Al Kaline

Conversations with Sports Fans – Joe Grezlik

DouglasTHill2 Comments
The longest contiguous U.S. 3-digit highway, Route 281 runs
from the U.S.-Mexico Border in Texas to the U.S.-Canada border
in North Dakota. Also, this week’s guest, Joe Grezlik, would
like you to know we’re 281 days until Christmas from this
episode’s publication date.

What seems a lifetime ago now, I was a nervous 18-year-old freshman in college moving into the ground floor of Eastern Michigan University‘s Phelps Hall for my first year of college.

One of the first people I met that day was the fella who lived next door to me that year, Joe Grezlik.

My memories of our first interaction are, frankly, fuzzy.

What I do recall from that school year 40 years ago was that Joe almost always seemed to either have a golf club in his hands or have one within reach.

What I never did that year, so far as I can remember, is take the time to learn why Joe almost always had a club with him.

Until now!

I spied a social media post from Joe recently in which he had a few photos from the annual PGA Show in the Orange County (CA) Convention Center. Intrigued, I sent him a message to see if he’d like to join me on Conversations.

The results are what you’ll hear in this episode when you’ll find out how a chance encounter with Al Kaline made a fan of Joe for life not to mention that time he interacted with Arnold Palmer. We learn how golf became so important to Joe as well as why it is once again he pursues his PGA of America Membership.

What I failed to do on this episode was discover why he’s so enamored with counting down to the Christmas holiday and how he goes about choosing the images he uses affilated to the days left each year. (The Route 281 sign above is all my doing and I hope Joe approves:-)

Joe Grezlik’s Conversation.

The Fan Teaser: Week 47 Solution

DouglasTHill6 Comments
Pretty straight forward: Name the at least five people in this photo who have a Wikipedia page.

This photo was captured during Major League Baseball’s Opening Day on April 9, 1962, at Washington, D.C.’s brand new, D.C. Stadium, which was later renamed Robert F. Kennedy Stadium. The host Senators defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4-1.

Al Kaline is seen in the batter’s box and the future Hall of Famer went 0-for-4 during the game.

Also pictured, of course, is President John F. Kennedy who threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Surprisingly (to me at least), Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is also seated at the game with POTUS. Also in the photo is Larry O’Brien, then a special assistant to the President, but later the NBA Commissioner and namesake of the Larry O’Brien Championship Trophy awarded annually to the NBA. Also in the photo is then-Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa.

(Update [August 28, 2024]: Reader Bobby Kinsey indicates Hoffa is misidentifed and should, instead, be ID’d as U.S. Rep. Hale Boggs [D-LA]. This image with caption would seem to corroborate this.)

Here are a series of photos from this day courtesy of the JFK Presidential Archives. There are, no doubt, other dignataries in the photo but I’m unsure I can identify all of them. If you have any thoughts shoot me an email at hilldouglast@gmail.com.

Washington Senator Bob Schmidt is doing the catching.

Just to review, The Fan Teaser comes courtesy of longtime buddy, Pat Schutte. The cropped photo below and the accompanying clue give you an idea as to who or what the image is of. We invite you to use the Comment option to take a crack at solving the Teaser and, if you’re so inclined, participate in some good-spirited banter with your fellow sports fans. The Fan Teaser will appear each Friday morning with the reveal coming to you Sunday.