Vinny was a 6'1 fd that could jump out of the gym Back in the day everyone would say " he had ups" Not sure of the term they use today..
About 3 months later I am in the Gym teaching talking to another PE teacher about a conversation I had with my Superintendent the day before about the school will not buy due to budget problems Varsity Championship Jackets for my team but buy a less expensive sweater. I was Ok with that. but unbeknownst to me was Vinny listening in to my conversation . Vinny had asked for a pass to the bathroom I gave him one. About 10 minutes later I hear on the radio " security to the Administrators wing " I ask the hall monitors what is going on. He tells me a student has entered the Superintendents office and threatened him I ask who was the student , They said one of your players Vinny J. State Police and local police have been called but they are going to handle it in house. Vinny will be suspended for 5 days. I'm thinking Uh oh I gave him a pass
About 15 minutes later a substitute teacher enters the gym and informs me the Superintendent wants to see me right now. I'm thinking it has to be about the pass.. Anyway I walk across the HS to the attached Adm wing and his secretary warms me her boss is upset. So I walk in and the 1st thing he says is " do you want a union rep " in here I say is this about a pass to the bathroom . He starts yelling at me saying I sent Vinny in his office about the varsity letter jackets. I vehemently told him no way and the Varsity Club is going to buy them for my team . He starts accusing me of purposely sending Vinny. Then he tells me this kid could of been arrested for verbal threats etc. Now I don't know anything except maybe Vinny was listening to me in the gym. So later the secretary tells me what happended . Vinny with my pass walks through the HS, main office and enters the adm wing He is telling everybody he has a pass. He Knocks on my Superintendent door and tells him I played Freshman JV and this year Varsity. Our school has won 2 championships and I have seen players wear these jackets in front of me I finally win one and you aren't buying our team one . You MF I want my jacket you _ and I'm sure Vinny used a few curse words ..Any way I told my supe I had nothing to do with his reaction and maybe he over heard me telling somebody.
Epilogue..sorry this is long and boring
As I was leaving my supe's office and had my back to him he said " Box find out what those jackets cost maybe we can find some money in the budget. " Vinny got his suspension reduced to 3 days out of school . I got new championship jackets and with the extra money from the Varsity Club they bought sweaters The sweater I wore last night .. My supe was fired a year or two later for other things. I left my school after 27 years and became Principal of another school I got a call from one of Vinnys sisters a few years later that he was killed in Brooklyn in a shooting . I just put my head down and cried. He was Number 33 and he had " ups"
So lets go back to 1988. My HS basketball team won our conference,then sections then won our Regional vs he Long Island Champions and won the 1st game in the Final 4 at Glen Falls NY. Then lost the championship state finals to a team from Roschester NY .. Vinny was a 6'1 fd that could jump out of the gym Back in the day everyone would say " he had ups" Not sure of the term they use today..
About 3 months later I am in the Gym teaching talking to another PE teacher about a conversation I had with my Superintendent the day before about the school will not buy due to budget problems Varsity Championship Jackets for my team but buy a less expensive sweater. I was Ok with that. but unbeknownst to me was Vinny listening in to my conversation . Vinny had asked for a pass to the bathroom I gave him one. About 10 minutes later I hear on the radio " security to the Administrators wing " I ask the hall monitors what is going on. He tells me a student has entered the Superintendents office and threatened him I ask who was the student , They said one of your players Vinny J. State Police and local police have been called but they are going to handle it in house. Vinny will be suspended for 5 days. I'm thinking Uh oh I gave him a pass
About 15 minutes later a substitute teacher enters the gym and informs me the Superintendent wants to see me right now. I'm thinking it has to be about the pass.. Anyway I walk across the HS to the attached Adm wing and his secretary warms me her boss is upset. So I walk in and the 1st thing he says is " do you want a union rep " in here I say is this about a pass to the bathroom . He starts yelling at me saying I sent Vinny in his office about the varsity letter jackets. I vehemently told him no way and the Varsity Club is going to buy them for my team . He starts accusing me of purposely sending Vinny. Then he tells me this kid could of been arrested for verbal threats etc. Now I don't know anything except maybe Vinny was listening to me in the gym. So later the secretary tells me what happended . Vinny with my pass walks through the HS, main office and enters the adm wing He is telling everybody he has a pass. He Knocks on my Superintendent door and tells him I played Freshman JV and this year Varsity. Our school has won 2 championships and I have seen players wear these jackets in front of me I finally win one and you aren't buying our team one . You MF I want my jacket you _ and I'm sure Vinny used a few curse words ..Any way I told my supe I had nothing to do with his reaction and maybe he over heard me telling somebody.
Epilogue..sorry this is long and boring
As I was leaving my supe's office and had my back to him he said " Box find out what those jackets cost maybe we can find some money in the budget. " Vinny got his suspension reduced to 3 days out of school . I got new championship jackets and with the extra money from the Varsity Club they bought sweaters The sweater I wore last night .. My supe was fired a year or two later for other things. I left my school after 27 years and became Principal of another school I got a call from one of Vinnys sisters a few years later that he was killed in Brooklyn in a shooting . I just put my head down and cried. He was Number 33 and he had " ups"
