1944

And the saga of Jack Riley goes on.

On New Year's Day our local newspapers carried a UPI report about "top athletes" to be honored at the Sports Lodge B'nai B'rith Dinner January 22. Starting with the leading cast of characters, the report states that "included among the notables are Roger Bannister, the first man to crack the four minute mile, golfing great Walter Hagen, former heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano, tennis promoter Jack Kramer, baseball heroes Don Larsen and Bobby Thomson, and Jack Riley, coach of the champion United States Olympic hockey team." They then go on to tell about others like Sid Luckman, Bill Osmanski, etc., who'll be there.

And it was doubly a pleasure when "Sports Illustrated" came out this week with their election of the Sportsman of the Year. While Arnold Palmer got the nod for the Grecian amphora, sixteen other athletes were in contention and considered "worthy of honor." One of the sixteen was Jack Riley of whom SI said, "Imaginative and persevering, Coach Jack Riley built, moulded and patched together a team of amateur U.S. skaters who upset Canada and U.S.S.R. and scored a startling Winter Olympics victory."

A couple of days before Christmas, a surprise snow storm stranded me at the Cincinnati airport for an all-night tour and as I was calling home at 7 A.M. to vent my spleen (since no one else seemed interested) whom should I see peeking at me from the adjacent phone booth but kindly old Benjamin Franklin Jones, the pride of the Monarch Life Insurance Company, who was en route home to Cleveland for the holidays. During a pleasant breakfast together, Ben told me interesting tidbits about '44s he has met, but possibly due to the hour of the morning, that's all I can remember ... that it was interesting. I do recall that with uncharacteristic honesty for a sales executive, Ben admitted he was "edged" in a recent golf encounter with Whitey Myers.

Don and Lela Hinkley flew in from Frankfurt for a four-day management meeting at Procter and Gamble just before the holidays, looking great, and apparently delighted with their new assignment and home.

Architect John Handy was recently honored in being named president of the Connecticut Society of Architects. Bill Benoist has just joined the investment firm of Blunt Ellis and Simmons in Chicago and has a special of good, low-priced stocks running these days. George Cusack is back from Mexico City and now residing in Bloomfield, Conn. And ex-Cuban entrepreneur and resident, Joe Dryer, is now making his home in Palm Beach, Fla. On the other hand, ex-Hoosier John Roberts has picked up and left for Chatham, Ont., Canada.

Kirk Bassett has been named product manager for Hamilton Cosco, Inc., manufacturers of metal furniture, in his native city of Columbus, Ind. Hardworking Kirk will be in charge of the firm's stool and table line. Formerly he was sales manager for the upholstered furniture division. Kirk has been working his way up with Hamilton Cosco since 1950. The Bassetts are making their home on Route 5, Harrison Lake, Columbus, Ind. There are two little Bassetts, Quentin 10 and Brice 8.

Max Edwards has some very impressive, engraved stationery announcing "Max Nixon Edwards, Washington, D. C." In concluding his letter, Max added a P.S., "Disregard the letterhead now that the Illinois vote has been certified." Mindful that lawyers don't like to be quoted, I have to make an exception in this case. Max writes:

Those rumors about Jack Corroon slitting his throat just after elections aren't true. I saw him in New York last month at the Giants-Steelers game. His Republican spirit was low, all right, but he managed to pull himself to the Stadium Club for a double knock of Scotch. Come to think of it now he was wearing a turtle neck sweater.

I am in Washington now with the law firm of Corcoran, Youngman and Rowe and find it very exciting. Name dropping is a local disease I have tried to avoid, but being a country lawyer, it isn't easy. At cocktail parties I drop names like Dick Whiting and Don Burnham without even thinking. Mr. Whiting is a well-known lawyer in Washington and Dr. Burnham is a prominent psychiatrist, Bethesda, Md. The Doctor invited me to play golf one day and I did very well on the front nine. I suddenly discovered I was playing with three head shrinkers and I spent the rest of the afternoon in the woods. Dr. Burnham and his associates said that I had a psychosomatic backswing. It sounds bad but I can't find it in Ben Hogan's book.

The Dick Ostbergs have come back East after an enjoyable life in sunny California and apparently delighted to be in New England again. They're making their home in Sherborn, Mass. Rumor has it that true to the boatsman's approach to life, John Eaton is turning in his vessel for a larger model. If he maintains this pace, he'll be commanding something like the "Flying Dutchman" this time next year.

Secretary, 1105 Center St., Milford, O.

Treasurer, River Road, Cos Cob, Conn.