The Origins of "Nort" and Other Childhood Memories

It was Mark Duescher who dubbed me "Nort". I have no idea why, but because he was the leader of our neighborhood gang it stuck. This wasn't a malicious gang, rather a group of kids ranging from 1st through maybe 4th grades who loved playing sports after school, on the weekends and all summer. I was the youngest of this bunch and learned how to compete very quickly

The Duescher house was THE ultimate sporting complex: Football, baseball and basketball were all played either in the backyard or on the driveway. We had a lot of fun and nobody really got hurt except for the time Ricky (aka "Chico") broke a finger when it got stuck in the chain link fence demarking the north endzone. Yeah, we played tackle football back there without any pads. A home run had toclear Graff's garage and we had to be quick to retrieve the ball lest "Herman", Graff's huge dog, got to it before we did. Fouls had to be called right away or someone might say "little late" and play would go on. One of the saddest times was when the Duescher's had to add on to their home and the only place they could do so was behind the house---right in the middle of our field.

It was a fun bunch of guys who played together for about three years before the oldest of the group discovered girls in Junior high.

Some of the funniest things happened during our family camping trips to Northern Wisconsin. We'd camp in the Northern Highland State Forest at campgrounds like Starret lake, Upper Gresham Lake and Big Lake.

There was the time my father wanted to show his boys how strong he was by trying to push over a dead tree, only to have a large, rotted chunk fall and hit him squarely in the head. He wasn't seriously hurt and only bled for a few minutes. Funnier yet was the time the boat's outboard motor lost a sheer pin resulting in a loss of steering. The motor eventually fell into Trout Lake. We were able to retrieve most of the motor and managed to get it running in time for our next trip. Still another humorous time was when we all decided to hike to a point across from the campground at Upper Gresham. We made it to the point but then couldn't find our way back so we had to hike in the lake back to the campground.

10/09/2006

It's time to remember the "Wonder Years" of Grade School...

Best friends from grade school:
Dave Childs---Best buds from K-3 until he moved to the country. Reunited in junior high for a semester until he passed away of a brain aneurism at 7th grade basketball practice.
Randy Nickels---lived only a few houses away and we were constantly playing basketball or riding bikes
John Olson---A good grade school athlete

Girlfriends of significance:
Amy Ansorge---my obsession from about grades 3-5. We finally "hooked up" near the end of 5th grade. Too bad she moved away the summer between 5th and 6th grade. Saw her when we were sophomores when LHS played a basketball game at Cedarburg.

Fondest Memories:
Camping with the family, the infamous school forest Friday night sleepover and week-long camp,

Embarassing moment:
Funny, but I can't remember any