The Journey to the West 20

Since I quit writing about my journey to the west some time ago (19) I have been trying to decide whether or not to continue. Of course your journey westward continues whether you write about it or not, and so mine does. I am hesitant to continue because my life from this time on contains many unpleasant aspects, some shameful, some outright stupid, some perhaps unforgivable, and few very positive or rewarding. I am not eager to admit to or discuss this part of my life and I am not at all certain how honest I can be about my life from this point onward. But for the moment, at least, I have decided to continue.

When I returned to the University of Idaho my living conditions changed. For reasons I do not recall very well I lived in what was known as “Ma Brogan’s Boarding House.” Ma Brogan was the mother of Johnny Brogan who had been a standout High School quarterback in Coeur d’ Alene and who had been recruited to play for the University. I assume that somehow the Boarding House must have been part of the deal although I do not know that for certain. I do know it didn’t last much longer than Johnny Brogan. I guess the only reason I was accepted there was because I still wanted to share quarters with Leonard Walker (although we had nothing in common except coming from Wallace High School), so when he decided to live there I just went along. This was a bit strange as I was the only “non jock” in the place. I don’t remember how many athletes lived there but it must have been somewhere between 20 and 30, mostly two to a room. The rooms were all upstairs in this large building, right in the center of the campus, the restaurant where we took our meals was downstairs. Ma Brogan was the cook and obviously in charge of everything. She was a very nice lady.

I don’t remember if Leonard and his brother Norman, both on the boxing team, were the only boxers living there. I believe they probably were. The other residents were a mixed bag of football and basketball players, mostly recruited from the South, but a couple from Southern Idaho. They were all far from academically inclined. The two I remember most vividly were basketball players, one, Stacy Howells, was part Indian, his roomate’s name I cannot remember. I think they were both from Oklahoma. They both chewed tobacco, so they spread the floor of their room with newspaper, set out a couple of large cans, and spit constantly. Every week or so they would change the newspaper and begin again. They rarely attended classes, preferring instead to play a pinball machine in the restaurant, sometimes for hours at a time. Most of the other residents were football players, big awkward linemen for the most part, and not in the least interested in school outside of playing football. Although I was not the greatest student, I was at least interested in books, reading, attending classes (sometimes), and learning at least some of the subject matter. I still refused to attend ROTC classes and knew I would never graduate. Why all these jocks put up with me I am not sure but I became friends with many of them and in some cases eventually helped a couple of them with their assignments.

Leonard was a truly fine amateur boxer, one of the standouts of the team. But he always had trouble making his weight. I think he fought at 135 pounds but when not in training would balloon to about 150. To make his weight he drank a raw egg in a class of orange juice for breakfast, chewed gum and spit a lot, ran up and down stairs, trained religiously, and so on. He was dedicated and went on to win a national championship. His brother, Norman, didn’t seem to have as much trouble making his weight and was also a fine amateur fighter who achieved almost as much in the ring as his brother. At this time the University of Idaho was a boxing powerhouse on the national scene, five of the eight positions on the team were held at one time by fighters from Burke and Wallace: Herb Carlson (also a national champion), Leonard and Norman Walker, Bobby Rivera, and Rex Foreman. I don’t recall if they ever won a national championship outright, but I know they tied for it one year, I think maybe with Michigan or Michigan State. As far as I know boxing is no longer a High School or College sport but in the 1940’s and 50’s it was pretty common. Frank Young was the boxing coach at that time.

I continued my erratic process of doing well in courses I liked and not so well in those I didn’t like. I took classes in psychology and sociology, subjects I had never heard of in Wallace High School. I also took Anthropology and Philosophy courses I had never heard of in High School. I did not do so well in required courses like zoology, math, and physics. I remember being very impressed by one Philosophy teacher, Dr. Moore, but as he was a superior teacher he soon left the University of Idaho for a better position. Another philosophy teacher was a Mr. Seamen who apparently had failed his Ph.D. exams somewhere but taught aesthetics and ethics. I liked him personally, but he was a strange one, about 6’ 3” tall, wearing a large black opera cape his wife had made for him, and not as effective a teacher as Moore. Getting ahead of myself, I took correspondence courses from him later when I was in the army. As far as I know he never received his Ph.D. and years later, after I had achieved that honor, and was teaching at the University of Washington, he was apparently so desperate he visited me to see if I could help him get a position there. I felt bad for him but, of course, I could not help him). I also remember a Mr. Cushman (Dr.?) who taught a course in Great Books. I loved it and did extremely well. My Anthropology Professor was Dr. Alfred Bowers. He was not very inspirational but I loved the subject matter. I took courses in Psychology from William (“Butch”) Boyer who was the head of the department, as well as from a couple of other Psychology Profs. Eventually I was to major in Psychology, so more on that later. I did not distinguish myself during this year but I did well enough to know I could return.

The atmosphere in the boarding house was, shall I say, much more “raunchy” than intellectual. I lived there only this one year.