Bob+Goalby+Interview+Transcript

  Me- Umm, what was the Belleville west campus like during your high school years?   Bob-Well, you have never been to Belleville west, you have been to the new one right? Uh it is almost identical to what it looks like now. Except the tennis courts are in the same spot. The track is different now, they tore the track up and made a soccer field, and its pretty and they done a good job. The stadium was exactly the same, the stadium was built in 1941 was the first year they used it, and uh, maybe 40 im not sure, lets say 40, I think they used it in 40. They used to play, you know where Auffenberg Ford is?   Me- Yeah   Bob- They used to play their football games right there where the ford dealership is in Belleville. It was called the Athletic Field, it was a baseball field there, with stands, it was a big field. And we, years ago there used to be a lot of teams in this area, baseball teams, uh, baseball was a big sport years ago for everybody. Because no television, and no money, but you could go play baseball for nothing. Couple balls you know, couple gloves, it seemed like everyone seem to have a glove or a ball, and a lot of good teams, a lot of like Millstadt, and all of those like Waterloo and Belleville, and Belleville had a, uh, a stag. They had the Belleville stags, that was a professional team, class D, now they don’t even have a class D. Uh, they signed a lot of kids out of high school. Like for like 150 dollars. Anybody with like a little potential. They would play like one year and see if they could get better. If they didn’t get better they were gone. But, not they don’t sign kind for 150 dollars, they get better players now. They bypass that lower level player, they don’t even get to him because nine, ninety nine out of a hundred they don’t go anywhere, you know. Although Stan Musial was a class D pitcher, in the class D. He hurt his arm and he was going to quit baseball completely, but the manager said you’re a pretty good hitter Stan, you ought to try to play the outfield. And, uh, that’s how he got playing the outfield. HE could hit like hell, so he got, he worked his way right up and in about a year he got into the majors. And, uh, so he is an exception some of the class D baseball. But anyway, that’s where they played their games, called the Athletic Field. They didn’t play in this stadium until 1940 when it was built. But its basically exactly the same today, that stadium in the back there, as it was when I played. Uh, I played all sports, I was the captain of the football, baseball, and basketball team. We won the state championship in baseball and uh, we beat East St.Louis two out of the three years. When I was in school there, and uh, I made, I had, I won eleven letters. Without any in Golf I didn’t play golf. Sissy, Sissy game, although I played Golf. I grew up next to a country club and played golf all the time. I wasn’t a member, I would sneak over at night. I caddied during the day. I would sneak over at night. That’s how I got playing golf, and I got pretty good before I went to high school. But I wouldn’t tell one coach or one girl that I played golf, they would have laughed at me. Golf was a sissy game back then. Anyway, the stadium is the same, that school is almost the same, cause see I didn’t go to Belleville west now, the new one, although I lived next to it there where the winery is, that was my place. I owned all of that. And I lived there for 28 years in that brick house there. And it was in better shape now, it looks like a cow pasture now. And I owned the property out to the street, I sold that to the school. You know where they have soccer practice, football practice, that was mine. I sold that in two O four. I sold that to the school. But uh, school hasn’t changed much. But back in my day we had leather helmets. Do you remember seeing the football players who had leather helmets? That’s what we, I played in. They didn’t have the helmets with the nose guards, the chin, we didn’t have all of that. But, the players weren’t as good either. The line men, if they were big like they are now, they couldn’t run in my day. They weren’t strong and heavy and kind of sloppy fat maybe. But now the athletes are unbelievably good. I don’t think the school has changed a heck of a lot physically, looking at it. But the new school, that looks like it has changed tremendously, they got a nice campus. Of course you get locked in there you cant get out can you? I’m just joking, they tell me you have to go in and out certain doors?   Me- Yeah, you have to get buzzed in and stuff.   Bob- But I would say the school physically, the old one where I went, I didn’t, I haven’t been in this one a whole lot so I don’t know much about the new one. But I’m sure everything has changed. The curriculum has changed, its probably a lot harder I know that.   Me- all inside now.   Bob- Yeah, we didn’t have computers or television or phones, we didn’t have any of that. That’s why guys like me, we don’t, I’m 81. That’s why guys like me don’t know anything about phones, well I have one, but I meant text message or anything, I don’t do any of that. You guys can do that no problem. I don’t even mess around with that. I answer and I make calls that’s all. But I don’t know what else you want me to say about the school. The original one hasn’t changed me it looks the same and I don’t think you do much difference. We started school about 8 o’clock. We had 50 minute sessions in school and uh, it was easy to change rooms I the old school, you never went there, they had a gym, a cafeteria, a library, and a main building and your classes were in there. But there were only about 1100 kids when I was in there, in 47. Now I don’t know many they got in there now.   Me- 2500 maybe   Bob- well there were only about 1100, a little over 100 when I was in high school. That was the whole school, there wasn’t any east. That was the whole Belleville. Altolf was called Cathedral, was up at 3rd street. You know where the hospital is? Well right across the street was where Altolf was. And they only had about 200 kids told in the school at Altolf. It was called Cathedral then. Then they moved out here and got bigger, bigger, bigger and of course we got east and west now and guess both of them had twenty two thousand, twenty five hundred kids. Well I guess we have a lot more people than we used to have in Illinois, I mean Belleville. But anyway, that about all I can tell you about that. Maybe you have another question   Me- What was your favorite class during high school?   