My life as a high school athlete, summed up in one photo

Here I am in the front row of the 1959-60 Delphi High School freshman basketball team.

I was terrible. I was, by far, the worst player on the team, which is why I only played a few seconds in one game, during which time the ball was stolen from me.

See the kid in jersey number 99, the second from the right in the front row? That’s Jerry Martin. He was born with half a right arm. Jerry was way better than I was.

It was such an embarrassing experience that I never went out for another sport in my high school career until I played on the golf team as a senior. I wasn’t especially good at golf, either, but by that time I just didn’t care and did it for a lark.