Teenage years In his high school years Dad attended Malden Catholic on scholarship. It was to this time that most of Dad's friends that he keeps up with today stem back. In tenth grade he tried out for track, though it only lasted three weeks before his self imposed suspension for getting a B in a class. Dad says he couldn't afford to get B's when he was on a scholarship. In the winter of his junior year he tried track again. He had tried out for hockey a few times but never made the cut, Malden Catholic being one of the best hockey teams in the state at the time. Dad remembers walking three miles to school, then even farther to the track, and then three miles home. Dad recalls, "My father never said anything about my running. I think the first time I mentioned track he made fun of me. But once a friend took a picture of me at a Catholic state meet, and there was my father in the picture screaming his head off for me." Grandfather Legg was a hop skip and-jump man. He used to meet my father and me at the KOC [Knights of Columbus] and BAA [Boston Athletic Association] track meets. There were 13,000 people screaming, those were the most exciting events I've ever been to. Those were really big meets in those days." In the summers of 1949 to 1954 Dad worked as a caddy and then a caddy master at the Mount Washington Hotel. The camp director lived across the street from the Leggs, and many other boys dad knew from Melrose and Malden Catholic also went up to New Hampshire for the same jobs. Dad enjoyed those summers, playing nine holes just about every night after finishing work, and watching first run movies shown for the staff. Dad also remembers seeing Harry Belafonte, who was a guest at the hotel but was not allowed to use the facilities during those years. Eighth grade In high school, about 1950   Previous Table of Contents Next