I drove by "old Central" on a recent trip to Duluth and it brought back good memories of being a student there 50 years ago. In many ways it doesn't seem that long ago. I mostly remember the good friends I made in school and the many teachers who gave us a well-rounded education.

But I also fondly remember some odd things from my days at Central, like playing matchbook football and milk carton hockey on the sneak in the band practice rooms; standing in front of our lockers talking with our friends before home room; playing the theme song from the TV show "Combat" in the baritone section before band rehearsals; and chuckling whenever teacher Sherman Moe called us "hamburgers" for some goofy thing we did.

For the next 50 years, Central helped prepare me for satisfying careers in the Twin Cities as a newspaper sports editor, non-profit executive director, and for 16 years as a gift shop owner with my wife Kay. Now semi-retired, I enjoy my part-time library job, spending time with my stepdaughters and grandchildren (all 4 now in college), going to concerts and following the Minnesota Twins.

In closing, I've tried my best to follow the wisdom of what a professor at the U of M once said in class: "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."