Tuli Kupferberg “When patterns are
broken, new worlds emerge."
More about the early influences of the voice of
the Detroit Lions in Michigan Wolverines, Jim Brandstatter : Part 2.
Aside from the strong academic modeling and emphasis on
sports, Jim was introduced to many cultures because of all the representatives
and the many nationalities from the various countries(i.e., England, India,
Vietnam) that attended the criminal justice program at Michigan State. How was
Jim introduced to all these folks? Art Sr. being friendly, good-natured and
caring would invite the adult students to his home for dinner to meet his
family and to teach them about US family culture. In part this created a
dilemma for his wife. What was she going to prepare for dinner for this array
of ethnic diversity? How could she prepare a dinner that tasted good, was
well-prepared and more importantly did not disrespect the religion or mores of
the individual? Being intelligent and creative, she chose as the main
course “ leg of lamb.” To this day, Jim
loves having leg of lamb as he has wonderful memories of that wonderful,
exciting and intellectual international dinner experience growing up, with his
parents, in East Lansing.
In order to get a strong basic educational background, Jim
attended St. Ignatius elementary school, with Principal Sister Rose Gilbert.
His favorite subjects back then were spelling and math. When he misbehaved in
Mrs. Wintermute’s class, she grabbed him by the back of the shirt or twisted his ear. There was
not, at the time , an East Lansing parochial high school, he attended
the public high school, two blocks from his home.
As a high school sophomore, Leo Smedley was an
assistant high school football and
wrestling coach. Jim remembers coach Smedley, pushing him like a Marine drill
Sgt. in fact Jim thought he probably was a Marine at some time. The coach would
say “you’re going to find out just how good you are” when they were playing
against good teams.
As a sophomore, Jim,
was about 6’2” tall and weighed roughly 225 pounds. In that year, he started
out on the football Junior varsity team but was promoted to the varsity and
lettered. Jim also lettered in his Junior and Senior years and was a team Captain as well. On offense he played either center
or tackle and on defense, lined up in a three point stance, outside the
opposing offensive tackle. Jim not only
lettered in baseball, but received honors and was an all city first baseman in
his Junior year and an all city catcher in his senior year. Aside from football
and baseball, Jim even lettered in basketball and was a center-forward on his
high school team and a co-captain in the last game of the tourney.
Apparently,
participating in sports , did not keep Jim busy. Was he hyperactive ? He
also sang in the choir for four years and was selected Homecoming King in high
school as well. Being a good student in high school, he thought of
attending college and majoring in architectural design. Anyway,
that were his thoughts as a young 18-year-old. However, what college?
More to follow at a later date.
Be sure to watch tomorrow’s TV show “It Has Nothing to Do
with Age or Gender” with guest Mo
Bartley. I am sure you’ll like her story. In the meantime, don’t forget to keep
moving, laughing, smiling, deep breathing and bonding.
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