After our time with the Fricke’s in Michigan, we headed for Ottawa, the capital of Canada. We traveled into Canada at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, in the Upper Peninsula. We traveled through Ontario until we hit North Bay, Ontario, the gateway to the north, as a railroad center with an airport, about 220 miles from both Ottawa and Toronto. North Bay has a population of about 50,000. We stayed at the Imperial Hotel in North Bay. Margaret, Joy, and I got to Ottawa the next day, where we stayed at the Ottawa Holiday Inn, as we toured the capital of Canada, Ottawa, that has a population of about 1,000,000 people. We saw the changing of the guard at Parliament Hall, and the Olympia Flame on its way to Montreal. I have nine more postcards from Ottawa. Have you ever been in the capital of another country?
Happy New Year – 2025!
2025 is here. I have already lived a quarter century of the twenty-first century. I can remember 1950, the half century of the twentieth century. Of course, most people remember 2000, the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first century. Seventy-five years seems like a long time ago. I remember thinking in 1950 about twenty-five years before that and how 1925 seemed so much in the past. I had missed the roaring twenties and the great depression. I could barely remember World War II. Seventy-five years prior to 1950 was 1875. That was ancient history. My father was born in 1898 and my mother in 1906, and they were old to me in 1950, as a ten year old. I remember the optimism of the late 1940s and 1950s. Maybe it was me and my family. By the 1960s, the deaths of the Kennedy brothers, and Martin Luther King Jr, led to a series of disruptions. Protests against the Vietnam War and for civil rights were all over the place. Thus, the second half of the twentieth century was a series of ups and downs. By the end of the twentieth century, technology was making children smarter than their parents. Now in the twenty-first century, we seem to be mad at each other. We had the disputed election of 2000, the airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then we have had the topsy turvy presidents of Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden. Recently, the protests of the 1960s were on college campuses again. We as Americans never seem satisfied. Something is always wrong. Someone is not being treated fairly. That is what I have learned about the first quarter of the twenty-first century. We used to dream about the future twenty-first century with space travel. Instead, the great technology has led to Tik-Tock and animosity. Who can predict the next quarter century. Right now, I am 25 years away from the middle of the twenty-first century. I was never sure that I would make it to the millennium of 2000 at age 60. Now I have achieved a quarter century of the third millennium at age 85, so who knows if I will live to a 110. That is hopeful thinking as we celebrate the beginning on 2025. Have a happy new year! What was your best and worst year of your life?
A trip to Mackinac Island
The six of us, the three Fricke girls, Margaret, Joy, and I, traveled to Mackinac Island by ferry boat, to a resort island, covering about 4 square miles in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas. Fort Mackinac was constructed on this island by the British during the American Revolutionary War, and became the site of two battles during the War of 1812, before the northern border was settled and the USA gained this island in its territory by the Treaty of Ghent, Holland, in 1815. In the late 19th century, Mackinac Island became a popular tourist attraction and summer colony, well known for numerous cultural events. Many of the structures on this island have undergone extensive historical preservation and restoration. Because of its historic significance, the entire island is listed as a National Historic Landmark, since 1960. Perhaps it is most known for its Victorian Grand Hotel that opened in 1887, and a ban on all motor vehicles. Like many historic places in the Great Lakes region, Mackinac Island’s name derives from a Native American language, in this case the Ojibwa language, meaning a big turtle. John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company was centered on Mackinac Island after the War of 1812 and exported beaver pelts for thirty years. Following the Civil War, the island became a popular tourist destination for residents of major cities on the Great Lakes. Much of the federal land on Mackinac Island was designated as the second national park, three years after Yellowstone National Park was named as the first national park. To accommodate an influx of tourists in the 1880s, boat and railroad companies built hotels, including this Grand Hotel. Island residents established souvenir