By Joe Rector

On his way home from a family reunion in Pittsburgh with his dad’s parents and uncles and aunts, 16-year-old grandson Madden visited The University of Kentucky. My daughter Lacey said that the trip did what it was supposed to do, but I’m not sure I understand what she was talking about. I do know that going to college is a privilege. But I don’t necessarily think it’s for every person. Lots of folks can do things without a college degree and make a good living and have the things that make for a better life. I wasn’t one of those who could make a better life with a trade or a skill. I had to go to college, and I’m glad I did. It was a unique experience and something that helped mold who I am and what I am and how I am.
The first few days of college were rough. I was homesick about two minutes after Mother pulled the car out and aimed it toward Knoxville. All of a sudden, I felt abandoned and wished that I hadn’t chosen this path for my life. That seems so silly now because I shared a dorm room with my twin brother, Jim, and my older brother Dal and his wife, Brenda, lived in a dorm where he was head resident. Our dorm room was the largest Jim and I had ever shared. However, Jim was gone most of the time as he rehearsed with the band for half-time shows.
By the end of the first quarter, Jim had gone home. He pined away to be with his soon-to-be-wife. By January, I’d grown into my new life. I’d had a girlfriend for a while that first term, but she never returned after the break, and I never heard from her again. During classes, I met some people with whom I made loose friendships. I also began to take part in some things on campus. Football and basketball games offered a break from the demands of classes. Many evenings were spent at Dal’s apartment, where I watched “The Tonight Show” before beginning my studies.
The strangest events I witnessed involved crowds. The first was a panty raid. Male dorm residents crossed campus to where the women’s dorms were located. There the males stood at the edge of the curb and yelled at the girls in their rooms. Some were brave enough to even cross the road to try to enter the dorms. Female head residents, however, were successful in preventing them from getting close. In fact, some of the head residents were so forceful that they tossed male residents around as if they were toys. Girls would hang out the windows and possibly throw down a piece of lingerie and dare males to try to reach it. For the most part. It was just a way to stop the boredom of college life for those who had no social life.
The second event at that time was streaking. This was a predominantly male venture, and those who participated usually were members of fraternities. The requirement for participating was to be sufficiently wasted to strip naked and run from one end of the main quad to the other as the crowded quad lined with students cheered on participants. It was not a favorite activity with the administration and only happened on a couple of occasions. The spectacle was another way for college students to release the energies that were stored up from plenty of studying, as well as from too much drinking.
It’s hard to believe that Madden is already looking at colleges. It seems just like yesterday he was a little boy visiting Knoxville and wanting to play dinosaurs in the woods. I doubt seriously that the events he finds at college will be anything close to what I witnessed. However, I hope he makes friends and does much more socializing than I did. Those are good days. They’re the best days that some people can have because they’re free of responsibility and are learning how to be a part of the real world. The best thing that happened to me in college was meeting Amy during my senior year, and we’ve been together ever since. Maybe Madden will be that lucky. Anything can happen during those crazy times in college. Let’s hope he leaves the school with a diploma in hand.