| Adoptee unknowingly competes with real brother for H.S. football team in Toledo, Ohio |
 |
 |
|
Adoptee unknowingly competes with real brother for H.S. football team in Toledo, Ohio I was adopted when I was five-years-old. At the time I lived in Columbus, Ohio and had two older brothers, Pat and Jim.
My adoptive parents, Bill and Geraldine and my soon-to-be Uncle Don and Aunt Delores (my adopted mother’s younger sister) picked me up from my birth-Mothers home in Columbus and transported me to their home in Toledo.
Of course I was quite apprehensive and a little unhappy when this life-altering event took place. Upon arriving in Toledo, Uncle Don (he was driving his 1950 Ford), stopped at the Tiedtke’s Department store in downtown Toledo. Uncle Don then bought me an air-pump rifle that shot out ping-pong balls. My new Dad Bill also bought me a couple of toys. This was quite a change from my experiences in Columbus since my brothers and I were at the time living at St. Mary’s orphanage.
After graduating from Rosary Cathedral elementary school in Toledo, my mother enrolled me in St. Francis De Sales H.S. on Bancroft Street on the west side of Toledo. I wasn’t happy about this because I wanted to got Central Catholic High, which was a co-ed high school within walking distance of the house.
While attending Rosary Cathedral elementary school, I was the quarterback on the football team that won the city championship for four consecutive years (5th to 8th grade). As a freshman at St. Francis H.S., I of course tried out for the football team.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, my real brother Jim was also attending St. Francis and trying out for the football team. In fact, Jim and I were consistently knocking heads on the practice field in our joint attempts to make the team. A few weeks after practice sessions began the following conversation between Jim and I took place while I was waiting to board a bus for home.
Jim: Is your name Dave Palmer
Me: Yeah!
Jim: My name is Jim Hall
Me: So, you know your name, what’s the big deal?
Jim: I’m your brother
Me: I didn’t respond, I just backed off figuring Jim was some kind of nut
Upon arriving at home, the following conversation took place between my mother and me.
Me: Mom, something really strange happened while I was waiting for the bus today
Mom: What was that Dave?
Me: Some guy came up to me and told me he was my brother
Mom: Did he tell you his name?
Me: Yeah, he said he was Jim Hall
Mom: Well Dave, it’s true he is your brother
Me: What?
Mom: Dave, when you were five years old, your Dad and me adopted you
Me: I was adopted?
Mom: Yes Dave and Jim is your real brother. You also have another brother named Pat
Now folks this is a true story. How screwy is that I’d be trying to kick my brother’s behind on the football field and didn’t even know he was really my brother? As Yogi Berra is famous for saying, “truth is stranger than fiction.”
Suffice it to say that being the superior athlete that I was, I kicked ol’ Jimmy’s but on the football field at St. Francis H.S. in ol’ Toledo, Ohio. Do me a favor and please don’t ask Jimmy for confirmation!
|