When I attended Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn from 1959-1962, I was on the tennis team, and was also a member of the marching band, the concert band and a pep band that played at basketball games.
I was a pretty good tennis player. I was undefeated at No 1 singles my senior year and came in third in the NYC indoor and outdoor championships.
However, I may have been the worst saxophone player in Brooklyn. Somehow I made the band, but tried not to drown out the many talented kids who played beside and around me. Nevertheless, I valued being in the band as much as being on the tennis team because it connected me to some wonderful musicians and allowed me to perform at all my school's important events.
It is utterly appalling to me that most young people attending public high schools in New York City no longer have the opportunities that I had in the late 1950's and 1960's. Every day, I went to school carrying my tennis racket and/or saxophone. How many times do you see kids doing that on the bus and the subway in New York today?
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