October 26 & 27, 1984 (Revisiting the Past)

I'm going back through what comprised my senior year of high school and first semester of college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Come along for the ride. New posts every day or so mixed in with other things.

October 26, 1984. It was Friday night and there was a big football game with Riverdale facing the reigning district champion Warren County Pioneers. Oakland had won the night before against Lebanon 28-0 so Riverdale needed to beat the Pioneers to stay on track for a possible district championship. I went to that game with the usual crew. I think I caught one of the little promotional footballs the cheerleaders threw out that night. Riverdale got out to an early lead, but late in the 4th quarter we were trailing 17-14 and it looked like the game was over. We were going to leave a few minutes early to beat the crowd since we all had to get up early to take the ACT the next morning. We had been at the top of the bleachers and by the time we made it down Riverdale had completed an improbable last second drive to kick a field goal to tie the game. It ended up going into triple overtime before the Warriors emerged victorious after the Pioneers failed to convert a two-point conversion. There was some debate afterwards that the Warren County coach thought high school games only went to 3 overtimes which is why he went for the win as he didn't want to settle for a tie.....except the rule was the teams would have kept playing as long as they tied. Good for us on the win and good for my friends and I as we all needed to get home and get some sleep.

October 27, 1984. I fell off the college track of high school when I attended Oakland for my freshman year. We had moved back to Murfreesboro from Smyrna and even though I had been in all of the top level classes at Thurman Francis Junior High School, Oakland didn't care what I took. So I did what I suspect most 14 year olds would do, I took all but one low level class. The only high level course I took was algebra for some insane reason. I think it was because every teenager in every sitcom I'd seen took algebra. I don't even really recall why I was taking the ACT at all. Sure, since I switched schools to Riverdale my sophomore year I did take a college level English course, world history, and was a member of the Quiz Bowl team my senior year, it still wasn't a certainty that I would go to college. 

Yet, here I was getting up super early to join the gang for breakfast at the Shoney's on Church Street. I had never ever eaten breakfast in a restaurant. My parents might have bought a sausage biscuit from the drive-thru at Hardees, but actually venturing into a sit-down restaurant was a rarity and never for breakfast. I felt a little uncomfortable, but I got some biscuits from the breakfast bar and joined the guys. I had to stick to them like glue since I didn't have a clue where Peck Hall was located at M.T.S.U. since the only time I'd ever been on campus was just for football games and once for a circus at Murphy Center when I was in kindergarten. This entire time of my life I always had this nagging feeling that I didn't belong. That I was way out of my league knowledge wise and class wise. 

I wasn't too worried about the ACT though. We had taken several mock versions in school and had been given tips from our teachers. Mr. Vanzant and Mrs. Martindale were great for building confidence in their students. I was lucky to have classes with them both my senior year, plus Mr. Vanzant was one of our Quiz Bowl sponsors. The wonderful thing for me and the ACT was that it didn't matter if I did well on it or not. If I bombed it would have been fine. I wasn't taking college prep classes like my friends. They were perhaps feeling the pressure. Plus, I like taking tests. I think it's from loving game shows so much growing up. A test is just a game show without an emcee. 

It wasn't a cakewalk though. The math section drove me crazy since it wasn't my strong suit. Hours in a classroom at Peck Hall with everyone filling in little dots with No. 2 pencils can be a bit irritating. Our proctor did not let us have any fun. The morning wound away as I made hurried marks of B on all of the questions I didn't know an answer for before handing in the test booklet(s). I went home and lazed around the house the rest of the day before watching Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! on channel 17 that night. 

It would be several weeks before we got our scores back. I don't remember the date, but I do still remember going to our Guidance Counselor Mrs. Ognio's office to review it with her. She had a strange look on her face as she glanced up at me before asking "where have you been?" I didn't understand what she meant as I asked if I was late as I had been in class until coming to her office. Her "where have you been?" remark had been rhetorical in a sense. I had made a 24 on the ACT. It was far from the highest you could make, but it was well in to the college admission range. My math had been atrocious with a 16, but I had made a 33 on the social studies portion (I think it's called something else now) which was in the 99th percentile. Mrs. Ognio was wondering why I hadn't been taking college level course the whole time. It was a personal thing for her as she felt she had failed me as a freshman. "Oh no," I replied to her once I figured it out, "I didn't attend Riverdale as a freshman. That's on Oakland."