More on the Fifties, in particular 1953

-In June, I graduated from St. Joseph Elementary School; in September, started high school at the brand new St. Joesph's just down the road the at the junction of Highway 31 and Angela Blvd.
-Our family of ten included eight of us kids ranging from soon to be sweet sixteen older sister Kate, to the baby of the family, three year old Barry. We lived on Angela Blvd with Notre Dame less than a mile to the NE, the elementary school less than a mile to the south, and the high school just a few blocks to the west. I was the third child and second son.
-The Rosenbergs were executed as spies on June 19th. Something I just read suggested that the evidence shows that the hubby really was a spy but not the wife. You remember they were convicted for giving atomic secrets to the Soviets. Those secrets supposedly allowed the Russians to become a nuclear power, something the United States wanted to claim only for itself.
-As kids, we spent a lot of time outside riding bikes, playing the sport of the season (the big three only - baseball, football, basketball) in pick up games played in empty lots that were all over the place around our house. And that doesn't include all the fields over at Notre Dame that were mostly empty during the summer months.
-When the Irish football team played at home during those years, I would set up a candy stand in front of our house and sell Hersheys to the alumni and friends of Notre Dame who were walking by on their way to the stadium. Fifteen minutes before the game, I would race over there myself and manage to get into the game on a ticket given away because somebody couldn't make it down. Did that with every single one of the home games up until I was a college student myself.
-Ernie Banks joins the Cubs, their first black player. He was my hero and who can ever forget his delight in playing baseball. "Let's play two." What a great attitude he had and what a superb athlete. Would listen to WGN radio and catch the televised games with Jack Brickhouse when they were on. Brickhouse did the White Sox as well - WGN television. Very snowy reception back then in the early days of television. It's a wonder we all didn't go blind...

(Dinner time...)