I too was a close friend of Larry’s in high school, perhaps my closest friend  It was Larry who first got me into the GHS Chess Club, which eventually became the Hamilton County High School Chess Champion team in May of ’71.  He also got me into Umpiring.  Below are two stories that I tell repeatedly.

Larry and I met in the hall looking at the geometry test scores posted by Mr. Slomer.  Larry was aggravated by some, in his words “no good stinking M***F***, A**H***, etc. etc with the profanities. I turned to him and asked which student he was talking about.  When he told me, I replied “That would be me” – starting a great friencship.

After Graduation Larry and I planned and went on a trip to “Appalachia” (John Denver’s Country Road was popular then).  We chose Buckhorn Lake in Kentucky – located in a “dry” county.  Being “adventurous” (i.e. reckless), youth we wanted to buy some bootleg beer.  We asked around town and found some youths about our age who said they would sell us some.  I was to go in my car with one of them to the other side of the lake, while Larry rode in a boat with the other.  During my drive along the darkest of country roads, it came up in casual conversation that my passenger had escaped from prison.  At that point, there was no doubt in my mind that Larry was on the bottom of the lake and my future consisted of only minutes or hours at most.  However, when we got to the designated rendezvous spot, much to my surprise and relief, Larry was standing there with a six pack in his hands and a grin on his face.

Posted on: Feb 17, 2017 at 4:33 AM