HERE! LET ME PUT A CAST ON THAT FOR YOU!

Our dear friend FISMS (aka OGWND) brings back fond memories with his footnote concerning the charming old Dr. Wyngarten, our campus Health Center doctor. I have a couple of particularly delicious stories in which he was a prime player. I’ll begin with this one:

Winter, 1973, my junior year at Wheaton. I’m not sure how carefully any of you followed the Fighting Crusaders basketball team but I think you might remember some of the guys who played. John Lawther (Orange, CA) was our starting shooting guard. He was deadly from the outside and that shooting ability earned him the nickname “Lethal.” Gordie Comstock (Wheaton, IL) was the sixth man and my RA in Traber (then called Tower dorm).

Perhaps you remember Dr. Wyngarten’s reputation for putting a cast on just about anything. There were a number of ailments for which we guys would never go to him due to his casting propensity. Lethal rolled his ankle in practice early one week and it resulted in a rather painful sprain. They took him to the Health Center kicking and screaming and, of course, the good doc proceeded to put a cast on it.

Now our basketball team was having an excellent season. Randy Pfund was shooting the lights out. Steve Clum was in the process of setting all kinds of rebounding records. Bill Borgeson and Dennis Hamill were having career seasons. We were fighting with Augustana for the CCIW crown that year. We had a big game coming up that Friday and there was Lethal, sitting around with a cast on his ankle.

Well, there was only one thing to do. Gordie and I decided we had to take that cast off. On Thursday night we gathered all the tools of our trade up in Lethal’s room on the 7th floor of Traber and went to work. Gordie wielded the hacksaw. I had the screwdriver. It didn’t take too long before Lethal was limping around trying to loosen up his ankle for the game the next night. By Friday morning it was much better. I have no idea what Lethal told Coach Pfund.

I don’t know if you remember that I used to either broadcast the games for WETN or do the game announcing at the scorer’s table. This night I was announcing the game at the table. Dr. Wyngarten was sitting in his usual seat directly behind me in the bleachers. I vividly remember the player introductions before the national anthem. In those days we introduced a player from each team and they would run out to center court and shake hands and then go and stand on the free throw line. When I got to Lethal, it went like this:

“For your Fighting Crusaders, starting at guard, a six foot one junior from Orange, California, John “Lethal” Lawther!” As Lethal trotted out on the court, I heard Doc Wyngarten talking to himself, “I could have sworn I put a cast on that boy!” I totally lost it and could hardly finish making the introductions!