Memorial Day was started in 1868 as decoration day to remember those of our family who have passed on who served in the military. Captain Bill McGonagle was a cousin. If you have never read the story of the ‘Attack on the Liberty’ by James Ennes Jr. then you should. Here is a link to the book and here is a link to Captain Bill’s Arlington National Cemetery page. The ship and crew were abandon by President Johnson and the US Navy. The crew was under orders to never talk about the incident. Even though this was a terrible incident, Bill loved the Navy and his crew.

The final game happens to us all. We will miss our teammates in the game of football and fondly think of them many a times in the future. This song speaks to that.

“The Parting Glass”

Of all the money that ever I had
I’ve spent it in good company
And all the harm that ever I’ve done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I’ve done for want of wit
To memory now I can’t recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be to you all

Chorus: So fill to me the parting glass And drink a health whate’er befalls Then gently rise and softly call “Good night and joy be to you all”

Of all the comrades that ever I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that ever I had
They wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I’ll gently rise and I’ll softly call
Good night and joy be to you all

Chorus: So fill to me the parting glass And drink a health whate’er befalls Then gently rise and softly call “Good night and joy be to you all”

Chorus: So fill to me the parting glass And drink a health whate’er befalls Then gently rise and softly call “Good night and joy be to you all”

This is my 30th year of broadcasting football games on the radio. One of my favorite memories happened during that first year.

My broadcast partner and myself showed up at the Ulysses press box, at the time our schools biggest rival, about an hour and a half before game time to set up our equipment. As we entered the press box, my partner asked the guys in the press box where the visiting radio station would need to set up. They said, “You guys get the other end of this press box, down there with the wasps!” They both then laughed.

So as we walked down to the other end of the press box, sure enough, about a dozen wasps were flying around the area we needed to be in. My broadcast partner says to me, “I don’t do wasps; you need to take care of this problem.” He sits down the equipment he is carrying and goes to the other end of the press box.

So I grab an area wide phone book that was lying on a table and started killing wasps. Killed one on the table, killed one on the wall, then one on a chair, then I spotted one on the window we would be looking out to broadcast. I thought to myself, okay now be careful, and lightly hit the window. Well, I hit that wasp on the window and that window shattered and sent glass flying into the stadium seats.

There was only one person sitting in the entire stadium, since it was so early, and it was a woman, who was sitting directly under the window I just broke. She screamed bloody murder at the top of her lung capacity. So I thought she had probably been cut and was injured. I stuck my head through the broken window to look at her.

The coaching staffs of both teams were standing on the field looking towards me, with my head out the window and at the woman. The athletic director of the school ran over to this woman to check on her well being and thankfully she was uninjured, but covered with glass. The athletic director then came into the press box and was angry.

But the best part was all the wasps that were left in the press box, now had an escape route and flew out the window!

The rest of that season, every time our Scott City coaching staff would see me, they would ask, “Broke any windows lately?”