Stars of Neillsville High

I missed my 25th year high school reunion last weekend because my parents were in town for a long-planned trip out here. Fortunately Jimbo kept me in the loop, even filling out my class directory entry. Now Mark Foster sent everyone an email to a linked video from 1981. [click on the photo to watch]

You might notice that some people are featured very often in this video, at the expense of others who only have a cameo appearance or two. Back in high school, such grumbling about the "ritzy people" who get all the attention forced Mark, who made the film, to stand in front of the class and deny that there is any such bias. "Who are the ritzy people?" he asked, "I'd sure like to meet them."

So those of you from the Class of '81 who have wondered all these years, I'm pleased to announce that I was one of the Ritzy People. Yes, along with Jerry Poppe, we ran the school social scene. Notice how Mark had to redo the soundtrack for the Internet version? He did that because well frankly, too much of the dialog is about me. Do a frame-by-frame inspection and you'll see that Mark carefully edited out that scene of me with the cheerleaders--no doubt to spare embarrassment from my wife, to whom I am now happily married. So thanks, Mark, for your discretion.

That said, I admit to a little disappointment that, along with the missing scene of me driving Laurie and Cheryl around in my Corvette, it appears he also eliminated the famous shot of me catching the winning touchtown pass that at our senior Homecoming game. Anyway, the video was getting long so I suppose something had to go. But if you just want to see the scenes of me that are left after the editing, you can skip ahead to the following parts:

4:30: banging a book on my desk
5:25: with Jim, I'm at the back of the class reading a computer printout
6:14: reading a book
7:42: Jimbo by himself in the back of the class
9:39: I was editor of the Warrior Post (our school newspaper)
10:00: getting makeup for the class play
10:25: I’m at the far right, barely visible in front of Jeff Thoma
14:32: Jerry Poppe

To watch the whole video click here [Windows Media Player required]