My Wrestling Career

At South Cache Junior High School wrestling was a course in P.E.  Everyone would learn some basic moves and then we would have some fun.  Along with this, there was also an intramural wrestling tournament rather than a formal team competing against other schools.  I had some pretty good runs in these tournaments.  My major rivals were Kay Dickey and Deno Blau.  I remember ninth grade year making it to the finals wrestling against Deno Blau.  We had quite a struggle.  During the first period no one scored a takedown and the score was 0-0.  IN both the second and third periods, the man on top was able to ride out the period and still no one had scored.  We went overtime, and I won the toss and was on top.  However Deno scored the escape and won 1-0.
Now I shouldn't hang my head losing to Deno, as he was state champion in high school. 

I didn't continue with wrestling in high school.  My sophomore year I broke my wrist just before school, and as a result did not have sixth period athletics.  I tried coming after school, but the other kids already had an hour of practice on me.  I didn't have the tenacity to stick it out.

My Life in Theater: Ninth Grade, Mini Musical, 1972

1972 I was in my last year at South Cache Junior High School.  We had a new choir instructor that year.  We presented a review of different shows, Oliver, My Fair Lady, Fantansticks and Sound of Music.  I sang in the chorus.  The men's chorus did "food" which was very fun.  We also did "Plant a Radish."  As a full chorus we also sang "Edelweiss."  I was one of the Von Trapp children in "So Long, Farewell."  In addition to the shows at the school, a few of us, including the Von Trapp kids sang in our ward relief society.  I remember after the show Dad taking us our for ice cream one night.  I was wearing my Sound of Music costume.

Hyrum Lost a Friend This Week: Art Keeley

    http://www.allenmortuaries.net/obituaries/Arthur-Keeley/#/Obituary
    Growing up I was good friends with David Keeley, and consequently spend quite a bit of time in the seminary building where Art Keeley worked.  There were two classes.  Brother Keeley was always there, while the other teacher seemed to have more turnover.  Brother Keeley had a snack drawer where he would sell candy.  Some weeks I would take my lunch money and blow it on candy.
     Going home from school, we had a half hour wait for the bus to come.  So with David we would hang in the seminary building where we played a lot of ping pong.  There were four of us, David, Terril Morgan, Randy Allen and myself.  We also spent a lot of time in Brother Keeley's classroom on the piano.  Randy would really play, and the rest of us would play "Peter Pumpkin Eater" on the black keys or "Chopsticks" or "Heart and Soul."  Some days Brother Keeley would have us help with different chores.  We went in the basement several times storing things or bringing things from storage.
     Some days we over did and missed the bus.  Then Brother Keeley would give us a ride, although I'm not sure he always liked us tagging along.  He had an old white station wagon.  They would have to stop at someone's house on the way where they bought fresh cow's milk.
     Brother Keeley had a good sense of humor and would use it in his class.  I remember he made a game on Jeopardy game on Church History and the question was, "liquor on the top shelf."  The answer was "Hyrum," the town where I grew up.
    At South Cache there was an annual basketball game; faculty verses ninth-grade boys team at the end of the year.  Brother Keeley would participate, sometimes as the ref, with the goal of bringing some comic entertainment.  He would do a good job.
     A few years later, 1981, when I graduated form Utah State, there was a special article in that Art Keeley was graduating with at least a couple of his children, including David.  He had gone back to school to get a Masters in Special Education.  He had developed an interest as a younger son was born with down's syndrome.
     The Keeley family was a large group, and I know I can't remember them all.  Claudia the oldest, and then David, my age, James, Lisa, Kevin and then a few younger siblings. 

My History in Theater: The Pajama Game

During my school days, I was in The Pajama Game twice; eighth grade at South Cache Junior High School and Senior year at Sky View High School.  Well, in eighth grade I was actually in the chorus, and we sat on these hard wood benches they had placed in front of the stage.  But I saw the play over and over.  I remember Hal Machley was the male lead.  I don't remember who was the female lead.  The best song was "Steam Heat."

Senior Year, Sky View 1975

I must admit I was disappointed when Pajama Game was announced as the school musical my senior year.  However we had some fun with it.  I only had a minor part, as the salesman.  The salesman  rought back the sabotaged pajamas and placed them on Hinsey, who then loses his bottoms.  And then at the end he was the person introducing the pajamas as the pajama fashion show.  We were double cast and the leads were Craig Buttars and Chris Jensen as Sid opposite Ginger Hamilton and Helen Denton as Babe.  Helen took Spanish with me a couple years.
Again Steam Heat was the show stopper, along with the dropped pajama bottoms, especially the day Danny Jonas forgot the boxers, and ended up in his jockey shorts.  Everybody jumped a bit more that day.
The show was double cast, including me, but I was a factory worker in the other cast, and sang a short solo.  Also built a pyramid at the company picnic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6Ij-SJPzYU&feature=plcp

 Me (Salesman) lauding pajamas at a pajama party

Sid and Babe

Sid and Babe

Tick Tock

me and the guy

Sid and Babe, Two can sleep as cheap as one

Summer Science Camp: 1971

I'm pretty sure it was between my 8th and 9th grade years that my dad signed me up for Summer science camp.  A couple teachers from South Cache directed it.  One of them was Ed Jensen, who taught math.  It was a field program, where they took us to different locations in the environment every week.  One of the first trips we went up Wellsville Mountains, following a t.v. transmitter route.  We got on the hillside and looked at the plant life.  We saw a sego lilly, which had been important to the early pioneers for food and is now the state flower of Utah.  We went that way again, following the highway through Sardine Pass, and stopping almost opposite where Sherwood Hills is located, and climbed on a hill know as Coral Mountain.  We looked all over the mountain for fossils of horned coral.  I actually found one and brought it home with me. 

We made a trip up to Porcupine Dam.  I remember this trip as Dave Jensen, who was a Pony Baseball pitcher, threw a rock off the dam underhand, a lot farther then I could ever think of throwing. 
The biggest trip of the summer was to Minnetonka Cave over by Bear Lake.  That trip was an all day one and we had to take a sack lunch.  Minnetonka cave is very cool, even in the summer and it has lots of stairs and is a pretty good climb.  It is also very pretty inside the cave. 

Another trip was to Tony Grove, and this trip marks the time when I was lost in the wilderness.  We hiked from the parking lot to a lake a bit more than a mile away.  We used the buddy system.  I can't remember who was my buddy.  Going to was pretty well marked.  It was coming back that we had a problem.  Somehow we missed a turn,  My buddy and I continued following a creek when we should have crossed.  We continued walking to the East for some distance before we realized we had gone he wrong way.  By then every one else had passed, and we couldn't find the trail.  We continued following the way we were going, knowing we would come out eventually.  We had to wade through a couple of creeks.  We did cut across so we didn't have to walk all the way to the highway, but found the road going into Tony Grove.  This saved us time, because going cross country is slow going.  We weren't on the road long, when the bus pulled up, as they had been looking for us.  I guess we were pretty lucky, because people have gotten lost in the same area for days.