Gruff Tuff Lance

Apparently this took place during a time when Lance was constantly on the move doing odd jobs to get by. And one time he somehow landed a job in Phoenix doing catering at an event featuring JFK (a pre-election rally maybe?)

So Lance gets to serve the dessert and he's pretty much still a scruffy kid at this point, so to look presentable for the event they put him in this tuxedo that's way too big for him. Like the cuffs go over his knuckles and the shoulders are too wide (I like to imagine him looking like David Byrne in his big suit).

He's serving ice cream pies or something like that to the attendees. No formal training, just unceremoniously plopping them on their plates. And yeah, he serves ice cream to JFK. I believe he got a thank you..

As I mentioned JFK wasn't president yet, but later he gave a speech at the event that captivated Lance. Like he got a glimpse of the icon he was to become..

Picked up a hard copy of To Hell You Ride a couple years back. It's a... wild ride... Tom Mandrake's art is amazing and there are many small details that are tied to Lance's career that you can pick up on (if you're a hardcore fan). And yes, the character of Jim Shipps is based on Lance. Lance wrote the part for himself when the story was still a movie script.