Lower Merion High School Class of '67
I AM NOT GOING TO REVEAL the names of any of the handsome young men in this photo from my 40th high school reunion, except for the black guy. I'll give him up in an Ardmore minute. That's Mike Holland, who used to play a little ball back in the day at Lower Merion High School when we were seniors togther in 1967. All of us graduated and dispersed into the Summer of Love, and when we gathered last Saturday night after four decades none of us looked like Flower Children, let alone spring chickens.
But I recognized Mike right away. He always had one of those faces, like he was glad to see you and made you feel it. Of course, that was back when he had hair. Mike had a distinguished career as an educator, rising from the ranks to become the principal of a large suburban high school, and a few years later, the principal of an even larger suburban high school. The only time he seemed to pull rank, or at least make me feel like he was casting himself in Mr. Holland's Opus, was when I was telling him about some trouble my son got into in high school and had to go to the principal. Mr. Holland replied, "Oh, I had three layers of people before I would have dealt with something like that."
Principals. Can't live with 'em; can't buy out their contracts.
OK, OK. I'll give up the white guys too. Next to Mike Holland is Jim Brown (two. . .three. . .). No, not that Jim Brown. He was more like James Brown (two. . .three. . .) Why don't we call him Jimmy. Do you have any idea what it was like to be a white guy who looked like Conan O'Brien with the name Jim Brown, or James Brown, during the late '60's. HIT IT!
GET ON UP!!. I'm a sex machine-ah. GET ON UP!!. . .
Yeah, that's the Jimmy Brown I remember from Lower Merion, tooling around in a white, six-cylinder, 1966 Chevelle. A fundamentally decent guy. Despite that we were good friends. He used work for Temple's sports department, but now he's fulltime at St. Joes. Just don't ask him if his arms hurt from flapping them inside that Hawk suit.
Next to Jimmy Brown is Ed Callahan, my best friend in high school. I was immediately attracted to Ed on the first or second day of high school because he was out of his freakin' mind. He still is. Ask anyone. If anyone won't snitch, ask me. Ed is nuts. Not that that's a bad thing. And you need to be a little nuts, and have a nutty friend, to survive high school.
Finally, there's that tall guy on the right. And, yes, I agree with you that he is the youngest looking gentleman in the bunch. Must be those DeLeon genes.
