A photo from the mid-1970s with some of the rec rats, including rec leader Paul Accinelli (far left), yours truly next to Accinelli, the late Joe Krumm with the long hair, my BFF Keith Larsen, rec leader Jim Beck, Mitch Fontaine in the front row on the left and Mike Mitchell, the little guy on the right. Mitchell was a star basketball player who played for Digger Phelps at Notre Dame and then became CEO of Dreyer’s Ice Cream.
By John Murphy
I have received a few emails and text messages about an event in the Bay Area on Saturday, Oct. 12.
It is dubbed “Bringing Bruno Back” and it is a reunion of sorts for former San Brunans, especially those in the 50-plus years old category.
That includes my former kids from John Muir Playground where I was the recreation leader for four years.
This event is the brainchild of Tim Bowler, a Menlo-Atherton High teacher who starred on my flag football and basketball teams almost a half-century ago.
I have never seen a kid score so much in such a variety of sports – as a flag football quarterback, a point guard in basketball, playing indoor soccer and hockey, you name it. I was a pretty smart coach when I had Tim on my roster.
Some of my playground kids became quite successful. Adam Battani is a lawyer now in Atlanta. John Xerogeanes is the Georgia Tech football team doctor, a surgeon at Emory University, and operated on a U.S. president. Back in the day, we didn’t even know he was smart.
I smile and shake my head at some of the shenanigans that occurred. The O’Reillys lived across the street from my playground and all three boys played for me — Sean, Phillip, and Michael. One day their mom, Rose, sent me over lunch. I opened the bag and it included a sandwich, an apple and a beer! I thanked Mrs. O but mentioned that I really wasn’t supposed to drink while working.
During flag football, the rain cascaded down, and our normally organized practice degenerated into a game of “smear the —–.” Afterward, the kids headed home covered from head to toe with mud. I disconnected the phone.
During the summer a female leader and I worked on playground from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. We had arts and crafts, movies, sports and occasionally massive games of “Capture the Flag.”
I looked out on our large expanse of grass and there were 120 kids playing Capture the Flag. I learned later that a kid from Crestmoor Elementary broke his arm and then simply hopped on his bike and rode home. That’s class San Bruno stuff. If it happened now, can you imagine the lawsuits?
Well, I don’t know if I’m going to make the “Bringing Bruno Back” reunion. I have a high school football game to cover the night before and San Bruno is 400 miles away. But I’ll think about those kids I used to coach who are now grown men and women, and even the moms like Rose O’Reilly who provided that interesting lunch so many years ago.
Main Street Dog 