It's A Wonderful Life

I am exhausted.

I am standing in front of the Omni William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh. I am gassed. I presented to a board of directors this morning at 9:00 AM. I had arrived at the Omni William Penn Hotel at 2:30 AM. I am operating on fumes. My arrival in Pittsburgh was delayed for three hours because some jerk clogged up the toilet on the last Delta Airlines flight to Pittsburgh, thus delaying our departure by two hours. When the plane lavatory doesn’t work, the pilot is not allowed by the FAA to take off, even if the pilot doesn’t need to use the bathroom.

I hope whoever clogged up the Delta lavatory gets cow turds in their stocking for Christmas.

I am waiting for my Uber to the Pittsburgh airport, to return to Atlanta, to my home, to the wife that I love, and to my bed. All I want to do is sleep. I hope this Uber driver, Thomas, is not a talker. I want to get into the backseat of his Dodge Caravan, close my eyes, and snore all the way to the Pittsburgh airport.

Okay, I admit it… I started it… I can’t help myself.

“Hey, how are you doing?” I asked. “How is your day going?”

“Oh, man, it has been great!” said Thomas. “I just picked up this woman, she looked about 12 years old, and come to find out, she works for a law firm here in Pittsburgh for a good buddy of mine! Oh man, that’s why I still drive Uber!!”

I settle back in my seat and prepare for my assent into deep REM sleep. I hope Thomas will not be distracted by my snoring. I might drool, and it might stain his upholstery. I don’t care.

“Pittsburgh is a great city,” I say. “Lots of great colleges and universities… Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, Robert Morris, Duquesne…”

“Go Duquesne!” yells Thomas.

Thomas played basketball at Duquesne. “I am still good friends with other players back from my era, like Mickey Davis!”

Mickey Davis! I remember Mickey Davis! He’s the Duquesne Duke who went on to have a really nice career with the Milwaukee Bucks.

As it turns out, Thomas plays in Mickey Davis’s annual golf tournament.

Where had I heard Mickey Davis’s name before?

Now I remember! Mickey Davis is the brother of Brad Davis, the great point guard who played for the University of Maryland!

And all of a sudden, I remember my connection to Mickey Davis and Brad Davis! They are first cousins of my friend, teammate, and fellow Davidson Wildcat co-captain, Ernie Reigel!

“My college roommate is Brad Davis’s cousin! I was a walk-on for Davidson!”

“Oh, wow!” Says Thomas. “I was a walk-on at Duquesne!”

Holy cow!

All of a sudden, me and Thomas are fast breaking through life, all through the tunnels leading out of downtown Pittsburgh. I tell Thomas the story of how Ernie Reigel’s dad, Bill Reigel, started his college basketball career playing for the Duquesne Dukes in the early 50s before he transferred to Duke University, where he was a roommate of a tall, lanky, left-handed Blue Devil named Charles Driesell.

Yep. That Driesell.

You know him as “Lefty” Driesell – the legendary head basketball coach of the great Davidson basketball teams in the 1960s and at the University of Maryland.

“My name is Moe… Moe Barr. I only go by ‘Thomas’ when I drive for Uber.”

Moe and I inbound the ball again, flying down the court of conversation and memories.

“Do you know how Brad Davis ended up at Maryland?” I ask. “Lefty Driesell knew about Brad because Bill Reigel was Brad Davis’s uncle…and Lefty’s roommate at Duke. Bill told Lefty about his nephew Brad.”

“Wow! I actually played basketball with another guy who went to Davidson… Mike Maloy!” says Moe.

The late Mike Maloy was one of the greatest basketball players in Davidson College history - he played for Lefty Driesell on two teams that game within two points of making it into the NCAA Final Four.

Come to find out, Moe was one heck of a basketball player. He might have started off his college basketball career as a walk-on, but he ended up playing professionally for the Pittsburgh Pipers and the Pittsburgh Condors of the ABA, as well as for the Cincinnati Royals in the NBA.

“Have you ever heard of a guy named John Brisker?” asks Moe.

Have I heard of John Brisker? Moe, are you kidding me? John Brisker was known as the toughest, meanest, angriest son of a bitch ever to play pro basketball!

“Brisker hated me because when he played for the Condors, he knew I was the only guy who would stand up to him. I got into two fistfights with him. I lost both fistfights, but at least he respected me.” Moe then told the story of playing cards with John Brisker and Mike Maloy. Maloy caught Brisker cheating. That meant that Maloy risked getting his butt beat by John Brisker, but true to the Davidson Honor Code, Maloy didn’t back down. Brisker did. 

“John Brisker is thought to have been killed when he went to Uganda and fought for Idi Amin’s army. What airline are you taking?”

“Delta,” I replied.

I get out of Moe’s Dodge Caravan and schlep into the Pittsburgh airport, totally refreshed.

Moe and I covered seven decades in 18 miles, starting with Bill Reigel’s freshman year of basketball at Duquesne. We touched on Mickey Davis, Norm Nixon, Brad Davis, Bill Reigel, Lefty Driesell, The Nelson Twins, Mike Maloy, Ernie Reigel, Steph Curry, Bob McKillop, Matt McKillop, Will Reigel, Rusty Reigel, Connor Perkey, John Brisker, Idi Amin, and God knows how many other topics and people.

Oh my. I love Uber.

I love this life.

Mr. or Ms. Toilet Clogger, you are forgiven.

Merry Christmas!

I am exhilarated.