THE LONG HANDSHAKE

A few of years ago I attended a college basketball game in Storrs, Connecticut at the Gampel Pavilion located on the campus of the University of Connecticut (UCONN). The game was between the UCONN Huskies men's team and the Syracuse Orangemen. I was at this game with Tony Aloisio, Jack Ardini, Steve Briotti, John DeStefano, and Lou Gesualdi; all friends who lived in the Crandall D dormitory in South Campus when we all attended UCONN back in 1976.

The game was a good one and the good guys won (GO HUSKIES). After the game we all went to Chuck's Steak House, a nearby restaurant for some food and drink. About fifteen minutes after we were seated for our meal at our table on the second level of Chuck's; we hear this cheering and clapping coming from the first floor dining area of the restaurant. We all wondered what the noise was all about.

Jim Calhoun, the Hall of Fame coach of the Connecticut Huskies, had entered the restaurant and everyone on the first floor who saw him gave him that round of applause.

We continued with our meal and after we all finished eating we gathered up our coats, paid the bill and proceeded out to the parking lot. As we were about to enter the car, Steve noticed coach Calhoun in the parking lot as well and said that he would like to go over to coach Calhoun and say hello and shake his hand. Steve said before meeting the coach "I wish I had a camera so I could have a picture of me and coach shaking hands." I said that I had a camera so I went with Steve, Lou, and everyone to take the picture.

So, Steve goes up to coach Calhoun as says, "Great game coach. Do you mind if I have a picture of you and I shaking hands?" Coach Calhoun agreed to this and Steve and coach are shaking hands. As it was night time, I had to wait for my camera flash to charge up sufficiently before taking the picture. Steve and coach are shaking hand during this time. I take the picture but unfortunately the camera flash didn't work for some reason so I say, " The flash didn't work, hold on and let me try again." Steve and coach fixed in the handshake pose while the camera is trying to recharge again. I take the second picture and again the camera flash doesn't work.

Oh well, we let coach go on his way. We didn't get a good picture for Steve but we were left with a good mental picture of Steve and coach and the "long handshake".