Hard to believe there aren't 87 pages of remembrance for 'the Grosser': Athlete, singer, nut! Supreme in all. Won an award for being the fastest, most accurate typist in ninth grade. Wha…? That level of dexterity offers a big clue to Don’s ability as an athlete and greased lightening guitarist. A few items to fill in the gaps:
- Sixth grade: Frank Leon, Don and myself were attempting to beat each other jumping out of the swing. My jump, or so I thought, was pretty good. Leon followed with a better jump. This enflamed Gross to get up to the point where the swing goes ‘ker-chung’, and from there Gross leaped… Unfortunately catching his leg in the seat and going straight down. His arm was broken and Gross spun on the ground emitting a siren wail of screams that stopped the whole playground. Shades of the rocker to be.
- Sixth grade, again: Boys rest room, right before morning line up. Gross, who was being given boxing lessons from Leon’s father, was sparring with himself in the big mirror. Punch, jab, punch, punch, and punch. Gross was getting really worked up. Another punch at himself in the mirror, and then a hard foot to his own head, shattering the mirror, inducing immediate evacuation of the head. Suspended three days.
- This, care of Craig McBride: After a Pony League game, Gross and three team members (McBride being one of them) are walking home in their uniforms. Gross (why? Why not?) climbs up a tree and dares Gary Rolph, ace pitcher, to try to hit him. Rolph zings a fastball, nailing Gross in the side of the head, knocking him out, and sending him crashing through the tree to the ground. Regaining consciousness, Gross screams, ‘my ear is broke. My ear is broke’. Rolph’s reply is, ‘There’s no bones in your ear Don’.
- 69 or 70: Party at Johnny Brooklier's (parents gone?). Lots of people milling about, inside and outside. A car comes screeching around the corner, stops dead in front of Brookliers, the door flies open and out jumps Gross yelling ‘Fight! Fight!’ sprinting to the front steps where he trips and goes right through the closed screen door.
- This from Frank Leon: Frank, Don and a few others where out hiking (Sierra’s?), Gross taking the lead as they trooped through the pines. Gross is typically way ahead of them all; So far ahead they can’t see him any longer. When they finally reach where he was last seen, they hear a cry from below the cliff. Gross had been going so fast he just strided off. Broken ribs, branch wound.
- Randy Pangborn tale, late 80;s (relayed to me by Don): Randy told Don he’d bought a house in the Anaheim Hills and would Don like to see it. ‘Let’s go’. Pangborn pulls up to an immense mansion, telling Don, ‘This is it, go on in’. Never one to waste time, Gross jogs up the tailored, sloping front lawn and goes right in. Looking around it occurs to Don that the place is occupied and Pangborn is full of shit. He bolts out the front just in time to see Pangborn drive off.
- One more: In 1965/66 Don (vocals, guitar), Max Ferguson (guitar), Terry White (drums), Kent Bennett (bass?), James Taylor (bass too? Or was it guitar?), and occasionally Jay Williams (always guitar and upside down no less) when James mother wouldn’t let him go out, formed a band called ‘The Marshmellow Pig’. Set list included a Gross original, ‘Naked Man in the City’, among others. The last time I saw Gross was a day after the 20th reunion. Don and Ilene didn’t attend, but Leon and I went over, along with Vicki Lee. Cary Branch and his wife were there already. Don hadn’t changed a bit, stilling running on all eighty nine cylinders. He asked me, ‘You still do the rock?’ I replied that I remembered ‘Naked Man in the City’. Without hesitation Don went into his music room, grabbed his guitar, flipped all the switches, and began to sing ‘Naked Man in the City’. That he was.
Nick Chase
Hard to believe there aren't 87 pages of remembrance for 'the Grosser': Athlete, singer, nut! Supreme in all. Won an award for being the fastest, most accurate typist in ninth grade. Wha…? That level of dexterity offers a big clue to Don’s ability as an athlete and greased lightening guitarist. A few items to fill in the gaps:- Sixth grade: Frank Leon, Don and myself were attempting to beat each other jumping out of the swing. My jump, or so I thought, was pretty good. Leon followed with a better jump. This enflamed Gross to get up to the point where the swing goes ‘ker-chung’, and from there Gross leaped… Unfortunately catching his leg in the seat and going straight down. His arm was broken and Gross spun on the ground emitting a siren wail of screams that stopped the whole playground. Shades of the rocker to be.
- Sixth grade, again: Boys rest room, right before morning line up. Gross, who was being given boxing lessons from Leon’s father, was sparring with himself in the big mirror. Punch, jab, punch, punch, and punch. Gross was getting really worked up. Another punch at himself in the mirror, and then a hard foot to his own head, shattering the mirror, inducing immediate evacuation of the head. Suspended three days.
- This, care of Craig McBride: After a Pony League game, Gross and three team members (McBride being one of them) are walking home in their uniforms. Gross (why? Why not?) climbs up a tree and dares Gary Rolph, ace pitcher, to try to hit him. Rolph zings a fastball, nailing Gross in the side of the head, knocking him out, and sending him crashing through the tree to the ground. Regaining consciousness, Gross screams, ‘my ear is broke. My ear is broke’. Rolph’s reply is, ‘There’s no bones in your ear Don’.
- 69 or 70: Party at Johnny Brooklier's (parents gone?). Lots of people milling about, inside and outside. A car comes screeching around the corner, stops dead in front of Brookliers, the door flies open and out jumps Gross yelling ‘Fight! Fight!’ sprinting to the front steps where he trips and goes right through the closed screen door.
- This from Frank Leon: Frank, Don and a few others where out hiking (Sierra’s?), Gross taking the lead as they trooped through the pines. Gross is typically way ahead of them all; So far ahead they can’t see him any longer. When they finally reach where he was last seen, they hear a cry from below the cliff. Gross had been going so fast he just strided off. Broken ribs, branch wound.
- Randy Pangborn tale, late 80;s (relayed to me by Don): Randy told Don he’d bought a house in the Anaheim Hills and would Don like to see it. ‘Let’s go’. Pangborn pulls up to an immense mansion, telling Don, ‘This is it, go on in’. Never one to waste time, Gross jogs up the tailored, sloping front lawn and goes right in. Looking around it occurs to Don that the place is occupied and Pangborn is full of shit. He bolts out the front just in time to see Pangborn drive off.
- One more: In 1965/66 Don (vocals, guitar), Max Ferguson (guitar), Terry White (drums), Kent Bennett (bass?), James Taylor (bass too? Or was it guitar?), and occasionally Jay Williams (always guitar and upside down no less) when James mother wouldn’t let him go out, formed a band called ‘The Marshmellow Pig’. Set list included a Gross original, ‘Naked Man in the City’, among others. The last time I saw Gross was a day after the 20th reunion. Don and Ilene didn’t attend, but Leon and I went over, along with Vicki Lee. Cary Branch and his wife were there already. Don hadn’t changed a bit, stilling running on all eighty nine cylinders. He asked me, ‘You still do the rock?’ I replied that I remembered ‘Naked Man in the City’. Without hesitation Don went into his music room, grabbed his guitar, flipped all the switches, and began to sing ‘Naked Man in the City’. That he was.