Bob- My favorite class, I wasn’t a good student. I didn’t like school. None of them were really favorite. Oh, I didn’t mind history and civics. Those classes where you actually learned a little something. But I wasn’t worth a damn at math. Math was hard for me. I didn’t grasp geometry and Algebra 5, I didn’t go after algebra 5. I couldn’t handle it any more. That was enough for me. But then it wasn’t as important, they didn’t make you go, now you have to go. Freshman Algebra and sophomore geometry was it, you didn’t have to go on and get any more. That was really what demanded of, or what do you call it when you have to take the class, I cant think of what you call, mandatory classes, I guess. But that was all we had to take. I didn’t like math at all, I just somehow didn’t understand geometry and algebra 5 was really hard for me, I had a hard time with that. But my favorite class, I told you, was history and civics. I did like civics I just did. We didn’t take any hard classes, sociology and a couple things like that. I took machine shop. I didn’t take gym or anything cause I played all of those other sports. We didn’t have to take gym because we were always, I was always at practice of some kind. But I didn’t, school was hard for me for some reason. Some kids breeze though and never have to open a book, but I had a hard time. I wasn’t a good studier, I didn’t like to study. I would look out the window daydreaming about the tree limbs way up top, or some dumb thing. I never. And I didn’t know what I would read half of the time. I would read something for an hour and I would say what the hell did I read. I didn’t think I concentrated, I think I would be floating off somewhere. Nine miles away my brain was. High school was hard for me and college was hard for me. I would say college was actually a little bit easier than high school for me. I don’t know it seemed like uh, I don’t know, it just seemed easier. Of course you didn’t have to take English if you passed it in high school and stuff like that so you took other subjects. I was taking a PE course so that’s a little easier doing that, then it was something that I liked and it was a little easier than taking math and all that junk there in high school. I went to University of Illinois, then I went to Southwestern, got drafted, then went back to university of Illinois. So I kicked around a lot there in high school and college. After I got out of high school, I meant college. SO, give me another one.   Me- what was something that everyone wanted to become when they graduated?   Bob- What was what?   Me- What was something that everyone wanted to become when they graduated? Bob- Well, I think life was a little different then. You see most people, most parents worked, physically worked. There weren’t many sock brokers, or there were many insurance guys. And there want any, well there was one bank in Belleville, two banks. Belleville National, and St.Clair national. And 3 banks I guess and the First National. So there wasn’t banks on every corner so you didn’t look foreword to being a banker. I don’t know, I think most guys were happy if they could get a job as a brick layer or a pat time job working in the summer at the packing plant. They were all just looking to get a job when they got out of school. There weren’t as many kids going to college back then. Cause parents couldn’t afford it. Parents didn’t have any money at all, you know during the depression. If some parents made a dollar a day, some men worked all day for a dollar. So they couldn’t give it to the kids you know, I know. My dad, I made a dollar and a dime or a dollar and a quarter caddying, and he would make me save the dollar, and I could spend the quarter or the dime. And I would find golf balls and sell them, so I always had a few bucks in my pocket. He didn’t take the money, but I had to buy my clothes for school with that money. When I was in grade school I was making money caddying because I lived right next to the country club so it was easy for me to caddy. But I don’t think anyone dreamed like they now do, about being in the air force. We didn’t have an air force then, it was the Army Air Corps. During the War, World War Two. Very few people went to West point then. I knew one kid that went to west point, I could have gone o west point on a football scholarship. I couldn’t have gone on my grades, couldn’t have got in. I just didn’t want to go that far from home. So I didn’t go, but I wish I would have gone now. I thought many times that that was a mistake that I made. Because it has great training, and I know they had strict. And when I was in the service for two years, I liked the discipline that we had you know, had to walk the chalk line. Most guys didn’t like it, got pissed off and get put in the brig. They would get put on KP, that’s kitchen duty, but they didn’t like that. Kitchen Police was what they called it, but it was just kitchen duty. You would go to work at five in the morning on KP, if you screwed up they put you on KP, you might get out at ten that night. I’m serious. And that means you had to scrub the grease straps, scrub all the pans, you know they had to cook stuff like a couple thousand soldiers would line up and go through this buffet. And you had to clean all that shit up. And the gun sergeants were all pricks. They made you like, you dogface get your ass in here and clean this pot, even after you spent an hour cleaning it. They would say you god damned dogface get in here and clean this pot. You had no choice, you either did that or they put you in the jug. Put you in, the were tough. I was just saying, I don’t think the kids look foreword to what they wanted to do, now they want to be engineers and this and that. I don’t think anyone wanted to become an engineer, I don’t even remember the word. Now, there must have been. Maybe not in my walk, the kids I didn’t talk to, but I never heard that. Now you have kids saying they are going to be engineers, I’m going to be an aeronautical engineer. I’m going to be a pilot. I’m going to be a professor in college. I didn’t hear any of that stuff when I was in school. People were happy to graduate and get a job. And maybe stay out of the army. Cause I was at the time, when the minute you got out you got drafted. I was at the tail end of World War Two. SO most of them went to service. Some of them quit school and joined cause they knew they were going to get drafted. That’s all I can tell you, what I know about that.