Good Morning All!
I read in the newspaper yesterday that actor Kirk Douglas of “Spartacus” & “War Wagon” movie fame, among many other great films, celebrated his 103rd birthday. Wow, that’s remarkable, don’t you think? There must be some pretty good genes in his family tree! He’ll always be one of “Hollywood Greats” in my humble opinion. It was pretty great growing up and watching the likes of John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Gregory Peck & Jimmy Stewart & Richard Widmark on the silver screen.
Speaking of birthdays…Happy Birthday to Spokane friends Ed, Annette & Dave! And Happy Birthday to actor/director extraordinaire Kenneth Branagh of “Murder On The Orient Express” movie fame, who is 59 today. If you haven’t seen his movie version of the famous Agatha Christie murder mystery, be sure and check it out on Netflix or Amazon Prime. You’ll be glad you did…all-star cast, great acting and great cinematography. Grab a bowl of popcorn and sit back and enjoy…it will keep you on the edge of your seat, for sure!
I enjoyed teaching a class on credit and debt for Junior Achievement at Lewis & Clark High School yesterday. Many of the students weren’t acquainted with the difference between a credit and a debit card, which I found rather remarkable/surprising. We went through a number of exercises on evaluating various situations on an individual’s “credit worthiness.” It was fascinating to get the students’ reactions to various scenarios. Our country sure struggles with managing debt and establishing good credit history habits, don’t you think? No wonder our politicians (in both major political parties) have an awful time balancing budgets and properly managing our nation’s debt.
I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card on Paul Martha the other day. He was born in 1942 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, attended Shady Side High School in Pittsburgh, played college football for the University of Pittsburgh and then was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round of the 1964 NFL draft. He was a Pittsburgh sports figure through and through! He gained fame as a quarterback and later a running back and then converted to a defensive back in later years. He finished his NFL career with the Denver Broncos, picking off a career-high six passes for 99 return yards in 1970. During his time playing for the Steelers, Martha attended Duquesne University, from which he earned a law degree. He became an attorney and worked for Reed, Smith, Shaw & McClay Law Firm in Pittsburgh and for Youngstown Steel before joining shopping mall magnate Edward J. DeBartolo’s sport’s teams, becoming executive vice president, general counsel and CEO of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1977 and executive vice president and general counsel of the San Francisco 49ers in 1978. He also ran the Civic Arena, now Mellon Arena. He was part of the management teams that saw the 49ers win four Super Bowls and the Penguins win their first two NHL Stanley Cup Championships. He is the only professional sports manager to own six championship rings. In the early 1980s, he was general manager of the Pittsburgh Maulers of the USFL. He was involved in mediating between the NFL players union and the NFL owners on different occasions. Martha’s personal life was marred by a couple of incidents of domestic violence, thought to be caused by brain injuries he sustained as a football player. He had three stays at alcohol rehabilitation facilities, one divorce and a second in the works, and time in jail for violating a domestic abuse restraining order involving his second wife. His situation has improved considerably since he was diagnosed in 2010 at age 67 with brain damage from concussions he sustained as an NFL player. Thanks to proper edication and treatment, he is able to live by himself in an upscale retirement facility. He can come and go as he pleases as long as he has a companion. His family says he is a much better grandfather to his six grandchildren than he was a father to his three sons. Martha isn’t the first former Pittsburgh athlete to make news of his concussions from football. Steelers Hall of Fame center Mike Webster had brain damage before he died at age 50 in 2002 from complications of a heart attack. Martha guessed that he had at least 10 concussions during his six seasons with the Steelers and one with the Denver Broncos. Steelers owner Dan Rooney wrote about one of those head injuries in his 2007 book, “My 75 Years With The Pittsburgh Steelers And The NFL”: “Defensive back Paul Martha made a hit (during a training camp scrimmage in 1968) that split his helmet down the middle like a cracked nut, leaving him with a concussion and a serious cut over his right eye.” Martha’s first wife, Bobbie, remembers a bad head injury he had in a game against, coincidentally, the Steelers in Denver, the result of a helmet-to-helmet collision with quarterback Terry Hanratty. “He was out of it for a long time after that,” she said. “I could definitely see a change in Paul. We would go out and he would be looking over my shoulder, off into space.” Having lost much of his fortune over time, Martha qualified for financial aid under the NFL’s “88 Plan,” which helps former players with dementia. It is named after Baltimore Colts’ great John Mackey’s uniform number and was written into the basic agreement between the NFL owners and players in 2006 at the urging of Mackey’s wife, Sylvia. Nearly 100 former players in 2010 received up to $88,000 a year in assistance, and the number has only grown since then…
Here’s hoping safety measures will continue to improve in football. As for me, it would be difficult to suggest that anyone in our family ever take up football…just too many risks for significant injuries that could last a lifetime. There are plenty of other great sports to partake in. I always thought it would make more sense to “run away from competitors”, not “run into them” at a high rate of speed!
Here is the word for the day:
“Nabob”: “A very wealthy and powerful person.”
This word reminds me of the memorable phrase used by former U.S. Vice President Spiro T. Agnew…”nattering nabobs” to describe young people protesting over the Vietnam War and other social issues of the day. I didn’t know what “nattering” means, so I looked it up this morning and found that it means “grumbling” or “complaining”…How about that!
Here is the fact for the day:
7% is the percent of successful PGA Tour putts from more than 20 feet and the percentage of Americans who believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows!
Here is the pun for day:
“A dyslexic poet writes inverse.”
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“There is no such thing as natural touch. Touch is something you create by hitting millions of golf balls.”
—Lee Trevino, PGA Golfer great
“You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face, and show the world all the love in your heart
The people gonna treat you better…You’re gonna find, yes you will…
That you’re beautiful as you feel…”
…I have often asked myself for the reason for sadness
In a world where tears are just a lullabye
If there’s any answer, maybe love can end the madness
Maybe not, oh, but we can only try…”
—Carole King, “Beautiful”, American singer/songwriter (1971)
“I lift my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”
—Psalm 121, verses 1-2
Here’s to a great Tuesday and lots of love always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)