At our 55-year, high school reunion, Larry Blundred and Milt Priggee gave all of the attendees a copy of their award winning, children’s book, How Pickleball Saved Ollie ©. Larry said a few words about how he and Milt connected for this project. In fact, Larry said one of the great things about high school reunions are “friends and connections”.
As it turned out, Larry and Milt connected a few years prior at our 50-year high school reunion when Larry was in search of an illustrator for his upcoming book. (Coincidentally. Milt had “connected” with his wife Jan at our 20-year high school reunion when they both found themselves single, classmates and friends.)
I believe friends and connections run deep in my high school class. At our 55th reunion I was able to share another example with my classmate, teammate, and friend, Fred Teichen. As it turned out, it was a story he hadn’t heard before the reunion.
Fred and I were friends and teammates even before York Community High School of Elmhurst. We played on the same basketball team at Sandburg Junior High School along with Brent Johnston among others. Brent’s Dad, Bud Johnston, was our coach. But it was another Bud that had a major impact on my family.
In 1969, Fred and I were teammates on York’s sophomore basketball team. Common in youth sports, our parents knew each other from attending our games. The parents of our sophomore team always sat together, especially at the home games. It was there, in the stands of the York High School gymnasium during one of our home games, that a special result of a friend and connection unfolded.
Fred’s Dad was Walter “Bud” Teichen and a great fan of his son’s basketball team. Like my Dad, Bud never missed a game. Bud had a bonus because he could also watch Fred’s older brother, Wally, play in the varsity games on the same nights. It was in that York gym that Al Pokorn and Bud Teichen developed their friendship.
They came from different backgrounds, I think. In my Dad’s case, after leaving the service he worked at the Sunbeam factory in Cicero, IL for a while. He left factory work to join his Brother-In-Law in the roofing business. From there my Dad became a plasterer tradesman.
The trades were tough for my Dad. At 5’9” and 140 pounds, the physical demands took a toll on his body. The proverbial “icing on the cake” came when drywall replaced lathe and plaster in building construction. By 1959, it was time for my Dad to make a career change.
I don’t know if was through a “friend and connection” but my Dad wound up taking a job with the Independent Order of Foresters (IOF) selling life insurance. I was in the 4th or 5th grade at the time and had not met Fred Teichen yet. Initially, my Dad was very good at sales even earning the IOF “Tree Toppers” award as a leading salesman.
Fast forward a few years when my Dad befriended Fred’s Dad. Bud Teichen was running a successful insurance agency in Elmhurst. By that time my Dad’s sales productivity had dropped. His commissions were up and down – mostly down – and my Dad’s enthusiasm for a sales career waned. My Mom had taken an office job at Burny Bros Bakery in Northlake, IL in 1962 to help pay for my older brother’s college. She had also been diagnosed with cancer.
Returning to 1969, my Dad’s sales commissions were no longer enough to cover our household expenses plus my brother’s college. Since I was a sophomore, he knew I would be attending college as well in a couple of years. My Mom’s wages were filling the gap but her illness was progressing beyond what medicine back then had to offer. She started missing time being too sick to work.
Of course, I wasn’t in the stands during that one home game when Bud and Al were chatting, but I can imagine how their conversation might have followed along this line:
Bud Hi Al! How’s it going?
Al Hi Bud! It’s OK I guess.
Bud How are sales?
Al Not good. In fact, I’m looking for a different job
outside of sales.
Bud Well if you’re serious, I might have a connection that
can help you get on at the tollway. But it will likely
come with “conditions”.
In the 1960s Major Richard J. Daley was at the height of Chicago’s “Machine Politics”. The center of his political power was patronage. Daley wasn’t the first. Chicago Mayor, William Hale Thompson perhaps with none other than Al Capone way back in the “Roaring 20s”, along with Daley in the 1960s are all credited with leveraging the policy of, “Vote early. Vote often”.
Well, Chicago may have been a stronghold for the Democratic Party (still is), but DuPage County where my Dad and Bud Teichen lived was staunchly Republican (still is). My Dad did follow up with his friend Bud Teichen’s connection and he was hired by the Illinois Tollway Authority. Initially, my Dad was a “fill-in” Toll Collector. He would roam from toll plaza to toll plaza working different days and different shifts, filling in for Toll Collectors who were out sick or on vacation. My Dad loved the job!
My Dad appreciated his friendship with Bud Teichen and Bud’s referral, too. He faithfully completed the job’s “conditions”. Every night before every election – federal, state, county, or city, I remember my Dad sitting by the telephone in our dining room pen and paper in hand. The call came like clockwork. My Dad wrote down the explicit voting instructions he was given and he would go to the polls the following day to cast his vote.
My Dad was eventually assigned to one toll plaza (near O’Hare Airport) and he worked a regular schedule on the dayshift, Monday through Friday. He also volunteered to work overtime and fill-in nights, weekend, or holidays when asked. He loved the job! My Dad was earning his first consistent, 40-hour a week paycheck, plus medical benefits, since he left the Sunbeam factory in the 1940s.
Though my Mom’s health deteriorated as her cancer spread and she couldn’t continue working, my Dad was able to cover our household expenses, my college costs, and even my Mom’s escalating medical expenses. After she died in 1974, he continued working at the tollway and continued meeting the “conditions” for years to come.
Al Pokorn never forgot his friendship with Bud Teichen, nor Bud’s connection that led to our family’s financial security. Neither did Al Pokorn’s son. I was able to relate this true story to my friend, teammate, and Bud Teichen’s son, Fred at our 55th high school reunion.
Friends and connections indeed, Larry Blundred.
