My First Gym

Sports build skills

Because I lived one mile south of Newton Elementary School, I was unaware that between my 7th and 8th grade years the city built a gymnasium and new cafeteria onto the school. Up until that time we generally played on the playgrounds around the school or across the street from the school as one block of Ashe Avenue—the one in front of our school—was blocked off during the day.
To my surprise, coming back for my last year at that school, we had a new gym and our only male teacher, Ed Gomedela or“ Gomie” as we affectionately called him behind his back, had planned for and organized competitive sports for us. We had a 7th-8th-grade football team and played a few games with other schools, a basketball team, a baseball team, and organized gymnastics. This was my first contact with organized sports. Up until that time it was normally a group of guys who just got together and chose up sides and played until we got tired. We learned fast.
I think football was my best sport. I was okay at basketball, but having reached 5’10” by age 14 and not growing another inch the rest of my life, basketball was not in my future, although I did make the varsity team in high school my sophomore year. I was good at baseball, but this was my dad’s sport and the more he pushed me toward it, the more I went the other way. In high school I would join the track team and become a long distance runner. I continued this sport in college.
Football was great! I loved to hit and didn’t mind being hit. Technique and execution, learning plays, and learning how to play as a member of a team were important skills that would last me a lifetime. It all began on that old playground, across from Newton Elementary School, in the fall of 1953. I was neither the best or worse player on our team. Next year, my freshman year in high school, I would lose a front tooth in summer practice and he burdened with dental problems for the rest of my life.
I can remember a gathering at the old CP my junior year in high school waiting the announcement of the starting eleven on our varsity football team. It was broadcast over WNNC Newton. The announcer called out each player’s name and the coach made some comments about the person’s ability. When my name was called, the coach was asked if “Butch” Hester would be a starter. The coach replied that I would be playing a lot of football that fall, and, although I was small – remember in the 8th grade I was one of the largest guys in my class – I was quick and mean. I loved it!
Boy, there were some great guys on our teams. I can see Glenn Campbell with his natural swing just kill a baseball. Because of Glenn, Leonard McRee, Raymond Sharpe, Joe Ray Shook, and boys with such great ability and desire, our 8th grade baseball team gave our high school varsity team all they could handle in an exhibition game. I don’t remember who won that game, but I do remember playing in shorts – we had no uniforms – and sliding into home for a run. That slide left a deep strawberry in my right leg, which took months to heal. We couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit so Mom just kept pulling the quarter inch thick, four inch long scab back to pour Iodine into the wound.
Looking back, the building of that first gym, the encouragement of Ed Gomedela, and the friendship forged in the dust of a thousand practices are the stuff that builds character. Years later, under the pressures of graduate school and work, I was able to call on those experiences for courage, persistence, and tenacity. Whenever I enter a gym today, I like to pause, look around me for a little bit, take a deep breath and absorb the locker room smells, and remember that in places like this I was given a chance to excel, to give birth to my abilities, to try, extend and build my leadership skills. Here, I began giving birth to myself and gained the confidence needed achieve my lifetime goals.

Your friend and classmate, always,
Joe Hester (“The Reba”)

Dr. Hester is a retired educator and author of over 40 books and many professional articles who lives in Claremont, NC.