Sophomore Summer started the precise moment the last yearbook was signed! Not only had we survived – we had thrived. A special time – made more exciting by the fact that many of us would soon drive (legally!!).
One of the blessings of Tooele’s semi-rural location was that most of us had learned to drive already but now we were no longer to be relegated to the back roads. Someday soon we could DRAG MAIN. Look out world, here we come.
It happened so steadily that we didn’t seem to notice. During our sophomore year, the world took some drastic changes. New words added to our vocabulary during the year ahead would include Munich, Space Shuttle, Aerosmith, Skylab, HBO, Libertarians, Bobby Fisher, Le Duc Tho and Mellow Yellow.
We saw the perfect horse in Secretariat and the perfect season in the Dolphins.
The World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world and a symbol of America but it was soon beaten by the Sears Tower.
Peace came to Vietnam for America but things were not peaceful in America.
During our sophomore summer Watergate became a household word. I watched in awe and a little bit of farm-boy suspicion as ‘those’ folks in Washington began to take grave measures. Things were not ‘perfectly clear’. Richard Nixon began to look a lot like Rich Little.
My heartthrob Jane Fonda began to look a lot like Hanoi Jane. Soviets began to look a little chubbier on American wheat. Rainbows gathered in Colorado.
One hot August day, while driving the tractor, I looked up and my heart momentarily stopped. Attending grade school in the early ‘60’s had prepared me for this day, but there was no desk to hide under. A huge meteor was glancing off the Earth’s atmosphere, beginning above Utah and leaving a streak clear into Canada. I had momentarily thought the Ruskies were nuking us or some other event of Biblical proportions was taking place before realizing it was a meteor. I didn’t carry my trusty Swinger camera with me back then, especially cutting hay, but what would I have given for a camera on that day.
We began our sophomore year at the same time the summer Olympics began in Munich. Watching in horror as Israelis were killed, I could not fathom anyone hating other human beings that much. It was a staggering shock to the world.
It overshadowed Mark Spitz winning 8 Gold Medals and Bobby Fisher saying checkmate in Reykjavik. It put a pall on Henry Kissenger and Le Duc Tho making great strides towards ‘Peace with Honor’.
Some crazy company called Home Box Office began operations. Who would be goofy enough to pay for television when you could snatch it out of the air for free?
Richard Nixon kept his job for a second term. Nixon looked more and more like Rich Little every day. Mellow Yellow sold more than just tea.
In December, the final manned moon mission took place – no, they did not find Optimus Prime. They did find ‘The Blue Marble’.
January 1973 brought us Aerosmith. Satellite TV brought Elvis from Hawaii right into our living rooms. The Dolphins brought us the Perfect Season in Super Bowl VII.
George Foreman grilled Smokin’ Joe Frazier while the Paris Peace Accord brought peace to Southeast Asia. American POW’s began to come home. Nixon went back to China.
We learned of a place called Wounded Knee and listened to The Dark Side of the Moon. Both places seemed rather far away from Tooele.
The Godfather won the Oscar while The Young and the Restless entertained us (or our moms at least). Judge John Sirica was laying down the law to Mitchell and McCord.
Motorola introduced the first mobile phone while Fedex began visiting us overnight. The World Trade Center and the Sears Tower began to reach for the sky.
Led Zepplin rocked Tampa to the largest crowd in history while Bobby Riggs beat Margaret Court to set the stage for the battle of the sexes.
America launches Skylab then must immediately repair it. Secretariat needed no repair as it broke records at the Kentucky Derby.
When our sophomore year ended in May of 1973 the world had changed and so had we. At least we now had Pong.
Secretariat Junior High Photo
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