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 1995


Triad High School 1995 Graduation
Mom, Scott, Paul, and Dave

In January, for the second year in a row, I went to fantasy baseball camp. This was Randy Hundley's Baseball Camp in Mesa Arizona. You play baseball for a week with some ex-pro's being your coaches. In both 94 and 95 my coach was the Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.

At the camp, you play two baseball games for 5 days (Monday - Friday). These games are played with, and against, other "rookie" campers. On Saturday, when you are too tired to stand up, you play a game against the pro's. The pro's always win. I play as a St. Louis Cardinal in a sea of Cub blue.

The idea is to spend a week in sunny Arizona in January, with a bunch of ex-big leagers and play baseball . . . works for me.

1995 was an exciting year for the boys. It started off with the 95 track season. The boys were coached by Mr. Mike Moore. They had a great fall cross country season and the track team was shaping up to be something special. And it was . . .

For the first time in history, the Triad Track team won the Mississippi Valley Conference. They also placed second in the county just behind Alton, they won the Roxanna Relays, and just about every thing in between. It was a total team effort. They had great athletes in every area.

Paul and Scott ran the middle distances 400, 800, and 1600 (mile). The picture to the right is the finish of the 1600 (mile) race at the conference championship in Highland. Paul and Scott ran side by side most of the race. As the twins charged down the final straight away, all of the other competitors had dissappeared. The crowd was screaming. It was a dead heat at the finish line. The judges just looked at each other - they had no idea who won. One of them asked Scott and he told them that Paul had won the race.

A classy race - the crowd went wild - I just stood at the finish line and beamed.

The boys set the school record in the 3200 relay with Andrew Miller and Bernie Hellrung. Then they broke it again at the sectional meet. They qualified for the AA state meet at Eastern Ill. University in Charleston. They ran at the state meet on Friday, and we drove home that evening for their High school graduation. It was a great day.

After graduation the boys had planned on attending the University of Illinois, but after the great track season, they re-thought the plans. Mike Moore had graduated from Eastern and knew the cross country and track coach. The boys walked on and made the cross country and track teams as freshmen. Eastern is a NCAA Division 1 school. They ran agaist schools like U of I, Notre Dame, Missouri, etc. It was a humbling experience, but Paul lettered in cross country.

Claudia and I had to re-learn how to live by ourselves. Claudia was working part time for Anderson Hospital doing home health. She is a physical therapist. Meanwhile I was trying to be the next Bill Gates. In 1986, with two partners, I started a software company (HSL). In 1995 we were trying to build the busines.

Phil and his partner John

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