HHI LEGENDS Good Friday Breakfast

 By Your Athletic (& Buffet) Supporter, Jack Strap

It was a Good Friday for an HHI LEGENDS Breakfast and (11) players/eaters agreed. On one side of the table it was Bender's Lenders (aka The Loan Sharks) and on the other side Junior's Corner Market. The Wyo Family Restaurant assigned their HHI approved Waitress/Referee Danielle for our unruly bunch of hooligans.

The starting line-up for the Lenders/Loan Sharks:

* Formerly known in HHI as Gender Bender & before that Bender-over, but after being mentored by Iron Banker Mike years ago became Lender Bender. One of the self-proclaimed greatest stars to come out of Tulpehocken aka Tulpy--Tim was a late blooming Track Star lured to East Stroudsburg (ESU) by the offer of his own dorm room. I thought Charlie Copp was not only the greatest Tulpy athlete but also the smartest going on to play Ivy league basketball for University of Penn, but Bender didn't agree. He also missed the HHI LEGENDS Photo Op attached.

* Next up Allan "The Question" I-Vath-son who is now playing with Bender and a couple of today's opponents in the Albright Wednesday Lunch League. I was impressed to learn they play on the College's indoor real full court. Vath was evidently networking and investigating the job market this AM asking Junior for a job application (more on that later). Al took on cholesterol today by downing (2) three fillings omelettes which is the HHI equivalent of a deuce. 

* Seated next to I-Vath-son was Your Athletic Supporter, Jack Strap--the organizer of HHI LEGENDS Events which thus far include these Breakfast and Annual Hoops Reunion which HHI is coming up on 32 years (one of my favorite numbers from when Dr. J was in the ABA). Other ideas discussed were a Chip-and-Putt Outing in Reinholds and a new idea today--Bowling. 

* Bowling! Not the Who's Pete Townshend wild style of guitar but downing the 10 Pins is now Dapper Dave's sport of choice. It turns out he was sitting right across from a Bowler in his League--Diggetty Doug (D.D.) Bails. It's also notable that Dapper's Son was a County Champion Bowler coming thru in the clutch with a 242 AVG. In addition Dave showed me a good Morton Powder Coatings Christmas Party picture from our days working together way back when and now advised he's retiring from EnerSys on March 31, 2025.

* To the right of Dave was Mighty Kerr who is still keeping HHI going at Grace Church and is a player/reporter like Jack Strap was back in the day. Kerry's Grand-kids aren't coming in until tomorrow so he was able to make the Breakfast as a game-time decision which is always why I reserve a couple extra seats. About a year ago--Mighty was working across the river when the West Reading - Palmer Chocolate Plant blew up.

* And last but not least--Bender's Lenders' 6th Man & Oldest HHIer of All-Time having played in the Reunion Game 2 years back--Sheriff Hacker Sponge Bob Square-pants who also has the longest nickname in the League. Bob has been battling health issues but looked pretty good and noted today was the highlight of his month. It's good to be an HHI LEGEND.

That's a pretty formidable squad going up against Junior's Corner Store featuring:

* Like Hacker Bob--Junior aka Brad Ehrgood had a tough month (which you can read all about by  Friending him on Facebook) so was looking forward to this HHI LEGENDS Breakfast. He's now an Entrepreneur, although some of his employees can't manage to move vehicles from Point A to Point B without making like Cheech & Chong in Up In Smoke. Rather than those 20-somethings--he's looking for some older "retired" guys so what better place to recruit than an HHI LEGENDS Breakfast. Vath was interested and I'm sure he'd answer the interview question about toking as "I Never Inhaled" ala Slick Willy Clinton. Junior's latest venture he's investigating is a Corner Store or bodega maybe out in Robesonia aka Roby.

Next to Junior was FUn Frank who besides still playing in that Albright Lunch League with Bender & Vath has been teaching programming classes at Penn State for a dozen years--We Are! Frank is now around 55 after being one of the young guys when HHI started, although he hasn't caught up in age to HHI's Founding Fathers. He said his knees can no longer handle outdoor hard courts and speaking of knees after his recent Knee Replacement--Magnum Mike couldn't make today's outing.

To his right was Energizer Boni aka Bender's Boy Blue. He was there with all his supplements or were they steroids? Either way it's all legal in the Albright League or working for Junior as supplements or steroid don't leave the Customer's vehicles with that strong smell of dooby. Bob advised his retired morning routine is extensive stretching and then a multi-course "buffet-like breakfast" which takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes. That's also how long it used to take him to power walk to work at MPC Flying Hills via Routes 724 & 176. 

  

Then we had the aforementioned Bowler D.D. Bails who has had his own business for years so is a regular at these HHI Breakfasts. Bails looked to be in playing shape or I should say better shape than when he played except his knees are worse. Known for his small feet which allowed him unlike most to shoot corners 3's/deuces at Grace Church, although not sure if that's good for bowling or not? Also in the 2 pictures attached to the email--you can see both the front & back of Bails head (in the latter he got in trouble with our Waitress/Picture Taker).

Speaking of in-shape now and back in the day for real--next we had Iron Mike who is 2 weeks from 70 and has battled back strong from a heart attack. Iron was sitting in the corner for Junior's Corner Market which is fitting for that reason, but also because the short corners were his high % shooting spot on the HHI courts.

Hopefully we'll see even more HHI LEGENDS at our next Breakfast which may be over Memorial Day or 4th of July Holidays--stay tuned. Also those not retired from Hoops--start getting in shape for HHI's 32nd Anniversary LEGENDS Games on Labor Day Weekend.