shops to profit from the tourist trade. Many wealthy business people also built summer “cottages” along the island’s bluffs for extended stays. When the federal government left the island in 1895, it transferred all the federal land, including Fort Mackinac, to the state of Michigan as Michigan’s first state park. Motor vehicles were restricted in 1898 because of concerns for the health and safety of the island’s residents, a ban that continues to the present day, with exceptions only for city emergency vehicles. According to the 2020 US Census, the island has a year-round population of 583. However, the population grows considerably during the summer from tourists and seasonal workers from May 1st to October 31. Travel on the island is either by foot, bicycle, horse, or horse-drawn carriage. Roller skates and roller blades are also allowed, except in the downtown area. There is a Governors House on Mackinac Island, that was built in 1902. The Governor of Michigan, while in office, can use this residence as a vacation home. Each July there are two sailboat races from Port Huron, Michigan, and the Chicago Yacht Club, to Mackinac Island, that has been going on for over a 100-years with between 200-250 boats competing. Both these races are among the longest freshwater sailing races in the world. Another special event that Mackinac Island is known for is the Mackinac Island Fudge Festival which takes place in August. Two movies have been made on this island, the 1947 film This Time for Keeps with Esther Williams and the 1980 film Somewhere in Time. In 2022 Travel and Leisure named Mackinac Island the best island in the continental U.S. to visit. I have over 12 postcards from this island. Have you ever been to Mackinac Island?
The first phase of our 1976 trip to Wisconsin and Michigan
I have the scrap book of our trip to the 1976 Olympics and Canada. The first phase of our trip was to drive up to Milwaukee, where we put the car on a boat ferry called the Spartan that crossed Lake Michigan to land in Ludington, Michigan, where we stayed at a Holiday Inn there. Unfortunately, Margaret, not Joy or myself, got sea sick on the trip across the choppy Lake Michigan waters. She was happy to be at a hotel that night. The next day, we traveled to Upper Michigan via, Manistee, Traverse City, Charlevoix, and the 1957 Mackinaw Bridge. These were all small towns except for Traverse City. However, we stayed with the Fricke family, that lived on Crestwood Ave in Matteson, just around the corner from Allemong Drive. They had a camper and a campsite in Brevort, Michigan, on the shores of Lake Michigan, on the upper Peninsula of Michigan. Margaret was good friends with Delores Fricke. Their three teenage girls, especially the older ones, had often baby-sat Joy, so that this was like a Matteson reunion, but it was camping. The next day, we set out with the three Fricke girls on a trip to Mackinac Island from St. Ignace. That night we returned to camp and spent a second night camping with the Fricke family in a campsite. Baby Joy was able to get around in her umbrella stroller. The Fricke girls wanted to take care of her. Have you ever been to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, the UP?
I planned our vacation to Canada for the 1976 Olympics
In the meantime, each year I would meticulously plan our two-week vacations. Up to now, we had either gone to South Dakota to visit Margaret’s family, where we took a trip to Mount Rushmore, or to New Jersey, my family, with a visit to the Jersey shore at Ashbury Park. My idea was that I would ask Margaret, and later Joy, if they wanted to go to some individual place. If they agreed on that place, I would plan the various stops along the road there to stop for sightseeing or overnight. The importance was not just the destination but to enjoy the trip along the way with little sight-seeing tours. I would research the places, and then plan accordingly. Sometimes it was a big hit. Other times, it was a big miss. I soon got to know the preferences of Margaret and Joy of where to stop along the way. Thus, I set out to plan our 1976 vacation around the Olympics in Montreal. We would go to the Olympics but stop along the way getting there. Margaret was happy about our trip to Las Vegas in 1975, where we got to see eight or nine shows in four days. Thus, she let me do the planning. This time, we would be taking Joy along with us, since she was about two and a half years old. She got a lot of attention at the various games in Montreal and she seemed to enjoy herself, since she was a good back seat rider in her car seat. After every trip, I made a scrap book of our adventures, using postcards from the various places. Margaret would take the photos. I would save programs or information about the various places. Have you ever been to Canada?
