Ann's Column: Memories from 1957
Last week, while I was reading a newspaper, a name caught my attention, a name that I hadn’t heard in 65 years. The article was an obituary of Lennie Rosenbluth of New York. In 1957, he was the most celebrated basketball player in The Old North State, if not the whole country. He scored 20 points in a heart-stopping triple overtime game that gave The University of North Carolina its first NCAA title. For Carolina the entire season had been remarkable. UNC went into the tournament with a 32 to zip record. I have seen a lot of ACC teams, a lot of coaches, a lot of wins. I can still see Jim Valvano running around in circles wanting to celebrate with all the fans in the building the night NC State won the Final. Valvano desperately wanted to hug everyone in that arena. Duke has definitely had many NCAA titles; I can still see that winning shot Christian Laettner made for Duke against Kentucky. That last second shot may be the best remembered of all the Final NCCA games. Because of Arnold Palmer, I still pull for golfers from Wake Forest. UNC is not my primary team, but to me, that 1957 Title win is very special. It was a time, when TV sets were new. We weren’t jaded with sports on TV or phone or I pad every day, every season. I had been to the old Dixie Classic basketball tournaments, and can still see Wake Forest Coach, lanky Bones McKinney jumping up to argue and then sitting down so hard, he would fall backward onto the floor. However, I had never seen any Old North State basketball team in the NCAA Finals; I had never seen (or felt) a triple overtime. I remember that my Mother just threw up her hands after the first overtime and announced she was going to bed because she was a nervous wreck. So, thank you Lennie Rosenbluth from New York. Thank you for all you did for North Carolina to make us rabid basketball fans.. A toast to you, Mr. Rosenbluth! CHEERS to #10!!
That same obituary sent me on a mind search for 1957. I shook my head and repeated what I have heard a lot in the last few years, “Thank goodness I was born when I was. I have witnessed a lot of wonderful things, and life was so much simpler and people nicer.” My guess is that most old white people say approximately the same thing, no matter the time period. I then tried to think what else was happening that year for me, and yes they were simpler things such as Perry Mason, Elvis, Nat King Cole, Perry Como, Lucy, the usual teen events such as dances and dates. Because gasoline is so expensive now, I thought of the gas wars that occurred on Hwy. 29 and can remember 15 or 16 cents a gallon in ’57.
Those are definitely simpler memories; so I dug a little deeper and saw another image on TV: Governor Faubus of Arkansas. I even remembered his name. I can still see those National Guard soldiers with their bayonets drawn in Little Rock. I shuddered then, I shudder now. A few years ago, I visited friends in Little Rock and I asked to drive by that infamous school so I could pay homage to those brave children who faced bayonets. I also remembered Sputnik, and had a fuzzy picture of getting under my desk; that image is so vague that it may have just been talked about. My memory then shut down except for school, friends, classes, dances, and the usual fluff of those days. Of World news, I had to be nudged by Google, and discovered there were two Sputniks in 1957; I had just recalled one. I also was reminded of the Suez Canal crisis which began with Israel invading Egypt and lasted 7 or 8 years with England and France joining in the fight too. At that time, that conflict seemed so far away, even on another planet.
In spite of those 1957 horrible events, I think it was a more uncomplicated time. But was it? Maybe for me it was, but for others who weren’t as fortunate, I wonder? Also, things seem simpler when young, before knowledge is gained. Maybe it was simpler because we weren’t bombarded with information 24 hours a day. I suspect fewer cars, fewer guns, fewer people, fewer large cities, and more time, more open space and more quiet helped a lot. There are things from 1957 that I would like to see and feel again, no doubt. However, I certainly didn’t expect the current Supreme Court to take us so far back.
