The Slice: This was before participation trophies

The Slice had asked who around here has the oldest kids sports trophies?

Randy Johnson has the 1959 trophy presented to him and partner (future Indy 500 winner) Tom Sneva as YMCA badminton tournament junior doubles champions. “Still sits on the shelf in the shop at my house.”

Gene Teigen won a VFW-sponsored marbles tournament in South Seattle when he was in the third or fourth grade. “First place prize was a blue ribbon with a gold medal, all of the marbles used in the tournament, and a Roy Campanella baseball bat that was too large and heavy for me to swing. The marbles and bat are long gone but still have the gold medal from 60 years ago.”

Kent Richardson shared this. “It may not be the oldest but it might be the smallest at 3 1/2 inches tall. Fifth place in the free-throw shooting contest at North Pines Junior High in 1960. Yea! I couldn’t tell you why I still have this, maybe because it is the only sports trophy I ever got.”

D.J. Schultz has a trophy awarded to members of the 1971 Ohio high school ice hockey state championship team.

And Bill Sperling has a trophy that, well, he can tell it.

“My father, Bill Sperling Sr., and his pal Ray Faraca won a bowling tournament the evening I was born, March 8, 1941. Of course, I still have the trophy that has my birth date proudly engraved on the base. Does this qualify as a kids trophy? The bigger question is how did he stay married to my mother for 57 years with those priorities?”

Worst job: Cheney’s John Barber thinks many Vietnam veterans would nominate a certain kind of detail, one with a simple scatological name.

“Typical Army outhouses in use were above-ground structures. Under each seat was a half oil drum with two handles welded to it. Hinged door in back for access. Two man detail removed uncovered cans, loaded them on a truck, drove bumping and sloshing across fields to burn area.”

There the members of the detail would dump out the contents and burn it with the help of some diesel fuel.

“Add in the tropical climate of the Mekong Delta, the large voracious maggots and the fragrant smoke. Let’s just say you wouldn’t want to load up with a big breakfast that morning.”

Happy Saturday!

Today’s Slice question: What’s the most ludicrous expense an employee of an Inland Northwest business ever submitted for reimbursement?

Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. Chris Kious said Spokane Valley’s Tim Reagan deserves to be considered a master of the grilling arts.