This past weekend in Oxford, we finally pulled it off. “We” is a group of five old friends who had attended Ole Miss together back in the day, and have been wanting to try to all gather at once for some time. If we could make it happen, it would be the first time in 55 years that the entire bunch had been together, and we finally did it, centering around the Ole Miss-Missouri football game on October 17.
This fearsome fivesome met each other randomly in Gerard Hall, then a dormitory on campus, in 1966 and 1967. My lifelong friend, the late Larry Smith, and I went off to OM as roommates, of course, and landed in Gerard. As one does, we began to meet other guys from the dorm, with some becoming good friends. Here’s the line-up of the core group that convened recently, and quite a diverse group it was/is.
- Jeff “Smitty” Smith, from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey. Smitty had come a long way to school, and was a Jersey guy through and through. We sometimes called him “the skinny little Yankee”, and he was lovable right off the bat. He quarterbacked our intramural football team, and had a playful personality.
- Johnny Malatesta, form Shaw, Mississippi. The Mississippi Delta has a rich Italian- Ameican heritage, and “Malo” was our introduction to that background. He had cousins and friends named Avaltroni, Cuicchi, Morlino, and so on, and many of them were from farming families. Johnny was the most serious of this group, just a really solid guy. And eventually became our dorm manager. That was interesting.
- Dave Farragut, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Really interesting backstory here: Dave’s father, Ken “Dynamite” Farragut, originally from Pascagoula/Moss Point, had been a football star at Ole Miss, team captain in 1950. After college, he went on to a successful NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles, and stayed in Philly to start a roofing contracting business after retiring from football. When it came time for Dynamite, Jr., who was born in Pascagoula, to go to college, Senior said, “you’re going to Ole Miss”. Even with his horrid Philly accent, Dave fit right in. We played every intramural sport together, and to this day, he’s probably the funniest human being I’ve ever met.
- Newton Dudley “Nick” King, from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Nick was a big old guy (blocking back on our intramural team) who had a quirky personality and liked to have a good time. For some reason, Nick was the guy we seemed to give the hardest time (especially Smitty and Dave), and I’ve always appreciated that he just took it all in stride.
- Richard B. “Luke” Lucas, from Pascagoula, Mississippi. I thin k you know enough about him.
So, it was a great four or five years for us together at Ole Miss. Larry and I introduced these reprobates to our Pascagoula friends and others we knew around campus. I would take Smitty home with me fairly often, and Dave and I later became roommates for a couple of years.
We all eventually went our separate ways. Dave went back to work for his dad’s roofing company (which he now owns and has expanded). Smitty became a plumbing supply magnate, ending up in Charlotte, North Carolina .Johnny created a long, successful career as a pharmacist, and now lives in Flora, Mississippi. Nick became a manufacturer’s rep, traveling the South to ply his trade, and now resides in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Over the years, we’ve kept in touch in varying degrees. Dave and I, who have remained close, have seen each other fairly regularly – old roomies, his Pascagoula connection. In recent years, the five of us have really ramped up our communication, and last weekend , the culmination of a good deal of effort, we did it up right.
We rented a house in the north part of Oxford (diligent work by Smitty and Leila Malatesta, Johnny’s better half). Speaking of better halves, we all outkicked our coverage with partners (especially me with Mary Jon): Sheryl Thena Smith, also a sharp OM grad who somehow keeps Smitty straight; the big-hearted Gretchen Farragut—Dave met her at Ole Miss, and she and I have always been kind of soul mates; Leila, another U of M grad and a real Energizer Bunny; and Nancy Burger, Nick’s girlfriend, and a charming addition to our cadre. Note: the couples above have been amarried a total of something like 186 years—an average of 46 years per—so we must be doing something right.
Every night at the house, we’d eat the bounty of food everyone brought (I contributed steamed shrimp from Bozo’s), have a cocktail or two, and regale each other with old stories, new information, and heavy discussions. Mostly we laughed (Farragut has more jokes than the law allows, and, boy, do we have myriad stories from back in the day) and cried (mostly tears of joy, but it was emotional being with each other).
We were able to take a couple of nice runs out, too: ride through campus (including going by Gerard Hall), trip to the Square (ate at Boure’, a personal favorite), and so on.
Of course, game day was big. All of the guys were/are huge Rebel sports fans(and the ladies as well). We secured a tent in the Grove, which happened to be right next to the Walk of Champions, so we got to see the team come through on their walk to the stadium up close and personal.
The game itself was outstanding. Perfect football weather—low 60s and clear as a bell—and Vaught-Hemingway Stadium was packed and rocking as the #9 ranked Rebels beat #13 Missouri 31-3. Everyone was hoarse and happy afterwards.
Back at the house that evening, we were tired but quite content. We found an oldies station for background music as we noshed, sipped, and talked one more time, so with the strains of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, and Deep Purple wafting through the air, we told more stories, smiled, and hugged.
So it was that the Gerard Fivefinally reconvened. We fille each other’s hearts and fed each other’s souls. We are lucky to have come across each other in our formative years, and we are fortunate to be friends to this day. We just don’t need to wait another 55 years before coming together again.
- Richard Lucas may be contacted at [email protected].
