Remembering the early years...

On Feb. 14, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the day Arizona became the 48th state in this great nation of ours. On that day in 1912, the sun rose and set over the City of Tucson just like it does today -- but now, of course, with more residents, more buildings, more cars, more schools, more parks...and more cement.

I'm losing my memory somewhat, as I should I suppose, as I creep closer to the age of 67, but this week the statehood celebration has got my mind a twistin', trying desperately to recall my early days in Tucson. My parents moved me here in 1952...something to do with my bronchitis...a move to a warmer climate and a healthier life. We pulled into town in a Nash Rambler. Our first home was near Speedway and Euclid.

I was seven years old. I remember I walked to Roskruge Elementary School. I walked everywhere. I'd venture downtown by myself at the age of 10 or 11. I'd go to the old YMCA and sometimes I'd head into the heart of town...walk along Congress St. and even end up at Woolworth's and with the change in my pocket buy me a cherry coke. I felt safe, secure and enjoyed every moment of the journey. I recall playing Little League at Randolph Park. My jersey had the words Pima County Sheriffs Dept. stenciled across the front. I recall a year later, walking by the front of a drugstore at Broadway and Swan, stopped and watched a man signing autographs and handing out baseballs. It must have been a quiet, balmy day in March. It was during Spring Training and the man was Duke Snider.

I remember my junior high days at Alice Vail, my freshman year at Rincon High, followed by three years at Catalina High School. I remember walking the halls at CHS with Linda Ronstadt, cruising Johnnies Drive-In in my 1954 Chevy and getting in trouble with my parents due to the fact I spent too many hours partying in Sabino Canyon.

Sixty years in this town...sixty years of memories and to my surprise, I can still remember a few of those special moments. Tucson has changed, a million people now spread out all over the valley. I remember my mother trying her hardest to get me involved in something besides baseball. She sent me to the Tucson Boys Chorus (that didn't work), another organization called Junior Assembly where you learn how to hold a fork, a spoon, a knife...and then dance. The first dance I learned was the Foxtrot. That dance didn't stick with me, but the jitterbug did...and girls seem to follow soon after that.

My mom got me a clarinet. I played one tune: The Faith of our Fathers, I think it was called. A few weeks later I threw it in the closet, picked up my baseball bat and glove...and headed out to play. I remember so much more from my teenage years, like seeing the Cleveland Indians play at Hi Corbett, the Embers Lounge, the Ceders, Linda and the Stone Ponies and later in life the Blue Note and the Doll House, a couple of "watering holes", which included some other activities as well of which I won't go into, just in case my mother is reading THIS!

Yes, there's a lot of history in this town of ours and it goes beyond 100 years...way back to the days of Father Kino. My moment in time has been short...but yes, I guess I do have a memory after all.

Congrats, Arizona.