Much like last time when she asked her mother directly for an answer for her Mother’s Day Potpourri post, Andrea is the only one brave enough to email her father weloveyoudad.jpgweloveyoudad.jpgfor a story to share on Father’s Day. So here’s to Andrea’s papa, and the two kids, (her brother Adam is in the picture), who love him!

I talked with my dad on the phone in preparation for this post and for Father’s Day. We got to talking about when he was involved in sports back before he was just a supportive spectator for my brother and me at countless basketball tournaments, softball and baseball games, dance team competitions, golf meets, soccer games and volleyball matches. While we were talking, there was one moment that came up because I’d heard the story before and it always made me laugh. Now, you’d probably have to know my dad to fully appreciate the humor, but here it is.

My dad grew up in Allison, Iowa and went to Allison-Bristow High school. (Iowa schools are notorious for combining two or more towns into what we like to call “alphabet” high schools. Allison-Bristow, Waverly-Shell Rock, Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock. The best is BCLUW and I cannot for the life of me tell you which towns those five letters stand for). Needless to say, even with Allison and Bristow combined, the high school was still small. ABHS had about 40 people per graduating class. Therefore, everybody even remotely athletic played every sport. My dad was a good football and baseball player, but basketball wasn’t really his thing. He said, “I was about 9th man on the team.”

So one year the team had an away game against one of their rivals, Clarksville. For away games, the team had to wear their street clothes on the buses and change into their uniforms in the locker room. Well, the AB guys got to the away site and the best player on the team, Stan Wubena, realized he had forgotten his basketball shoes. All he had were his dress shoes. The coach walked around for awhile, trying to figure out what to do and pretty soon he asked, “Who’s got size 11 shoes?” And nobody said anything.  So he asked again, and started walking around looking at the guys’ shoes. He finally saw that my dad wears size 11 and he barked, “REIHER! Give ‘im your shoes!” and my dad asked, “Well, what am I gonna do?”  and the Coach said, “Go out there in your stocking feet, you don’t play much anyway.”  So, my dad gave Stan his shoes, and rode the pine in his socks that night.

PS: When I called my dad to get the full story, I asked him if he remembered the “best player,” what his name was. And my dad (memory like an elephant) goes, “Oh yeah, that was Stan Wubena. I saw his dad the other day.” Oh, Iowa.

Happy Father’s Day, dad!

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11 Responses to Father's Day Aftershave – Lady Andrea

  1. metschick says:

    I want to see a pic of Mr. Reiher riding the pine in his athletic socks.

  2. Texas Gal says:

    I agree, Metsy! Because I also imagine the socks to be tall and stripey at the top.

    Great post, and great story from Dad, LA.

  3. ladyandrea says:

    How embarrassing is it that I don’t have a single picture of my dad? I was even going to take a picture of a family picture, but it’s at my office on my desk. Sad day. So instead, a picture of his progeny.

    Also, I can’t speak of his basketball socks, but his baseball socks were stripey.

  4. LA – For the record, my dad also “played” high school basketball. I don’t think he took the floor more than twice, and his senior year, gave up and became the team manager.

    That Stan Wubena should have just played in his dress shoes.

  5. UkraineNotWeak says:

    Nice little story. My Dad also played basketball in high school but unlike your Dad, my Dad was a starting guard and made one of the all NYC teams while at Abe Lincoln High in Brooklyn in the early 40s. He would’ve been the one taking your Dad’s sneakers in a similar situation.

  6. ladyandrea says:

    The early 40s? Wow, you ARE old. : )

  7. UkraineNotWeak says:

    I’m the youngest of four and Dad was in his 40s when I was born. Actually, my sister and my oldest brother are my half siblings. Dad’s first wife died when she was 30 and he was 33. Dad then married my mother, who was 12 years younger than him and had two more kids. Unfortunately both of my parents are deceased. Mom having died 18 years ago and Dad 10 years ago.

  8. ladyandrea says:

    Well. Don’t I feel like an asshole. I’m sorry to hear about your parents. My mom was at least 40 by the time either of her parents died, but she still said it is horrible.

  9. UkraineNotWeak says:

    Don’t feel that. BTW, Chicago and Wrigley were tremendous. See you later on DUAN. Vegging and concentrating on the Open. Would love to see Furyk somehow pull it out down the stretch. Would mean big money, over a grand, for me.

  10. Moonshine Mike says:

    you gamble too much Ukraine. I stick to things I know, like drinking.

    I was in Frederick, MD yesterday and ran into someone who knew my dad and was asking about him. Iowa is smallville, but many places are. it’s great.

  11. Clare says:

    While I was on vacation this year, I saw a girl I went to high school with in a pancake house in Hilo, Hawaii. My high school had 180 girls in it.

    Small world indeed.

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