Young Cats

~The Rolla Boys in 1976 L-R...Russ Robertson, Rick Miller, Steve "Beaver" Moss,  John Skelton, Vic Davolt, Tim Tinnin, Craig French and Kevin Carlile

 As I began writing this post, I realized this is probably how Mark Zuckerberg came up with the idea for Facebook. My intention in writing on this blog is not necessarily to share my life, rather, to share experiences and sometimes insights into what I'm observing and have observed as I go through life. A good and young friend of mine, Zack "Z-Dawg" Duhamel would probably say my blog is "random", and he'd be right.

This picture was taken in 1976 by Bill French. These 16 and 17 year old kids grew up together in the same small town in South-Central Missouri. They played together, attended birthday parties together, went to school together, played sports together, hung out together, went bowling together, camped out together, rode motorcycles and mini-bikes together, spent the night at each other's homes together, went to the annual Lions Club Carnival together, listened to music together, "cruised the halls" of RJHS and RHS together, shot baskets and "threw the ball around" together, went out for pizza at Alex's and Burgers at Snoopy's and Arctic Circle together, cruised Pine Street and Kings Highway together, and some even went to church together. They had the same teachers, same coaches and for the most part the same broad and assorted group of friends. They lived in the same kind of houses and wore the same kind of clothes. They chased girls together and eventually put on the same black robes and walked down the same aisle together to graduate from Rolla High School in 1978. The one exception regarding graduation was the kid 3rd from right, Tim Tinnin, who's dad was promoted in his job with the Missouri State Highway Patrol and transferred to Jefferson City, Missouri about the time this picture was taken. To this day he still remains our mutual friend, although we rarely see him.

I have stories about each one of these guys and I might share a few as time goes on. I wish all the Rolla Boys would have been there the day Craig's parents, Bill and Judy French, decided to get Tim's closest friends together for a picture, kind of as a going away gift for Tim and a keep sake of sorts for all of us. I imagine there were a few guys Tim would have liked to have had there who for various reasons probably weren't able to make it. I can think of several good friends who over the years most of us shared to one degree or the other: guys like Randy Warren, Dave Pierson, Larry Hodge, Steve Smith, Craig Atkins, Kevin Marling, David Less, Steve Franz and Matt Hilsabeck to name a few. Had I been the kid moving away, I would have wanted Steve Patton, Mike Watson and Jim Ballinger there for sure and if all the guys in this picture added to the list I'm confident it would have been much, much longer. Suffice to say, this picture was representative of the core of "The Rolla Boys" on that Fall day in Rolla, Missouri so many years ago. A good group of young men who shared and experienced much of what life had to offer in small town America in the 1960's and 70's, and I'm proud to still call them my friends!

Post Script: Thanks Bill and Judy for making the effort and having the foresight to get those rapscallions together for the now famous "Rolla Boy Photo". This picture will forever be a part of your legacy!