When I was growing up in Hidden Valley, I was very fortunate to live in a neighborhood with a number of guys who were about my age. Most of them, like me, were sports-minded.
We always had a game of some sort going on – whatever sport was in season.
And in the Summer of ’76, what was ‘in season’ were the Olympic Games. Not to be left out, a bunch of us got our heads together and decided we were going to stage our own Olympic Games.
We were very fortunate to have a couple vacant lots that could serve as locations for ‘field’ events. We had a nice, long, flat street that could serve as a ‘track’ for cycling and running races. Almost everyone had a basketball goal.
In short, there was a lot we could do.
First, we knew we needed to come up with some ‘medals.’ Essentially, what we did was cut out paper circles and attach colored ribbon to the bottom (gold, silver and…well…since there was no bronze ribbon, we used orange). It was actually fairly clever for kids on a shoestring budget.
Unlike the IOC, the HVOC was not well-funded.
We were, however, able to talk my friend, Ed, into playing his trumpet for our opening ceremonies. It’s good to have connections! When we were at FHS, he went on to become First Chair in the FHS band, so you know we got a good trumpeter for our ceremonies.
Only the best!
As we were putting the medals together, we had to determine what events we’d stage. Sprints and longer running races. Our ‘discus’ was a Frisbee®; our ‘shot put’ was a softball; our ‘hammer’ for the hammer throw was two high-top basketball shoes tied together. I think we found some sort of appropriate pole that could be a javelin.
We even set up a slalom-style bicycle obstacle course (in my back yard). I think my folks got a kick out watching us run that race out their back window.
Our ‘Marathon’ race concluded with the winner having to eat a Marathon candy bar. I’m not sure who’s idea that was. I’m not sure it was a very good one – especially in the 90 degree heat of the Summer of ’76. Still, those were the rules and the winner followed them.
The games, themselves, lasted a few days but I think the planning and build-up lasted longer. That was the funnest part.
That was the era we grew up in. For the most part, you had to make your own fun. And in the summertime, you really had to be creative to do that in the pre-internet, pre-gadget, pre-cable tv era. We were.
And looking back, I am really proud of what we did. In fact, I have kept my ‘medals’ to this day – all of ’em. Gold. Silver…and Orange.
JG
Originally posted 7/30/2012
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