September 26, 2011
Webmaster's Note: I was in the process of working on adding another yearbook page
on Friday afternoon, September 23rd, and received a surprised text from Randy. Although some
 of us knew he was in the hospital for hip replacement, nothing else was known. The
text conversation was spread over the weekend and with Randy wanting to
inform us of his experience, I'm sharing here our excerpts of our text conversation:

Lester: R u doing ok? Heard u were in hosp for awhile

Randy: I'm doing fine. (Entered hospital July 26) I was in ICU for a week after hip replacement
surgery cause of high fever, anemia and pneumonia, then moved to a private room for
5 weeks. After that, I went to Silver Stream Rehab and stayed there for 2 weeks. Then on
Sept 8, Home sweet home! However, Una drove me to Pender Memorial Hospital (PMH) twice a
week and weekends because I use Picc-Line for anemia. I had to ride in back seat to keep my
legs straight. Yesterday (Sept. 22) was my last day for Picc-Line. Bye, PMH, bye. I will go to
orthodontist office to see Dr. Lippe for x-ray on my hip. Hopefully I can drive. I miss driving from
July to current. No more hospital for me. I let u know that we will not go to HC because Una
is worrying about my hip replacement. I respect her. Are u coming to River at Wilmington on
Dec3? I remmy that u hate to ride boat. Am i correct? Tell Di and your mom hi for me.

Lester: That is understandable... how did you break your hip?
Randy: I fell very hard on driveway last April and Una took me to ER to have x-ray. Dr told me
that x-ray was fine. Oh man! Una forced me to go there. She was very worried about me.

Lester: Yeah, the older we get, easy to break bones...and hey, Una loves
you, man...you gotta have somebody looking over you! (and no, I ain't going anywheres
that ain't no dirt under my feet can't see).

Randy: Oh. I lost 2 liter of blood and received 12 pints of blood while I had hip
replacement...anemia is very risky. I almost died by that. It means very low blood over my
body. That why I had Picc-Line. Una and Amy were scared to death that I almost died like in 2003.

Thank GOD and I bless LORD. O:)

Picc-line - instead of explaining here, best to click and go there

Randy also inquired about Classmate Louise:
Was Louise okay after Mike passed? U met her at Lake Wheeler.
Lester: Louise is doing pretty well! MamaPat and I went to the funeral home
to give her support from the Class of '70, Don C. and Steve W. was also
there...She thanked us at the Lake Wheeler picnic...and remarkably, I
thought Louise was in very good spirits. Yes, losing a loved one is
hard, very hard, but the fact that she is talking about it
shows that she is handling his passing, amazingly very well.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

January 18, 2011
Webmeister' Note: Randy and I finally made contact about a week ago and after several text
messages we ended up talking about his love of sports and with his permission, I wanted to share
our conversation on his page.

Where did you get your love of sports from?
You know me that I'm a sports nut! I watch playoffs of pro football. Go Green Bay Packers! Green Bay
was my first favorite when I was young and learned from A group Hoffmeyer Hall boys at NCSD
even while I was in D group when I joined 5th grade in 1962. I never knew about sports before going to
NCSD. Bobby Clark talked about NASCAR with me. That's how my hobby got started, NASCAR racing.
I become a crazy sports and NASCAR nut. Thanks to NCSD.

Did you and your Dad involved sports at home?
My dad had no time to talk me about sports because he traveled lot as a merchant marine. He did not
communicate with me in the hearing world. I'm the only deafie among my family and relatives. My family
tried to help me but no success. We traveled lot and moved lot. We moved to Atlanta and I went to speech
school for 4 years. I passed then we moved to Wilmington that my dad chose. Failing at public school in
Wilmington, my teacher told my parents about NCSD. They decided for me to go to NCSD. My relatives and
parents were very happy and cried that I was schooled and successful at NCSD. I never forget about my youth life.

What year did you joined football?
I think it was 1963. Umm. I like to thank the older boys "forcing" me to play 8th grade football when I was
13 years old because I was big (framed). I never forget that 2 teams did not want me to play against
them. Their coaches asked Mr. Butler to make me sit bench. Yes, he did. I laughed.
Webmeister' Note: Mr. Raymond Butler was NCSD's Vocational Principal until the end of
the 67-68 school year when he went to the to the Florida School for the Deaf. The Class of 1970's
Senior trip included a visit to to the school and enjoyed a party with the Butlers in attendance.

Who were the football teams wanting to bench you?
I'm not sure if they were Drexel and Oak Hill. My teammates were worried of playing without me. I told them to
make it and win game. We won Championship. It was our 2nd championships in 2 yrs when i played. We
were undefeated.

What was the name of the championship?
Called 8th grade Championship however we had no trophies.

When did you join the varsity team?
I joined the varsity team in '65. What was interesting here, was when i was senior in football, 1968, we had
the same team as 8th grade team winning the national championship. I played football, wrestling, track,
basketball, and softball that year.

That is very interesting...do you have more memories?
I think that we beat CAAD (Charlotte Athletic Association of the  Deaf) in softball
game. We enjoyed playing with them. We had no conference
in softball. Guess what! A deaf coach of CAAD asked if I was interested to play for them.

As you know, I'm not a sports fan and you will find out why when I ask the next question:
 Did you get hurt in sports? If so, what happened?
Yes, it was my shoulder when I was freshman. But my bone was not broken, an injury
that sidelined me 7 games!.

 You played defense in football, right?
I played both defense and offence. I was first team of defense in (Skyland) conference. I was honored as
best defense at Gallaudet College. Our coach, Marvin Tuttle, showed me Gallaudet
newspaper and sports article that picked me on a all High Schools list. I never forget that.

You could not play football during our last year in school because of age limits, right?
Yes, but I was defense coach for 8th grade team with head coach Don Westmoreland.
Classmate Lee joined us also as defense coach. 

Do you have any final notes to say?
After I learned about sports at NCSD, my family talked to me about UNC Tar Heels and that we
had been UNC fans many years. So I decide to be UNC fan many years...and still am!

Yes you're right, I remember you always talk UNC sports and I think you had a UNC football jersey
which you wore weekends in the dorm.
Yes, you are right. I'm surprised you remember that!

Wow, I'm not football fan but I do remember you as a sports nut in dorm.
Ha ha. Yeah, right. I tell you the truth that I don't know how or why Gallaudet College wrote
about me. Maybe scout agent from Gallaudet College came to watch us to play.

I learned lot with deaf world and loved it. Later, after graduating, I was dormitory teacher and wrestling
coach at ENCSD for 6 yrs. 1971-1977.