Legends

Joe Fratangelo (photo courtesy of Ed Berlien)

One of the great "fun" things about coming to a Homecoming is to catch up with long lost friends, and, of course, to hear the stories. I thought I'd share a couple of stories I picked up at homecomings.

Joe Fratangelo arrived at HMA from New Jersey to play varsity football. Those of you who knew him will remember that he was a helluva football player, as well as a waiter in the mess hall.

Joe was (and still is) a great guy, but being from NJ and speaking like a Soprano, he initially had a lot of trouble understanding our Southern drawl. He roomed with another football player, Larry Berry, from Morganton, NC. Joe says that when he first met his new roommate, it sounded like the guy said, "Hi, my name LahBurr." Joe said it was two weeks before he could finally understand that the guy was saying, "Larry Berry". (Of course, I'm sure Larry had a hard time understanding anything Joe said... other than "f**k, which all Yankees from NJ can pronounce perfectly and frequently!)

Those of you who knew (or know) Massie Simpkins know he was/is also a great guy, and he also played football at HMA. Near the end of his senior year in college, Massie had yet to decide what he would do upon graduation (Those of us who know him would not be surprised to learn this!). One day, while walking across campus, he ran into friend who was heading to a meeting with the Navy recruiter. Massey had no interest in the military, but agreed to accompany his friend for "moral support". His friend ended up taking the potential pilot's exam, and Massie took it too, just to kill time, as he knew he didn't have the math, physics, etc. skills needed to pass the exam.

As we all know, Massie has always had a horseshoe up his ass. The answer sheet was one of those "fill in the dot" things. Apparently the guy before Massie had beared down really hard on his answer sheet, and the impressions had come through to the blank answer sheet underneath. In other words, there were "impressions" on Massie's answer sheet, so he just blackened the dots where the impressions were. His friend flunked the exam; Massie got one of the highest scores ever recorded! But, as I said, Massie had no interest in the military.

Several months after graduation, Massie had yet to find employment, so he returned to the Navy recruiter, and ended up flying jets during Viet Nam. But the horseshoe was still there, so naturally he ended up spending his tour of duty in Hawaii. (I think that's why he still wears those Hawaii shirts all the time.) Massie spent most of his career flying for USAir, and retired a year or so ago. He is now flying for some organization in Africa. If you know of some private company in the USA who could use a well-experienced--albeit OLD stick jocky--you might drop Massie a line.

The above mentioned "legends" are still around.

Marc Axel
marc.axel@verizon.net
Class of '63