Gotcha!

Ross and I were baseball teammates at Illinois State in the spring of 1958. I was a freshman pitcher  and Ross was a senior outfielder. That spring we both were in the same anatomy and kinesiology class held at McCormick Gym's first floor. Ross and his senior girlfriend Elaine were a very high profile couple on campus and widely known as great practical jokers with each other. Both were spirited out-going personalities and always attempted to pull off a practical joke on the other.

I recall one fall night when leaving Milner Library at closing time and as I stepped out of the main entrance into the night's air, I heard Ross' booming voice yell out to Elaine who was walking with other coeds, "Hey Elaine, I'll meet you at South Campus in 10-minutes and we'll make a baby!" Okay, you ask what's so unusual about that? Excuse me blog readers, the YEAR was 1958, when American society still embraced a degree of respectful social decorum.

Later that spring, I witnessed one of the best 'I gotcha moments' in my entire lifetime. It was finals week.  Howard 'Moose' Hancock, athletic director and anatomy instructor was monitoring our anatomy final exam. (Hancock? Yes, that would be the Hancock for whom the ISU Football stadium is named). Back to the gotcha moment. Ross was seated in the first floor room alongside open windows as was I. I heard a whisper from outside the window call out the name, "Ross." It was Ross' girlfriend, Elaine. Ross looked to the front of the room where Moose Hancock was at his desk reading. Ross quickly passed part of his exam papers out the window to Elaine and she disappeared. Put 2-and-2 together, you got it! Elaine was going to complete some of Ross' final exam test. WOW! How bold and risky, I thought.

The two hour test hit the half-way mark and I heard Elaine's voice once again coming from near a bush outside the classroom. She passed the papers through the window and Ross quickly snatched them from the ledge. Perhaps 10- seconds elapsed when Ross blurted out, "Ah, shit!" Naturally, some 18 students looked towards Ross as did Instructor Hancock. Moose, in his gruff voice said, "What's wrong , Ross?" Immediately, Ross said, I'm missing the second-half of my test manual." As Ross walked towards Moose to plead his need for the second part of the 'missing' final exam, I looked at the papers Elaine had given Ross...all the answers were no doubt correct, however ALL the answers were TYPED.  GOTCHA!

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