After junior high, it was on the road again, this time to the Philippines. I was pretty bummed, as always, because I was really adapting to Thailand. Aside from hanging with the Ambassador’s son, riding klong boat taxis, and flying fighter kites with strings coated with powdered glass, I was scheduled to compete in a track and field meet in Laos and was looking forward to the exotic trip.

When not strapping on the pads, I found time for baseball, basketball, soccer…

No go. My pop came home in late 1969 and made one of his now famous announcements. Goodbye Bangkok, hello Angeles City. I recovered even faster from this move because we lived just outside Clark Air Force Base — a sea of Americana in the middle of the Pacific. There were even more sports to play on this massive military installation, including, to my delight, organized football! As Thailand faded in my memory, I quarterbacked my high school team to the 1971 base championship. Glory Days indeed.