Outrage

I went to grade school years ago and it was right down the street from me. We had a principal and when they opened a new grade school when I was in the sixth grade that principal was there with us.

That's how long ago it was...there were six years of grade school.

That "new" grade school is still used today and the picture of the first principal used to hang in a frame in the lobby. 

Until yesterday.

A disturbing report has surfaced that the current principal looked at his picture, went into a rage, ripped it off the wall, held it overhead and almost hurled it to the ground. The principal handed it to a custodian and told the custodian to destroy the picture. Told the custodian to tear it into pieces and toss it in the dumpster. 

I am not making this up. 

I guess my feelings on this are ones of outrage. This was a good and caring man who has since passed away. Us kids, we called him "Uncle Fred". He would eat lunch with us at our tables. He would tell students that if they ever needed to talk to him, his door was always open to them. The kids and the teachers...we all loved Uncle Fred. He would play kickball with us and play hoops with the sixth-grade boys. He was the coach of the boys sixth-grade team that defeated seven other six grade teams and traveled to Lexington on a snowy Saturday to play a Lexington grade school ALL-STAR team in Memorial Coliseum that we beat. 

I was a guard on that team. I remember making a steal and throwing a down-court pass to my buddy Barry that put us ahead to stay. I remember hitting two free throws with seconds left that gave us a 4 point lead.  I remember shaking hands after the game with the legendary Adolph Rupp, who told me he hoped to see me play at UK someday. (He told all of us that...) I was excited. I was just becoming a UofL fan at that point of my 12 year old life but it was a lasting impression. I remember how proud Uncle Fred was of us and he had a trophy made that was in that lobby for awhile. The trophy had all 10 of our names on it and it read:

Best Sixth Grade Basketball Team In Kentucky. (Fred did not include his name.) 

The principal took the framed picture of Uncle Fred off the wall and held it over head and almost hurled it to the ground....frame and all.  

That picture hung there for 47 years. 

I got the story second-hand...I wasn't there...but I have no doubt about the veracity of it.

Outrage. 

paulie
xxxxx

SHREDDED FRED