She was tall and attractive and we were thankful to have Ms.Yoakim as our fifth grade teacher. It was May of 1960 and we were so ready for summer to begin. There was just one piece of business that needed to be settled. We had a year long softball contest played at lunch each day and Tom Finholm kept meticulous records. A very young cowboy’s team trailed Tom’s by three games with only one day remaining before summer vacation. Unfortunately for Mr. Finholm, he was sick on that fateful day. Being the captain of the trailing team, I convinced the acting captain (Jack Holland) that we should play a triple header just to make it interesting. There were obviously no cell phones then so Jack could not text or call Tom for his ok. Reluctantly, Jack agreed and it was a decision he would soon regret. Our team won all three games and his role as assistant captain was soon to be a fading memory. Tom returned to school the next day and I informed him that we were now tied. He became livid …. steam exiting his nose and ears. He raised his hand in class and Ms.Yoakim asked him to speak. He seized the opportunity and actually stood on his chair while vehemently disputing the egregious twisting of the rules….’there is no such thing as a triple header and Jack Holland had no right to even consider it….much less agree to it.’ Holland sat sheepishly to his right with a face nearly as red as Ms. Yoakim’s skirt. The teacher heard Tom out and said she would make a decision before lunch. As the bell rang for lunch, she called the combatants to her desk and said that the games did count as Holland had authority to act in Finholm’s absence. I thought Tom would have a heart attack. The shaken captain agreed to a last day winner take all game to be played in five minutes. I’m not going to comment on who won that game because it’s not fair to Tom to bring up such a painful memory. Let’s just let sleeping dogs alone and not interrupt Finholm’s celebration of The Royals’ victory in the recent World Series.
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