CONTACTS
0201 - Richard Popejoy, DDS
020101 - Dr. Richard Popejoy
SUBJECTS
Events, Entertainment, Good Will
Wrestling Tournament, Cupertino HS
Popejoy, Richard, Kathy
Wrestling Tournament, State Finals, UP
0606 -
0606 - ..
0607 - Summary/Objective
0608 -
060801 - Follow up ref SDS 8 0000, ref SDS 7 0000.
060802 -
060803 - Drove from Uncle Roy's funeral to Concord to drop Millie off, and then
060804 - took Clayton Road to Highway 4 and took it into Stockton. Found the
060805 - UOP Gym and got the note at Will Call where Richard said they are in
060806 - section I. Visited with Richard, Dale DeSelms and Kenny Nelson. The
060807 - wrestling was high caliber stuff.
060808 -
060809 - [On 970308 the finals were the next day. ref SDS 10 0001
060810 -
060811 -
060812 -
060814 - ..
0609 -
0610 -
0611 - Progress
0612 -
061201 - I arrived about 1745 in time to see the last rounds of the quarter
061202 - finals, beginning about the 145 pound bracket. It was a little
061203 - surprising to see the quality of the wrestling in the upper weights,
061204 - beginning at 180 pounds, since this usually dropped off when we
061205 - wrestled because the kids had not really matured enough in strength
061206 - and agility to handle their size. These kids though were quick and
061207 - executed moves well.
061209 - ..
061210 - Sat with Ken Nelson, Dale DeSelms and Richard. I did not recall Dale
061211 - at Cupertino HS, but he was evidently a Vice Principal or counselor,
061212 - and he recounted this evening how he, and I think he said George
061213 - Fernandez, Dick Campbell and Sam Lawson attended the state finals in
061214 - Sacramento in 1963. I had not known that Sam and Dick attended that
061215 - tournament. Dale recalled that Sam and Dick were always pleased how
061216 - Rob and I progressed in wrestling.
061218 - ..
061219 - Explained the most fun I had in high school was meeting with 3 or 4
061220 - friends (Joe Anderson, Albert, ...) in the cafeteria most everyday
061221 - before school started, and working together to solve the hardest math
061222 - problem from homework the night before. It was a great thrill to have
061223 - a solution, that you just knew nobody else would figure out, or to see
061224 - how someone else solved an impossible problem.
061226 - ..
061227 - Dale was in a good mood this evening. He remembered getting sick
061228 - because that finals match in February 1963, was so exciting. Thanked
061229 - Dale for this memory.
061231 - ..
061232 - A number of people this evening and in years past have described that
061233 - match in 1963, as exceptionally exciting, even though it ended 0 0,
061234 - e.g., on 970111... ref SDS 6 7593 I've always appreciated this
061235 - courtesy, but perhaps there is a reason why it is memorable beyond the
061236 - particular circumstances.
061238 - ..
061239 - Part of the excitement may have resulted from my approach during the
061240 - latter part of the 1963 season to control the opponent with speed and
061241 - balance rather than strength to hold them down or turn them for a pin.
061243 - ..
061244 - Richard, Gary Bianchini and I worked out a lot together that year, and
061245 - they were several weights bigger, so I got in the habit of letting
061246 - them move however they wanted, looking for a balance weakness and then
061247 - taking them in that direction. This made it seem like they were
061248 - getting away, though control was retained. I recall George Fernandez,
061249 - who was the principal at that time, attending practice one day and
061250 - asking Gary and Richard why they were throwing me around the mat? I
061251 - think Gary said something about it was not as easy as it looked. That
061252 - seems to reflect what Dale recounted this evening that added to the
061253 - excitement of that last match at the state finals: the opponent
061254 - appeared to make numerous escapes for points that would have won the
061255 - match, but control was always retained. So the real thanks go to
061256 - Richard and Gary, who have been rightfully honored over the years for
061257 - their contribution to Cupertino wrestling. It all started in the gym
061258 - at Cupertino in a manner not intended and none of us recognized at the
061259 - time.
061261 - ..
061262 - Dale said he is meeting Sam Lawson tomorrow for breakfast, and he
061263 - asked me to join them.
061264 -
061265 - [On 970308 had breakfast with Dale and the guys. ref SDS 10 6480]
061267 - ..
061268 - Jim Andrews and his wife came by later. Jim's wife was born in 1965,
061269 - or so, and it seemed a bit awkward for the entire discussion to relate
061270 - to a time before she was born. She was a good sport though and seemed
061271 - to enjoy hearing about Jim's reputation in high school as a ladies
061272 - man, as well as his success in the wrestling program. Today, Jim is
061273 - working at a car dealership in Sacramento on Florin road, and so
061274 - commutes from Stockton where they live. I mentioned having lived on
061275 - 43rd Avenue near South Land Park in the mid-70s, but Jim said he is
061276 - not really familiar with Sacramento.
061278 - ..
061279 - Ken Nelson related having spent a day with Dave Cowell at the annual
061280 - Frog-Jump event in Calaveras, a short time before Dave died. There
061281 - was discussion that Dave's brother, Leo, also, died of alcohol
061282 - problems. We remembered this evening how David and Leo both drove
061283 - themselves very hard. I think it was Ken who noted the sad irony that
061284 - just prior to falling ill and abruptly dying, Dave had won a $200K
061285 - settlement in a legal matter that had given him some financial
061286 - stability, but by then his habits were too well established to recover
061287 - from a lifetime of indulgence. Richard mentioned that Dave and Ron
061288 - got into a heated discussion at a Holiday party Richard held at his
061289 - office a number of years ago. Evidently David was disappointment
061290 - still after many years that Ron had removed him from the wrestling
061291 - team for coming to practice drunk one day in 1962, which was the year
061292 - Dave had a good chance to win a State championship.
