Before I get to the summer of 1966 I'm trying to decide which of my remaining Ako (Aloisiuskolleg) memories are worthy of mention and which should just go to my grave with me :-)
Let's see - my friend Gerd had this keychain that was a real key & chain - a leather fob with a 6-inch chain and a key ring. So one day we were walking next to the infamous "electric fence" and Gerd (holding the leather fob) laid the chain across the fence and told me to grab it... So I did...
Now this was an old-school "unsafe and insane" cow-launching electric fence. It knocked the snot out of me! He immediately pulled the chain free - otherwise I wouldn't have been able to let go of it...
And Gerd was like: "Dude! You weren't supposed to actually do it!!!"... The French kid (who was with us) called me an idiot and laughed his @ss off... (I didn't really dislike him so much as he just irritated the heck out of me...)
Yeah - that was kind of a pointless story - except I've been more careful around electricity - and more irritated by French people - ever since :-)
Then in May of 1966 I volunteered to help "muck out" the reflecting pool at the south end of the villa. Now - this may be hard to believe, but I grew up in the 'burbs and had never seen a tadpole before. I had no clue what they were, but we were stirring up thousands of the things... And when one of the guys saw them, he started screaming "Kaulquappen!!!" and stomping the hell out of them...
So - there I was - trying to figure out what those things were and why the kid was having a complete meltdown and going all "amphibicidal" on them... It was kind of surreal :-)
We finally got him calmed down - I was told what "kaulquappen" were - and we discovered that the tadpole stomper's farm had been overrun by frogs when he was a toddler - apparently there was some post-traumatic stress involved...
Yeah - that was another pointless story - except it was kind of funny the time...
Finally - on July 30th, 1966 (right before summer break) the priests brought in a TV so we could watch the World Cup final between England and Germany...
The students at Ako had been talking about it for months. Technically, we weren't supposed to be aware of what was going on outside the walls - but this was the World Cup...
The team's center midfielder was the legendary Franz Beckenbauer - he later came to the U.S. to play for the New York Cosmos with Pele... But the main topic of conversation was Uwe Seeler (sounds like ooveh sailor) - the captain of the German team. By all accounts he was one of those humble, "working class hero" types you rarely see in professional sports... It was obvious that he was a role model to a lot of my fellow students...
And 6 months before the start of the World Cup he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Now that's usually a career ending injury but Uwe was playing again by the time the tournament started... Nobody was sure if he was 100% or how he'd hold up in the final.
So there we were - 70 of us sitting on benches in the Stella Rheni "day room" watching the little black and white TV as Germany and England took to battle at Wembley stadium...
Now - keep in mind that I had never seen a professional soccer game let alone a World Cup final - and I cannot find words to describe my emotions as the game unfolded... I was amazed at the way they controlled the ball - the way they used the field - the one-on-one battles... I had not imagined that the game could be taken to that level - or that such artistry was possible... It was a revelation - it was simply magnificent...
And it ended up being one of the most controversial games in World Cup history:
At the end of regulation Germany and England were tied 2-2 amid accusations that a German player had deflected the second tying goal with his hand.
The game went into overtime - and England scored a goal that (according to later forensic analysis) actually wasn't a goal... The ball bounced off the top crossbar down onto the line but it didn't go all the way in. The Swiss referee checked with the Russian lineman and the Russian called it a goal because he thought it went in at the top of the net (it didn't)...
Then in the closing seconds of the game the Germans put their entire team on the attack - and England scored another quick goal making the final 4-2...
I only mention the controversy because I was in a room with 70 German boys who were (needless to say) unhappy with the outcome :-)
In subsequent discussions I think everyone (grudgingly) admitted that England deserved the win... They played a brilliant game... They just felt that Germany didn't deserve to lose...
And a few days later I left Ako for good... I just didn't know it at the time :-)
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PS and of course I too remember the 1966 World Cup--and had a rather different perspective--after all, I was English, living in England ;-)
Please tell ALL the stories. No point taking them to the grave ("The grave's a sad and lonely place And none, I think, do there embrace," as the poet said).
Well - I often say that the more irrelevant something is the more likely I am to remember it.
So - I DO need to exercise a BIT of editorial discretion :-)
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