Larry was a 1951 Warrior graduate that excelled in both football and track. Larry’s name appears on the old warrior blanket as the 1951 outstanding football player, but he was much more than an athlete. Larry was a total ball of energy and enthusiasm in whatever he did.

Sports only took up part of Larry’s interest, as he was involved in all phases of student body offices including student body president in his senior year. After graduation Larry enlisted for a three year tour in the army.

When he completed his tour in the service he first started college in Texas. That was too far from home so he returned and enrolled at Humboldt State. There he received his degree in psychology with an emphasis on the use of hypnosis to overcome various types of problems.

The weather is lovely! I want to be out playing so bad I can hardly stand it. Unfortunately, I can hardly stand. I don’t think I’m a special case, so it must just take a long time to recover from the bug that is making many of us miserable. Even though this seems to be a two-week bug rather than a one-week bug, I’d be willing to add a third week if only I could postpone it until November.

The bug that bit me causes non-stop coughing, with a lot of clear phlegm, especially if you take an expectorant, which is a good idea. The more of that crap you can get up and out, the quicker you’ll get well and the less likely you are to develop pneumonia or pleurisy. Suppressing a cough does more harm than good.

Flicker has been calling for hours, coaxing me out to play. His call is so compelling I confess to being teary about my inability to do so. I cry all the time anyway, but weakness doesn't help. Flicker has taught me a game. I pry a hunk of bark off a dead trunk, then back away while he eats the creepy-crawlies I've exposed. Like any responsible pet owner, he’s been training me for years.

Sept. 6 was a momentous day for members of the Smith River Kiwanis Club and local residents, as earth-moving began on the first pond of the proposed fish hatchery.

Although the hatchery has been in the talking and planning stage for over a year, actual basic work has only just begun. The chairman of the hatchery program, Art Lawn, has spent many hours with officials in setting up plans for the erecting of the necessary buildings, troughs and ponds.

The first pond will be 50 feet long, 50 feet wide and 12 feet deep, but will only be filled with seven feet of water and is circulated counter-clockwise.  This will give the fish the effect of being in the motion of swimming at all times. A fish ladder is also part of the first construction.

Plans are under way to erect signs showing the gifts of time, money and equipment from residents and businesses of both Smith River and Crescent City that have made this hatchery project possible in such a short period of time.

Locals turn movie stars

George was a 1955 graduate from a high school in Kansas. While in school he played football and ran track. His time of 4:24 in the mile run is still the school record. After high school he joined the Air Force and spent 21 years, 11 days serving before he retired at Requa. George first started coaching at Del Norte in 1993, when he worked as an assistant in track for coach Al Morris.

He has continued assisting in the track program ever since. Working for coach Morris, then for coaches Gary Hall, Terry Vance and now Scott Lindsey, has been real rewarding.

He had nothing but praise for all of them, and how much he learned from each. In 1994 he started coaching boys soccer as an assistant to Dan Gonzales and was with the program when they won  their only Humboldt-Del Norte league championship in 1995. In 1997 George took over as the head coach for the girls soccer program.

I’d like to rewrite that saying to read, “No good fun is free,” because there is balance in the universe, as sure as there are two sides to every coin. And that’s just fine, because the fun was worth the price being paid.

I’ve hopped around our county and a couple of others like a grasshopper all summer, talking with everyone, sliding my hands along the railings everyone else uses, and handling doorknobs to public restrooms. It was probably those activities that caught up with me, rather than clambering around interesting rusty items in the harbor, examining dead birds and grazing on sea lettuce at low tide.

If anybody is keeping track of swine flu cases in Del Norte County, I might have one. Instead of stomach issues, there’s a constant cough. Ordinarily I never cough, and so Shadow won’t even comfort me. He thinks I’m barking at him.

Another Crescent City landmark is feeling the bite of the wrecker’s ball this week. The 36-year-old The­ater Garage, at Third and H streets, is being razed to make way for Fred Endert’s new Rexall Drug Store.    

The old garage, constructed in 1923 by Milton Nielsen, O. R. Ring and Dr. Graham, originally housed one of the first Chrysler automotive dealerships. This was in addition to a service station and automotive repair service.

G. F. Lofvendahl, Eureka contractor, is in charge of leveling the building. Endert’s new store is still on the drawing boards and no definite date for construction has been set.

Deputy returns lost boy

It was fun to watch him start off on a winning note with a 6-0 win over Hidden Valley, Ore. I feel we can look forward to more fun times under Hadfield.

I covered Warrior head football coaches 1 to 10 last week. This week I will cover 11, 12 and 13.

Coach No. 11 was me. This was like a dream come true. I look back to when I played my senior season as a Warrior in 1950, under coach Chuck DeAutermont and assistants Tex Gatlin and Mike Whalen and dreamed of someday being able to patrol the Warrior sidelines, like they did.

In 1980, when I had the chance to return to Del Norte as athletic director, dean of students, and coach football, it was the fulfillment of that dream. Before taking over as head coach, I enjoyed six seasons working as offensive coordinator for coach No. 10, Jerry Smith.

Nearly 30 years ago, Ernie Felio was the officer who investigated my son’s death after a tourist wandered off the road and hit him. Long after his duty hours had ended, Ernie sat in the hospital with my little girl asleep in his lap. For the remaining two months of his life, having lost a son himself, he provided emotional and spiritual support to our family. His death was both unnecessary and devastating.

A few years later I was arrested by a CHP officer, and dumped into a concrete room to have the DTs. Once sober, my behavior horrified me so that I never had another drink. After a month of sobriety, I went to the CHP office to thank the officer for saving my life.

Fast-forward 5 years, and I’m rushing home from a CR class that ended at 10 p.m. When I came to a stop sign and saw nothing moving for blocks, I went right on across. The flashing red and blue lights nearly gave me a heart attack.

After several unsuccessful passes, severe groundswells prevented entry of Joe Sierka’s newly purchased German-built surplus boat into the mouth of the Smith River.

Hundreds of people lined the banks of the Smith and rimmed the shoreline as a small tug maneuvered the 165-foot shell around the river’s mouth until after 4 p.m., when the boat was towed away toward Eureka to wait for the next high tide.

Sierka, owner and operator of Castle Rock Camp, plans to use the boat in connection with his tourist and sportsmen’s camp on the mouth of the Smith River.

Flyers stop off for night