About "The Way I Remember It"

While attending High School in Houston, Texas I had a group of friends who went places mainly on the weekends as a group. We were rarely seen apart.  One of my buddies, Bobby Moronko, was very good looking and got all the girls. Rose Annette Saragusa liked him a lot.  

The rest of the gang were pretty average guys who would go to dances and just stand around because none of us knew how to dance. There was Kinard Daugherty, Dickie Wilson and Big John. Dickie Wilson was an adopted child and his parents indulged him by giving him anything he wanted and that included a new car. Because Dickie had the only car in the group we always went places with Dickie.  

Since I was double promoted in school as a youngster I was the youngest and least experienced of all the guys. Mainly I acted as comedy relief to the guys who would occasionally and individually get lucky with a girl, but good looking Bobby was the only one with a real girlfriend. Bobby went to St. Thomas Academy, Dickie and Kinard went to Austin High with me and Big John attended Milby High School which was and is a very rough school in a rough part of town. 

You had to be tough to get by and Big John was the toughest kid in our gang.  He played football and acted as our protector. When you're a small kid you need someone to watch out for you.   Bobby had an Uncle named Fred Nahas who was a big radio personality in Houston. He was the top announcer at the local ABC affiliate, KXYZ, and hosted a weekly national network show entitled Saturday at the Shamrock. 

The Shamrock was a spectacular hotel on the extreme north end of Main Street, built by the famous Texas oil wildcatter Glen McCarthy. Glen McCarthy made fortunes and lost them many times according to legend. The character James Dean portrayed in the movie "Giant" was supposed to be based on the life of Glen McCarthy. 

When the Shamrock Hotel had its grand opening, my friend Bobby Moronko had his uncle arrange for us to be in the front row to see the Hollywood stars up close. I remember John Wayne pointing to the Shamrock from a stage erected in the huge front lawn and saying "mighty nice teepee Mr. McCarthy has built for you Houston."    

Fred Nahas had a deep mellow voice that sounded big-time. I was impressed with Bobby Moronko getting us on the front row, but radio had not become anything I wanted to be involved with yet. That came later when I discovered  a disc jockey from Memphis who could make you want to eat at Kapan's Restaurant and buy tailored pants from Rex The Tailor's. 

That man was barely older than we were, but he and others like him changed the music we enjoyed and the lifestyle we led in the early 50's. 

That is where my story, "The Way I Remember It," began .... "