#inlandprinting

So this is kind of weird considering that your uncle Dave is alive at the time of this writing. But while I’m thinking of it, I might as well write something.

Dave is 14 years older than Rich and I. He was born October 1, 1951. It’s a hard date for him now, since that’s the day our father died in 1983. 

I always looked up to Dave. From as early as I can remember, I loved when he would play with us, or put us on his shoulders. He was a basketball star in high school at Central, which I’ve always been proud of. (Not sure why I’m proud of it, but....) After he went off to college UW-Eau-Claire, we would be so excited when Dave would come home. We’d mob him as soon as he walked in and hang all over him. A few times he brought home college buddies and guys from the basketball team. I’ll never forget when he brought home Mike Ratliff, the center of the team. This was the first African American we had ever seen, much less met. We were probably 5 or 6 years old at the time. Two things I remember distinctly: Mike had this huge afro and he kept a comb in it all the time. We thought that was amazing. Secondly, we were confused as to why his hands were white when his skin was dark. I think we even asked him if it rubbed off! He took it all in stride. 

After college, Dave moved back to La Crosse and got an apartment with Mark. We didn’t see him much, but occasionally we’d get to see him play basketball with his rec team, Inland Printing. They had a great team with a bunch of ex-college players such as Eric Haug, Larry Halverson, Jay Eck, and a few others. They would routinely trounce other rec teams. Somehow they got to play the Czechoslovakian national team as a charity exhibition when I was probably 11 or 12. They sold out the Central High School gym and actually beat the Czech team. 

We also went to see Dave play softball in the 16 inch league. Mark played on that team too. It was fun to hang out with the guys and we even got to go to the bar with them a few times.