Published: October 04, 2008 10:05 pm         

Marking a milestone with friends

On Sept. 13, my family, along with relatives and friends, surprised me with a party on my 70th birthday. They fooled me completely. It took a lot of work to carry out this secret plan. But since I’m not the sharpest pin in the cushion, it was not that great of a deal.

It was a great party with lots of good food, laughter and story telling. It is always a treat to have family and friends get together in these fast-paced times.

Italians are a people of cousins, and believe me, there were lots of them at the party. Italians are also people who like to have fun, and we gave it our best shot.

As I said before, it took a lot of work to carry out this plan. My family worked hard to set up the food and plan the party. Friends and relatives helped with the duties of setting up such an affair. Time and space will not permit me to mention them all. Cindy and Lee Gaumer, my close friends, carried a lot of the load.

Gaum contacted a lot of our ex-players and invitations were sent to as many as possible. Many players attended, and it was the highlight of my day to see them. It took a lot of time and effort by Coach Gaumer to contact the players, but he assured he was given constant advice from his wonderful wife.

Many of the ex-players came forward and said nice things about me. A guy would have to be crazy not to enjoy that. Coaches are often given too much credit for impacting the lives of the young people they coach. The impact players have on their coaches is greatly underestimated.

It was truly a special day for me. Since I never got the pony I always wanted on my previous 69 birthdays, I must say this was my best birthday so far. Perhaps I’ll get the pony next year.

As I remember, birthdays are a time of making wishes. Blow out the candles and make a wish. I did that when I was 10 years old and could not figure out why my brother was still here. I could not blow out 70 candles, but I still want to make two wishes. I wish “Saint” Janet could have been at the party. She would have enjoyed it so much. I also wish my favorite rascal, Brad Kelly, could have been there. He and Coach Gaumer would have had a ball.

I feel blessed to have such a great family and so many friends. I also feel fortunate to have coached so many special young men.

It was a tremendous day, one I won’t soon forget.

Don Baldini of Logansport is a retired Logansport High School football coach and teacher. He is the winningest coach in school history.