PE Classes at Tech

My first quarter at Tech I took “aerobics”…taught by Whack Hyder. To get an A you had to run 1-3/4 miles in 12 minutes, and I did it. Hyder knew my grandmother, who had worked in the admissions office. After that he would always say hello whenever he saw me.

Took gymnastics my second quarter. The teacher was Nick Polhemus, Tech’s strength and conditioning coach. He gave us numbers, and referred to us as numbers all semester. Said to call him number one. The class was as much conditioning and exercises as gymnastics, which was fine for me. Everyone had to do 100 push-ups and sit-ups to get an A. Afterwards he called out our number, and we were to respond with how many push-ups/sit-ups we’d done. Many were responding with “100”. When he called my number, I said “101!” He loved it.

At the end of every class we would run. Near the end of the semester we had a one mile race, around the four indoor basketball courts in the Student Athletic Center. I was supposed to be the favorite, though I’d never run an actual race like that. I took the lead, and stayed in front. But on the last turn of the last lap another guy passed me and won.

One year I entered Anna in the Peachtree Junior one year, and she didn’t enjoy it at all. She didn’t like the time I took her golfing, either. Either time she didn’t say too much beforehand.