Who are these guys? What are they doing?
A group shot of a bunch of guys in front of Central High School holding basketballs. Big deal, I thought. I’ve shot a zillion group shots in my day. [As always, click on the image to make it larger. After that, you may click on the left or right side of the picture to move through the gallery.]
Where did the picture come from?
I had a darkroom at home where I did most of my work. Under the table was a plastic garbage can. When I was finished making whatever print I needed, I’d pitch the film into that garbage can. Everyone knew not to empty it and nothing but film was ever thrown into it.
About 10 or 15 years after I left Cape, I came home for a visit, rolled up all the film and stuffed it into two coffee cans without looking at any of it. It hasn’t been touched in 25 or 30 years.
I finally dug out the cans for this project and started unrolling film. Talk about unearthing a time capsule.
Now they’re standing in the street
I looked at the next frame. They’re standing in the street in front of the school. Still, that’s not super unusual. Maybe I wanted to try a different angle.
Hey! What are they doing dribbling down Kingshighway?
I activated my bellowphone and hollered to Wife Lila in the next room, “Do YOU recognize any of these folks?”
She was a librarian, so she knows how to do research. She pulled out our old Girardots and started thumbing until she found Terry Hopkins, who was in the picture. She reminded me that we’re all Facebook friends, so I fired off a message to Terry asking if he could help.
Terry Hopkins came up with an explanation
That is easy…we were dribbling the balls to Houck Field House for spirit raiser…now the guys in the pictures….Danny Birk palming the ball on the far left…Keith Kelly number 11 for you…Terry Hopkins front and center( god knows why) Bill Bishop…Nice hat dude!
The second row…Mike Young, Student body president…Mike Stuart (brother of Mark Stuart), Rick Beck 53#… and Michael Melvin Friese…what a group… we were all good friends and all of us hung around together all thru high school.
Thanks for sharing this with all of us.
I think we did this because the year before the “guys” in the class before us dribbled all the way to Dexter for the regional B’ball tourney…
Did you guys get lost on the way to Jackson?
“Are you SURE you were going to Houck Field House?” I asked. “I have pix of you guys heading down Hwy 61 near past Wimpy’s. That’s Arena Park on the right. Houck Field House is up Broadway.
“And, you guys COULDN’T have been the basketball team. You might have attitude, but you’re seriously lacking altitude.”
Terry admits to being fuzzy
We were not the basketball team……
The game was at Jackson……I do remember going down Kingshighway…the rest is a little fuzzier… I do remember going down big hill on the way to Jackson….we ran a relay in cars with one of us dribbling the ball…other in the cars and I think we ended up at the Old Gym in Jackson.
”If you can remember ALL of the sixties…you were not there.”
Send some more of the pictures. maybe that will jog the memory…
I was happy to just remember all the guys…
Mike Friese’s 56 Ford with Bill Bishop hanging out
That is Mike Friese’s old 56 Ford…and Bishop is in the car…the second darker car looks like Mike Young’s 64 Chevy that was used to help keep people from hitting us!
If anyone else remembers this, leave a comment. I’m sure there’s someone out there who can fill in some of Terry’s gaps.
Great work Dude…you hit it out of the park…even the fuzzzier moments were good.
Thanks.
Thanks, Terry. I couldn’t have done it without your feedback.
Consider yourself on my list of folks to call for help.
Interestingly enough, while I was in Cape last month, I was headed into town on Kingshighway not far from where these pictures were taken when I ran into a line of slow-moving traffic headed toward town.
It was at night, so I figured it couldn’t be a funeral.
As I passed the cars, some of them were filled with kids obviously on the way to a sporting event of some kind or another.
When I got to the head of the procession, there were three guys on bicycles pedaling like crazy leading the parade.
Since I’m a cyclist and have a bike blog, http://www.palmbeachbiketours.com , I really wondered what they were doing. Unfortunately, I had a take-out order waiting for me and hunger won out.
I wonder if anyone took pictures of THEM that’ll show up in 40 years?
Kenny,
Great job on the finding of that roll of film
I can only add one thought to Terry’s thoughts–Mike Stuart wasn’t Student Body President–
I was if that pic was taken in ’64-65
It’s fun remembering things like that when you see a pic, so, Kenny, keep up the good work!
Jim Feldmeier
Jim,
I’m not sure when it was taken. It was a mystery roll with no info.
And, yep, I recall well your presidency. Bill Wilson and I ran against you.
SBP was going to be my springboard to a run for President of the U.S. in 1984, the first year I would be constitutionally eligible to serve. Bill Hopkins was my campaign manager.
With his able assistance, I ran third in the race, demonstrating that I should forget about becoming a lawyer on my way to the White House.
(In the old non-politically-correct days, I would say that my political ambitions had been dashed by running third in a two-and-a-half-man race.)
Hopkins became a judge and I became a newspaper photographer. The world is probably better off because of it.
I probably would have garnered a few more votes if Jim Stone hadn’t eaten up all my suckers with the logo, “Don’t be a sucker, vote for Kenny.”
I see Keith Kelley, my cousin.
How many of you are photogs for this site. I feel I should support your efforts. To whom do I make out a check, and to what address?
John,
Thanks for the kind words. With only a handful of exceptions, all of the photos on the site are mine. There are two ways to send money:
1. Go to the top right of the page. There is a small, yellow button marked “Donation.” Click on it and give me what you think I’m worth. Note: negative numbers aren’t allowed.
2. Snail mail: Ken Steinhoff, 1618 Kingsway Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO.
Reprints for personal use are available, too. I’m going to post a longer description about how to make that happen later.
I’m glad you’ve found the site enjoyable.