Going to out-of-town games gave me at least an acquaintance with the towns and
countryside of the area in which I grew up. I suppose Mary Sowerby got used to
having a many-sided editor. She was nice to me.
In Senior year, I was so caught up in school life that almost all my
friends were Allegany students. Vic Malloy, a LaSalle boy, was my remaining
“Fayette Street" buddy early in the year, but he too was soon involved in his
own school’s activities.
Ted Ferrato, a Junior and fellow cheerleader, and I became close friends.
After games we often finished the evening at Ford’s. Some evenings we spent time
at Saints Peter and Paul’s bowling alley, generally not to bowl or play ping pong but
just to loaf, or hang out, as we say today. These were places we could walk to - he
too had no car - and our homes
were not too distant. This was
good: Walking with friends in the
quiet Cumberland nights meant
t a
l
k
i
n g with friends, and that
meant learning from each other.
Under forgotten circum-
stances, a rather insecure, lonely,
Sophomore boy named Jimmy
Orndorff latched on to Ted and
me. He was in desperate need of
friends it seemed. Soon he was
phoning me and showing up at
Ford’s more often than I liked, for we had nothing in common. But I tried not to
ignore him because I thought it would hurt him. I listened to his problems and gave
him advice and assuaged his concerns based on my “vast experience and
accomplishments" (so he felt) as a Senior. I hope I didn’t do irreparable damage!
Circumstances eventually changed and Jimmy dropped out of our lives. Chalk it up
to a lesson in interpersonal relations.
Enter Marcellus Barncord - Barney - into the Ferrato-Rohrer partnership. He
was good for Ted and me, who were somewhat serious while Barney was sort of devil-
may-care, a cutup. For better or for worse, Barney had access to the family car. We
had some good, harmless times that went on into the summer after graduation. Then,
almost without realizing it, the paths of Ted, Barney and me took different directions.
Jimmy Scott was not a close, everyday pal but he was certainly a good friend
It was Jimmy who organized a group of classmates for a train excursion to Washington
on a beautiful April 2. This time I went into the Capitol, even climbed up into the
89
Ted Ferrato, a fellow cheerleader and good friend.
