June 7 - Where are They Now? Wednesday

This week’s Where Are They Now? Wednesday goes back to 1985. The scene was a Halloween costume contest within the Oregon Entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio. The America’s Cup was all the rage that month. Taking advantage of the hype your Captain, first from the left, organized a shipbuilding that would put Noah to shame.
Housing a crew of six mates and up to six additional female passengers, the boat was self-propelled on low cost fuel, Old Milwaukee, I believe. Storage space at the bow and stern would hold enough fuel for the entire night. If the casts of Lost or Gilligan’s Island were taking notes of our construction those shows would be short timers.

The question is what happened to the rest of my mates?

Next to the captain is Ed. Ed was last seen in 1995 at the Kickoff Classic when Ohio State beat Boston College. Ed pulled a muscle on the first play from scrimmage during the post game parking lot football game. Ed is on the 3,916 day disabled list.

Third from the left is Scott. Scott moved from Dayton to Toledo to Sacramento and finally back to the Cincinnati area. Rumors that Scott tried an alternative life style (not that there is anything wrong with that) while living in Sacramento proved untrue and malicious. Scott was last seen driving somewhere near Lima (Ohio not Peru).

Third from the right is Mike. Mike is a lot like Punxsutawney Phil from Groundhog Day. Mike is only heard from once a year. It occurs about 5 days after I send out my Christmas Cards. Mike then disappears until the next XMAS season.

Second from the right is Karl (with a K). Karl left Dayton soon after this picture was taken under mysterious circumstances. A significant drop in sales of hair gel products was linked to his moves from city to city throughout Ohio. Karl surfaced in 2004 in Columbus, OH. But, as quickly as he appeared he went on the lam again.

Finally on the far right we have George. George and the Captain moved to Huntington Beach in 1987. George made cameo appearances throughout the years at various Ohio State Football games. He was last seen at a Mexican Restaurant in Southern California (is there any other kind?) in 2004. George called last month to see if I wanted to meet up with him in Austin TX in September of this year when Ohio State visits Texas. The conversation went like this:

Jay: “George, you got airfare to Austin?”

George: “No.”

Jay: “George, you got a Hotel in Austin?”

George: “No.”

Jay: “George, you got tickets to the game?

George: “No.”

Jay: “George, what do you have?”

George: (after a long pause) “A football schedule.”

Some things never change.

If you or any of your friends or relatives have any additional information about Ed, Scott, Mike, Karl, or George, please post a comment.

By the way, we won that 1986 Halloween Costume Contest in Dayton, OH. It would start a string of several Costume Contest winners that would go on for many years. These victories will be chronicled within this blog at some point.