Additional garage
There was one other home improvement project. We had agreed that we needed a two-car garage. We only had a single attached garage. I was not worried. I was not going to do any of this work. I called a couple of people for estimates. I think that we ended up paying about $3,000 for the additional garage. They all had plans. I decided on this one guy. I am not sure if he was a contractor with Kaufman and Broad or not. Anyway, I remember that there were two problems. Should we have one large garage door or two? Where would we get siding to match the siding we had on the house. The first question was simple enough. We already had a one car garage, so it would be simpler to add another one car garage so that there would be two garage doors, each with their own electric door opener. This made sense and it was cheaper. Somehow this guy was able to get the same siding as we had on the house. However, there was one problem, there were a couple years of aging on the house so that it would not be a perfect match. I told him that it was good enough for me. Both problems were solved. I think that this contractor finished it in a week or so. I was happy to pay him the money just so I would not have to worry about that. At the same time we extended the driveways of the Vlachs with ourselves so that they were side by side driveways that looked like they were part of the same driveway. A little asphalt will solve a lot of problems. That is when I realized that we would have to put a topping on our black asphalt driveways every couple of years to keep them smooth and clean. Once again, I was happy to pay for that as long as I did not have to do it. Thus, within a couple of years we had the finishing touches on our new house. We had a two-car garage and a finished basement and we had been there only two years. We even had a toddler Joy to crawl around in it. Have you ever had a garage built?
The end of the ABA with the merger with NBA
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976, when it merged with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Four ABA teams joined the NBA, while the other players from the seven other teams when into a draft pool. This also led to the introduction of the NBA 3-point shot in 1979. The ABA was conceived at a time when numerous upstart leagues were challenging professional sports leagues in the United States. The NBA was the youngest of the major leagues, since it only began in 1946. The ABA distinguished itself from its older counterpart with a more wide-open, flashy style of offensive play, with the use of a three-point field goal. The ABA used a colorful red, white, and blue ball, instead of the NBA’s traditional orange ball. In the 1973–74 season, the ABA also adopted the no-disqualification foul rule instead of fouling out after six infractions. The emergence of the ABA boosted the salaries of referees just as it did the salaries of players. The ABA Teams like the Nets, Colonels, Pacers, Spurs, Nuggets, and Stars, had higher attendance on average than most of the NBA teams at that time, excluding the Lakers, Knicks, Celtics, the Super Sonics, and the Bucks. The freewheeling style of the ABA eventually caught on with fans, but the lack of a national television contract and protracted financial losses would spell doom for the ABA as an independent circuit. In 1976, its last year of existence, the ABA pioneered the now-popular slam dunk contest at its all-star game in Denver. The league succeeded in forcing a merger with the NBA in the 1976 offseason. Four ABA teams were absorbed into the older league: the New York Nets, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, and San Antonio Spurs. The Nets had to settle for an arena in Piscataway, New Jersey, and were forced to sell the contract of Julius Erving to the Philadelphia 76ers. George Mikan and Dave DeBusschere had been ABA commissioners. One of the primary contributions of the ABA to modern NBA was the introduction of the Hardship Rule, which would later become the framework for the current NBA draft eligibility system that allows players to declare for the NBA after being one year removed from their high school graduation, instead of their graduating college class. Some of the famous players from the ABA were Connie Hawkins, Roger Brown, Zelmo Beaty, Freddie Lewis, George McGinnis, Julius Erving, Artis Gilmore, Marvin Barnes, Rick Barry, Larry Brown, Don Buse, M.L. Carr, Jim Chones, Mack Calvin, Billy Cunningham, Louie Dampier, Mel Daniels, Warren Davis, Mike D’Antoni, Donnie Freeman, George Gervin, Mike Green, Cliff Hagan, Jerry Harkness, Connie Hawkins, Spencer Haywood, Darnell Hillman, Les Hunter, George Irvine, Dan Issel, Tony Jackson, Gus Johnson, Bobby Jones, Caldwell Jones, Jimmy Jones, Larry Jones, George Karl, Larry Kenon, Billy Knight, Mike Lewis, Maurice Lucas, Moses Malone, Ted McClain, Jim McDaniels, George McGinnis, Bill Melchionni, Larry Miller, Doug Moe, Rick Mount, Willie Murrell, Swen Nater, Mark Olberding, Tom Owens, Billy Paultz, Flynn Robinson, Ray Scott, Ralph Simpson, Al Smith, George Stone, Brian Taylor, Fatty Taylor, David Thompson, George Thompson, Dave Twardzik, Marvin Webster, Charlie Williams, Chuck Williams, and Fly Williams. They also had some prominent coaches. Did you ever hear about the ABA?
