Camp kid's dream come true

These are the positings from the old message board !!

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Bob Aronoff

Camp kid's dream come true

Post by Bob Aronoff »

As an indirect Camp story, Allan(Goody)Goodman was a camper 1944-45-46-47-48. In "them days", there was no TV and with no electricity in the bunks at camp, no radios although portables came out of WWII in force and were coming to camp.too. It was the canteen where you lined up to get your mail subscription to the daily Boston Globe or Boston Post (since gone the way of Camp Alton -- sold due to poor operating managment). Why? Because if you didn't know it, Camp was solid dyed-in-the-wool Boston Red Sox territory, with most campers from the Boston area anyway. Almost everyone was a baseball fan as it was the proverbial "only game in town" those days. We all hung on the scores, the results and the details of our heroes from the paper or the Sporting News picked up at the canteen. If you didn't get a letter from home, you at least could read of your baseball idol doings. Only a few campers got these newspapers but those papers were always well-read.

The Red Sox had a player named Ted Williams. Some of you baseball fans know who the guy was. Well, camper Goodman's idol was Williams, along with goodly number of other Altonites. Only Goodman succeeded where others wished, however, as his dad knew the traveling secretary of the Red Sox. That was the guy who preceded the team into every city and made the hotel arrangements, bus transport from the train station -- remember, teams didn't fly them thar days -- to the hotel, to the ballpark, arranged for meals, team equipment, bats, gloves, etc., deliveries, etc. -- a major domo of sorts; don't know who performs that function these days or maybe teams still have so-called traveling secretaries.

Goodman's dad managed to get a baseball cap worn by the Mighty Williams and Williams autographed it to boot (for my two cents, the traveling secretary autographed it). Remember in them thar days there was no commercial selling of sports memorabilia. You had to know the player or someone who did to get anything belonging to him as there were no commercial sales of clothing,equipment, insignias, etc., then. That hat continued to occupy a special spot of honor in Goodman's life thereafter.

Fast forward to a few years ago. Goodman, camper Goody, has now become the leading thoracic surgeon in San Diego, California. It so happens this is Williams' hometown. Of course, this story wouldn't be complete without saying Goodman went to the same high school slugger Ted went to and was coached by that same high school coach Williams had. I recall Goody's mother complaining the coach had more influence over camper Goodman than she did!

It so happens that the city of San Diego named a freeway for its most famous native son. The city invited Williams to inaugurate the opening of that freeway. Williams rarely left his home in Florida, he had major heart problems. While in San Diego, Williams heart manifested some major problems. Whom do you think Williams was referred to? Our camper, San Diego's best MD for heart problems.

Williams was under Goodman's care for three months and eventually recovered. So thankful for Goodman's care was Williams, he had his signature authenticated on that baseball cap and Williams' son also signed it. The cap was given an estimated value of $150,000 -- but Goodman has vowed to never sell it in his lifetime, the loyalty to Camp Alton applied to the loyalty to that cap! Williams then brought Goodman to the San Diego Padres ballpark whereupon he had a photo taken with Tony Gwinn (another baseball great bound for the Hall of Fame) with Goodman standing between them. Both ballplayers autographed the photo.

As if this wasn't enough, Goodman was traveling in the Boston area when he received word he had special seats available to him at Fenway Park, still the home of the Red Sox. When at the park to see a game, he was introduced to some of the Sox's (and baseball's, at the time) famous players, like Dom Dimaggio, Johnny Pesky, Bobby Doerr, etc.

Williams has since left this earth as a frozen stiff but his appreciation of Goodman's work remains and to think, camper Goodman's dream of
meeting his boyhood idol all took place by chance -- I'd think you would have a better chance to hit the lottery than to be alive over 50 years after getting a baseball cap worn by your idol and the idol be alive all 3000 miles away from Boston and all because Williams heart problem manifested itself at the time he was in
San Diego a few years back and you were the city's leading thoracic surgeon.

One interesting story for the Camp's book of tales.

(submitted by Bob Aronoff, 1944-45-46-47)

I'm aware of this story for our family's made independent moves to California in 1948, they to San Diego and my folks to Pasadena. I guess the two of us consisted of the Camp Alton contingent in California for a number of years. It was with
unconsoled grief we learned of Camp's demise in this summer. Both of us had made independent visits in 1989 and found the Camp vibrant and functioning.


aronoff@sbcglobal.net
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