061294 - ..
061295 - That same year Dennis Rowan, who was very talented in wrestling, also
061296 - left the team in mid-season due to emotional and family problems which
061297 - unfortunately have stayed with him to the present day. The result was
061298 - that we tied Hayward for the State championship, where otherwise we
061299 - might have had a better chance to win it outright. I seem to remember
061300 - that Ron actually held a vote of the team and we all, or most of us,
061301 - voted to remove Dave under the circumstances. Richard recalled this
061302 - evening that Dave evidently carried that event from early in his life
061303 - throughout his adulthood, or at least it bubbled up on that occasion
061304 - where he had difficulty containing his feelings. Richard said he
061305 - spoke to Dave later, and Dave apologized for disrupting Richard's
061306 - office party.
061308 - ..
061309 - Kenny asked about my work and upon explaining it entails a management
061310 - support role, he commented that Pacific Bell went through a period of
061311 - attempting to improve management by using facilitators at meetings. He
061312 - expressed reservation about investing time to learn how to prepare for
061313 - meetings, which he characterized as "...going to meetings to learn how
061314 - to go to meetings." This is a common lament of people highly focused
061315 - on getting results, who are frustrated with the bureaucracy of large
061316 - organizations.
061318 - ..
061319 - Ken asked if Communication Metrics is aimed at large or small
061320 - organizations. After noting it is for anyone who will pay for it, I
061321 - explained that typically a large organization is better positioned to
061322 - benefit because the initial expense seems fairly large, and reward is
061323 - deferred. It takes a big problem to get people to try new solutions
061324 - and these usually arise in large organizations.
061326 - ..
061327 - Ken asked if we have contacted anyone at Pacific Bell?
061329 - ..
061330 - I mentioned having given a presentation to Frank Casazza on 950727,
061331 - ref SDS 2 I did not pronounce the name correctly, but it sounded
061332 - familiar to Ken. He mentioned having worked in San Francisco at the
061333 - time of the 1989 earthquake, and the next day he transferred to
061334 - another location.
061336 - ..
061337 - I recalled some experience during that event (e.g., the apartment door
061338 - was blocked by fallen debris, computer bounced across the desk but I
061339 - caught it before it fell off, and there was no water or power, so I
061340 - went next door and played tennis while the crowds settled down). I
061341 - asked Kenny this evening if he knew Don and Vera Jones, who are tennis
061342 - friends from the Golden Gateway and now live in Costa Rica, but were
061343 - long time Pac Bell people? Ken seemed to recall Vera.
061345 - ..
061346 - At dinner, Howard Van Zandt, Barry Wood, Dave Lewis and his wife from
061347 - school at Cupertino, Judy Graves, came by. Turned out that Judy was a
061348 - student aide for Dale DeSelms, so they enjoyed recalling their work
061349 - together. Another couple, John and Jean Olejnik, who are the parents
061350 - of 3 boys Richard coached 15 years ago, also joined us for dinner this
061351 - evening. One of their sons, Mat, is now a coach at Holister and has
061352 - several kids still in the tournament.
061354 - ..
061355 - Dale was a principal at Monte Vista and possibly Homestead HS. He is
061356 - now retired and lives in Modesto. At dinner this evening, Jim Andrews
061357 - asked how long I have been married, how many kids, etc. He expressed
061358 - amazement that Millie and I have been married for 15 years. We both
061359 - addressed this nominally serious subject in a flippant manner, trying
061360 - to be humorous during pre-dinner drinks. When Jim turned to Dale and
061361 - asked how long he had been married, Dale began to cry a bit in having
061362 - to explain he recently lost his wife of 37 years. Dale recovered
061363 - quickly though and was a lively contributor to the discussion.
061365 - ..
061366 - Another interesting connection at this event is that Richard seems to
061367 - be friends with Mrs. Dave Shultz whose husband was a wrestling prodigy
061368 - who grew up in Palo Alto, went on to become a two time Olympic
061369 - Champion, only to be shot and killed by a member of the DuPont family
061370 - who was a seeming benefactor of the US wrestling program. Mrs. Shultz
061371 - sat behind us, but I only learned she was there when Richard hugged
061372 - her as she was leaving near the close of the program this evening.
061373 -
061374 - [The next evening where Mrs. Shultz was honored in memory of her
061375 - late husband. ref SDS 10 8760]
061377 - ..
061378 - Turned out that Howard Van Zandt is a Web Site developer for Lockheed
061379 - in Sunnyvale. He lives in Boulder Creek, so I mentioned my folks
061380 - lived up there the year or two after I left home in 1963, and that
061381 - Robby is over in Aptos. I explained a bit of the difficulty Bill
061382 - DeHart is having getting expertise to put in place the Web Site for
061383 - PMI, ref SDS 3.
061385 - ..
061386 - Had an interesting discussion with Jean Olejnik about the importance
061387 - of parents working at finding ways for young children to experience
061388 - success at something so they gain the confidence necessary to extend
061389 - themselves and acquire a drive for excellence. Jean was a lot of fun
061390 - to visit with during dinner.
061391 -
061392 -
061393 -
061394 -
061395 -
061396 -
061397 -
061398 -
061399 -
061400 -
0615 -
Distribution. . . . See "CONTACTS"