"I was born a poor black child..." - Steve Martin

I got to thinking about my childhood and how I left much of it out of my bio. I was born in Omaha, Nebraska a long, long time ago. (I babysat Moses when he was a baby) I grew up in a tract house at 521 N. 77th Ave. in what was once west Omaha. My Dad was a carpet mechanic and my Mom worked for General Motors. We lived a block from Omaha's first mall, The Crossroads and Peony Park, an amusement park and 20 some acre sand beach "cement pond". It had amusement rides, including the octopus which I filled with regurtitated chili while riding with my cousin Jerry from Utah. I haven't talked to Jerry since that incident. Peony Park also had The Royal Grove, an outdoor amphitheater that regularly featured big bands of the 60's. I remember sitting in Roberts Park across the Papio creek from Peony Park and listening to the Grass Roots play. A magic time in my life. Until the mosquitoes came up and nearly sucked all the blood from our pudgy little bodies. Later in life, the station I worked for, the Mighty 1290 KOIL sponsored Sprite night there, which later was renamed by the KOIL Good Guys as Fight night. A chance for local youth to come and listen to music and beat the holy Bejesus out of each other. Also a chance for some of the Good Guys to dip their pens into some young listener ink.

Peony Park pool was where all us Westbrookers (junior high) hung out in the summer. I think it was also the first time I recall seeing a real nipple which just happened to be under Ann Weber's yellow bikini. I wouldn't see a live bare nipple again until I was in college. If I had a picture of Ann's nipple I would include it here. Ann was a character. Remember Grand Funk's "four young chiquitas in Omaha..."? (We're an American Band) Ann was one of them. I also know who two of the other three were but I never really knew them that well.

In 7th grade we moved to 8520 Decatur in Omaha. That's when I started my friendship with who would become my best friend ever, John Sternad. A construction accident took his life in June of 1975, which would become a turning point in my life. More on John in another post. Watch for the story about John and my dog Reno.

We lived on Decatur St. until I moved out in 1975 (to live in my Grandma's trailer) and my parents sold that house to buy The First Mate Tavern at 77th and Cass. (Which would later become an official drinking spot for The KOIL Good Guys, and some of the KFAB guys too) It was the same building in which I committed my first burglary when I was 5. It had been a candy store and me and Kirk Englebart thought that even though it was closed, that maybe they had left the candy. We broke in, they hadn't left any candy and we were one step closer to being felons and residents of Boystown. We cleaned up our act and went straight. Kirk is a teacher or something somewhere. Probably very successful. The thing I remember most about Kirk is that he believed you should change your underwear before you went to bed. I never understood that logic. Underwear has two sides for a reason.

My freshman year at Westbrook Junior High was my finest hour. I played on the only winning football team that school ever had. Mark Kershaw was the quarterback and I was the center. (he would later fondle Stacy's leg under the table at Village Inn after the 20 year class reunion. Come to think about it, he had once had his hands pretty close to my boys too!) Plus the toughest person I've ever known, Mark Boyer (who is being inducted into the Westside High School Sports Hall of Fame this year) and my friend John. I was in love with Micki Sartori, and she with me, until Pam Schissler came up to me after a game and kissed me. My first real kiss, and come to think of it, my last for quite a while after that. Micki dumped me as did Pam shortly thereafter.

I went to Westside High School and graduated in 1973. (at the age of 3) I spent my high school years riding my 1972 Yamaha DT2 Enduro motorcycle, egging houses out of the back of Steve Anderson's lawn service truck, working on my 1967 Camaro, the car I had after my Dad sold the corvair. My sophomore love was Teri Stasney, daughter of my parents' longtime friends Dean and Betty. I screwed that up by telling my friends I made out with her at the drive inn. Teri and her husband Tom own some Relax the Back Stores in Omaha and here in Kansas City. My only other real love in high school was Peggy Siert. We never even went out. Much to my dismay, we were just "friends". She dated Rick Wilson and Joe McCue. She did attend some Lamda Chi Alpha fraternity functions with me in college.

So, that's my story through high school. I'll probably refer back to this part of my life from time to time, so commit as much to memory as possible.