The greatest NBA game ever played
Many sports fans consider “The Greatest Game Ever Played” or perhaps the most controversial NBA game ever played as that between the Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns in Game 5 of the 1976 Finals on June 4, 1976. The series was tied, and the Boston Garden was rocking. I do not think that I saw the game live, but I certainly saw highlights of the game. Of course, other may have another opinion. The Phoenix Suns, who entered the NBA as an expansion team from 1968, were in their first NBA finals. The Boston Celtics were seeking to win their 13th NBA title. The Celtics and Suns had each won their home games, so that set the stage for game five in Boston with the series tied 2-2. The Celtics surged out to a 36-18 lead after one quarter and led 42-20 early in the second, with the halftime lead 61-45, as it looked like another Suns lose in Boston. However, the Suns began to claw back. Then near the end of regulation strange things began to happen, especially around timeouts. With the score tied at 95–95, Boston’s Paul Silas attempted to call a timeout, but the Celtics were out of timeouts. The referee never saw the signal for a timeout. Then Suns’ Paul Westphal also intentionally called a timeout even though his team had no more remaining. Then there was the clock. Shortly after hitting the game-tying free-throw with 19 seconds left in regulation, John Havlicek missed the second and rebounded his own miss. He attempted a jump shot with eight seconds left, but Westphal rebounded the ball for Phoenix with five seconds left and signaled for a timeout which the referee granted, but the clock was not stopped until three seconds were left. With three seconds left in the first overtime and the score 101-101, John Havlicek took an inbounds pass and dribbled to the right baseline before attempting a game-winning shot. The clock appeared not to start until Havlicek stopped dribbling and ball-faked before he released the shot. The most notable portion of the game was the final 20 seconds of the second overtime. Boston led at that point 109–106. The Suns’ Dick Van Arsdale hit a short jumper from the corner, cutting the gap to 109–108. The Celtics inbounded the ball to John Havlicek, but the Suns’ Paul Westphal knocked the ball out of Havlicek’s hands, so that Curtis Perry took an 18-footer from the left wing and missed. He eventually got the rebound and hit a 15-feet shot to put the Suns ahead, 110–109, with just five seconds left. John Havlicek responded with a driving one-hander in traffic, to put Boston in front 111–110 as the horn sounded. The fans then poured onto the court to celebrate Boston’s apparent victory. As CBS analyst Rick Barry passionately and correctly pointed out, the ball went through the hoop with two seconds left and the clock should have been stopped. Thus, the game was not over. After clearing the court, the officials put one second back on the clock. Then Paul Westphal of the Suns signaled for a time out that they did not have. Although this resulted in a technical foul being called on Westphal, Boston’s Jo Jo White made the technical free throw, increasing Boston’s lead to 112–110. When play resumed, Phoenix’s Gar Heard took the inbounds pass from Perry and made a buzzer-beating shot for the Suns that tied the score yet again, 112–112. Boston eventually took a six-point lead, 128–122, late in the third overtime. Westphal then scored the next four points for Phoenix to cut the gap to 128–126, but he could not get the ball again. It took three overtimes to decide the winner, Boston 128-126. What is the best NBA game you ever saw?
