On the TunneySide of Sports July 22, 2019, #753 To the Moon and Back!
After further review… During this recent July week (July 20th to be exact), most of us in the United States of America took a leave from all the political bashing going on in Washington D.C. to celebrate the 50th anniversary of America’s first Moon landing, Apollo 11, with Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. For many, it recalled what happened in 1969. Sports celebrities, Jim Nantz, Verne Lundquist, Al Michaels, Bob Costas, among others, remembered where they were and what they were doing at that time.
For me, I was principal at Fairfax High (Los Angeles). It was summer school and remember it well. Most adults remember the excitement of that landing.
The follow-up honor for me was the friendship I was fortunate enough to have with Astronaut Alan Bartlett Shepard in the 1980s. Commander Shepard was the fifth person to land on the moon with Apollo 14 in 1971. Not only did Shepard walk on the moon, but he also hit four golf balls with a 6-iron he had snuck on board.
In the mid-1980s, I was invited to speak at a Positive Thinking Rally (as it was called then) in Fresno, California. It was a day-long program with some dozen speakers. I was slated to be the second speaker in the morning session. Commander Shepard and his wife Louise were seated in the second row with his presentation scheduled right after the luncheon. It was an honor to be on that program — Dr. Ruth Westheimer was scheduled to follow me. The highlight of the day was George H.W. Bush, the 41st President on the United States, but at the time was the sitting Vice-President. The final event of the day was singer-dancer-actor Debbie Reynolds. She was terrific.
Commander Shepard and I connected after that since we were both members of the Monterey Peninsula Country Club. We hit balls together on the driving range and even played a round or two. One evening at our country clubs’ special event, we happened to be sitting at the same dinner table. Would you like to have dinner with an Astronaut? Alan was generous with the answers to questions from his table companions. By some coincidence, the four of us, Alan, Louise, my wife Linda and I walked to the parking lot at the same time.
It was one of those beautiful evenings in Monterey, California and as we reached the parking lot, we were struck by how gorgeous the full moon appeared. Commander Shepard, with no prompting, looked up and said, “Every time I see that I think ‘how could I ever have walked on that son-of-a-bitch.” Typical Alan, who died 21-years ago yesterday. I still miss him.
This is one of my favorite pictures of me together with Alan Shepard.
Will you log-in your memories of the Apollo missions “To the moon and back?”
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