The "Remembering the Famous" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just got finished watching Marc Summers host the show "Unwrapped" on the Food Channel. Neat show about how different foods are made. Today they showed how fried pork rinds, cheese straws and cheese crackers, along with a few other snacks, are made. I sometimes decide not to ever eat certain foods again after seeing how and what they are made of. I've eliminated another one after today's show. As I was watching the show I remembered that Marc Summers used to star on Nickelodeon's game show Double Dare. His helper on that show was Robin who was the daughter of my neighbor and fellow Red Rose APBA League player, Ray R. Ray and I had played in the APBA league, which is a league of baseball fanatics who play a board game developed in Lancaster by Richard Seitz, for a few years and always talked about our families when when got together to share a couple of hours playing the sport we all enjoyed. Ray would relay me information about Robin, who I had in a study hall at MTHS. Then I got to thinking about other people who I had in class or study hall that had made it onto TV. First one who came to mind was Jim Furyk who is one of pro golf's best players. He won the 2010 Fed Ex Cup as well as being the 2010 Tour Player of the Year. He also won the 2003 US Open. I remember Jim from high school when I had him in study hall. He also was the catcher for my son Derek when they played together on the MT Cardinal Junior Midget baseball team during the summer of 1983. You could tell he had fantastic athletic ability at that time. Another TV celebrity I had in class was Kim Lemon who is the anchor for the evening news on WGAL Channel 8 in Lancaster. I had her in study in the mid-70s. She was a contestant in the Miss Pennsylvaina contest while a college student. Her dad was my department chairman for many years while I taught Industrial Arts at MTHS. And, how could I forget Brad Rutter who is the biggest all-time money winner in US game show history. He won $3,270,102 during his time on Jeopardy. My co-worker Anne Clouser, who taught English at MT, was honored by Brad at his graduation when he established a scholarship fund in her honor. She was his Quiz Bowl coach when he first got started on his road to success. She died from cancer while Brad was still in high school. Brad is going to compete Feb. 14-16, 2011 on Jeopardy against Ken Jennings and Thomas J. Watson. Seems that Watson is an IBM computer developed to compete in contests of this sort. I know I'll be watching, cheering a former student on to victory. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photo from the top are: Jim Furyk when he won the 2010 Fed Ex Cup, TV Channel 8 anchor Kim Lemon and Brad Rutter (on the right) as he practices for his Febuary match against Ken and Watson on Jeopardy.