UC vs OSU

UC vs OSU

The University of Cincinnati played Ohio State University in basketball yesterday for the first time since 1962. This reminds me of an important occasion in my life.

Cincinnati won the NCAA national championship in both 1961 and 1962 by beating Ohio State. The next year they were going for a third straight title against Loyola University of Chicago but lost in overtime.

In 1963, I was a senior in high school. I first noticed this sophmore girl who was friends with my sister when I was coerced into driving my sister and her friends to our high school basketball games. I was ingenious enough to arrange that I dropped her off last when I took the girls home. I had to do some inventive route-making to do this. It gave me a chance to talk and get to know her.

After the 1963 season, the city had a celebration for UC and its fans at Music Hall downtown. I suggested to this young lady that we go there. It was the first time that we really went somewhere together in the car. We did drive to town but never went into Music Hall. We just drove around and talked. That night I gave her a kiss on the steps of her back porch while my knees quivered. It was our first kiss! Three years later we were married.