Merry Christmas, 2024
Merry Christmas to all! Most people assume that the most important feast day in the Christian calendar is Christmas. However, this feast day was not celebrated during the first four centuries after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact, Easter, the festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, was always a more important holiday for the early Christians. The date of the birth of Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary, was not stated in the gospels or in any other historical sources. Although the origin of the Christmas feast day is not certain, it may be related to ancient pagan festivals that celebrated the winter solstice or the sun. In the early fourth century, when the Christian church dominated in the Roman Empire, the first recorded date of Christmas being celebrated on December 25 was in 336 CE, during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine, who was the first Christian emperor. This date corresponded to the traditional date of the winter solstice on the Roman calendar. The Christmas December 25th date was first asserted officially by Pope Julius I in 350 CE. Most Christians celebrate on December 25 in the Gregorian calendar, which has been adopted almost universally in the civil calendars used in countries throughout the world. For Christians, believing that God came into the world in the form of a man to atone for the sins of humanity, rather than knowing Jesus’ exact birth date, is the primary purpose in celebrating Christmas. The celebratory customs associated in various countries with Christmas have a mix of pre-Christian, Christian, and secular themes and origins. Historically, in some European countries, the festival of Epiphany, the Magi visit to the infant Jesus, was more important than Christmas. How do you celebrate Christmas?
The last undefeated college basketball team, Indiana in 1976
The 1976 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game was held at the Spectrum in Philadelphia, on March 29, 1976. In a matchup of two Big Ten Conference teams, the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Michigan Wolverines 86–68 to earn IU its third championship. The Hoosiers’ victory concluded the last undefeated season in Division I men’s college basketball. The Indiana Hoosiers were coached by Bobby Knight, who was in his fifth season with the team. Indiana had a perfect 18–0 record in Big Ten Conference play in 1974-1975. and remained undefeated overall until losing in the regional finals of the 1975 NCAA Tournament. However, they retained a veteran core, and the 1975–76 squad had four seniors and one junior including Scott May, Kent Benson, Tom Abernethy, Bob Wilkerson, and Quinn Buckner, who all became NBA players. Indiana began the season as the number-one ranked team in the country. In their first game, they defeated UCLA, the previous season’s national champions, by 20 points. Entering the beginning of the Big Ten schedule, Indiana’s record stood at 9–0. Having improved to 18–0 with further wins, Indiana faced Michigan, who took them to overtime before the Hoosiers managed a five-point triumph. During the rest of the regular season, the Hoosiers’ only game with a margin of less than 10 points was their second meeting with Purdue, who lost to Indiana 74–71. The Hoosiers maintained their number-one ranking throughout the season, and entered the NCAA Tournament with a perfect 27–0 record. In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Indiana faced St. John’s, winning by 20 points. Alabama gave the Hoosiers a more competitive game in the regional semifinals, but lost 74–69. The Hoosiers advanced to the regional final, where they defeated Marquette 65–56. They then beat UCLA 65–51, so that they were in the NCAA finals for the third time, the first since 1953. In the first half, the Hoosiers were forced to deal with the absence of starter Wilkerson, who was injured within the first three minutes and taken to a hospital. The Wolverines made 61% of their field goal attempts, and at halftime, they led, 35–29. With 10:15 remaining in regulation, the teams were tied, 51–51. At the time Hubbard fouled out, there were under eight minutes left and the Hoosiers held a six-point advantage. Fifteen minutes into the second half, Indiana had extended their lead to double digits, 69–59. The Hoosiers were in the midst of a 22–8 scoring run that gave them a comfortable lead of 73–59 inside the last four minutes of regulation. Indiana was able to expand their lead further before the end of the game, wrapping up an 86–68 victory that gave them the national championship and a perfect record for the season, the third national title won by the Hoosiers, following triumphs in 1940 and 1953. They became the fourth Division I program to conclude a perfect season with an NCAA Tournament title, and the team’s 32 wins tied the 1956–57 North Carolina Tar Heels for the most by an NCAA champion that ended the season unbeaten. The 1975–76 Hoosiers were the seventh men’s national champion with a perfect record. They are the last Division I men’s basketball team to finish undefeated for an entire season. What do you remember about Indiana University basketball teams?
Gene Finnegan Remembers Living Eighty Wonderful Years 