3 RAPS club reports Book Club tackles ‘Tinkers’ The RAPS Book Club will meet Tuesday, March 15 at 1:30 pm at the home of Dez Roberts, located at 2610 SW 54th in Portland. Contact her at dezrob@comcast.net or 503679-3870 to RSVP and for directions. This month the club discusses the Pulitzer Prize winner Tinkers, written by Paul Harding. The book is described on the back cover as follows: An old man lies dying. As time collapses into memory, he travels deep into his past where he is reunited with his father and relives the wonder and pain of his impoverished New England youth. At once heartbreaking and life affirming, Tinkers is an elegiac meditation on love, loss, and the fierce beauty of nature. Looking ahead to April, we will read the Multnomah County Library Everybody Reads selection The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. As always, we encourage anyone to join us. --Mary Brannan RAPS Hikers seek magnolias in March On Friday, March 11 we will hike in Forest Park. The exact route will be determined when we find out if the magnolias are in bloom. The Nussbaums will coordinate this hike. Meet at 9:30 am at the Rose Garden concessions stand. Lunch will be in a restaurant/cafe in northwest Portland. Confirm your attendance with Larry Sawyer 503-771-1616 or larry_sawyer@comcast.net. On Friday, April 8 we will hike the canyon trail in Silver Falls State Park. We will carpool and take a sack lunch. Marge Terdal will coordinate the April hike, as Larry Sawyer will be out of town. We held our first snowshoe hike in February. Due to only 5" of snow at Government Camp, we hiked a little over two miles at Bennett Pass near Meadows. The weather was clear and in the high 30s or low 40s. Three snowshoed and one cross country skied. The last two times we were on the mountain we stopped at the Zigzag ranger station and talked to ranger Sam Oakland. He got a law degree after he left PSU and lectures occasionally at the Hatfield School. --Larry Sawyer Bridge Group counts the cards March 8 The RAPS Bridge Group meets at 1:00 pm Tuesday, March 8. For further information, including the venue, call Colin Dunkeld, 503-292-0838. Please call by Friday, March 4. --Colin Dunkeld PAST TENSE Remembering Sharkey Nelson he recent death of onetime PSU basketball coach and faculty member Loyal "Sharkey" Nelson brought to mind an incident in Feb. 1965, when Nelson’s team had played an away game at Southern Oregon. Coach Nelson learned of curfew violations by some team members and suspended them for the remainder of the season. When other team members admitted that they, too, had violated the curfew regulation, Sharkey wound up suspending the entire team -- with the exception of his own son, John, who had been with him at the time. John later said, "I know it was extremely uncomfortable for him to suspend all the players but his son. I can assure you it was also very awkward for me." Asked how he could dismiss the entire team, Sharkey replied, "I couldn’t turn my back." Try to imagine that happening in athletics today. The team used Junior Varsity players plus John Nelson to finish out the remaining three games of the season, with Bob Scruggs as acting coach. Some of the JV players would play their own game early in the day and come back for the varsity game in the evening. There was an outpouring of student support for the team and, just like a Hollywood movie, the players finished the season with a 73-69 overtime win against the eventual conference champion, Eastern Oregon. John Nelson recalls that "almost all of the suspended players came to the games in support of the team." That was nearly a half century ago and I still remember the thrill of that final win. --Clarence Hein Editor’s note: Clarence Hein was editor of the Vanguard at the time of the incident recounted above. Sharkey Nelson died Aug. 22, 2009 at the age of 96. His obituary appeared in the Oct. 2009 edition of the RAPS Sheet. PAST TENSE features glimpses into Portland State’s history. To submit a story (or an idea for one), email the RAPS History Preservation Committee at raps@pdx.edu. T Sharkey Nelson in 1956
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