How I Embarrassed One Of My Bullies In Gym Class in 1963
I have been bullied during most of my school years and this is one of those incidents where I got revenge on a classmate BULLY know as "Spider", a senior in the Class of 1963. I will refer to him as "SpyderBoy" We had an indoor gym class and Mr. Gomery had us play baseball using a softball sized plastic ball and a long stick as a bat. We chose 2 teams and this was done by having the 2 team leaders pick and choose the guys they wanted for their team. When we got down to 3 guys left to choose from, SpyderBoy made his choice and he said the last 2 guys (Bobby McCune and ME), could go on the other team. Up to this point, the game was going well. We were at the last inning and the score was SpyderBoy's team 4 and our team 3. There was 1 out when Bobby came up to bat. SpyderBoy saw that I was on deck to bat after Bobby. So, SpyderBoy decided to walk Bobby so he could make a fool out of me by striking me out. So here we were, 2 outs, a man on first base and me stepping up to the plate. I was so nervous because I knew that everyone would laugh at me if I struck out, a.k.a. SpyderBoys revenge. So the first pitch was terrible, but I swung at it and missed-strike 1. SpyderBoy was grinning from ear to ear. His next pitch was high and way outside, but I went for it anyway and missed-strike 2. Now SpyderBoy was pumped and he knew that he had me right where he wanted me to be. I was praying to the "baseball gods" to help me out. I tried to stay focused on SpyderBoy's pitch and I let the next pitch go by. So, SpyderBoy decided that he would move closer to home plate for his next pitch. He knew that this would end the game when I would strike out. And then, SpyderBoy decided that he would toss a slow pitch to me. I focused on the ball and swung as hard as I could and BAM, the ball soared high and long and ended up on the second floor balcony on the girl's side of the gym. HOME RUN!!! Bobby and I crossed home plate and we won, 5 to 4. SpyderBoy was so embarrassed and he gave me a look that made me realize that "this wasn't over for him". We hit the showers and as I was drying off, SpyderBoy and his sidekick boy, Rusty, came out of the showers with their hands full of soap suds which they placed on my head. I had to go back in the shower to rinse off. I got dressed and SpyderBoy and Rusty came up to me and they grabbed me and pushed me inside of my locker and closed the door and laughed and left the locker room. It was then that I realized that you can't open the door from the inside. I called out for help and fortunately there were a couple of nice guys that opened the locker door and let me out. But, for me, it was well worth it to be able to make a fool out of SpyderBoy and his sidekick, Rusty.
So, from what I heard a few years later, Rusty was killed in a high speed boating accident. He was racing and lost control of the speedboat and everything, including Rusty, disintegrated. Sad ending for Rusty. HOWEVER, SPYDERBOY, IF YOU ARE STILL AROUND, IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO APOLOGIZE TO ME- 62 YEARS LATER-OR DO YOU STILL BULLY PEOPLE. I look forward to hearing from you on this site.....Carl
p.s. If any Classmate wants to comment on this, please do so. THANKS!