When Greg was Gary and Barry

 When Greg was Gary and Barry





    If anyone used the wrong name or blundered in describing a person or place that would be embedded in Greg's mind forever. Thus Kevin was Kent, Greg was Craig, a bedraggled JV football player Sheehy was Vince and Then Came Bronson was A Boy Called Hardin (see post). There were two occasions however when he was misidentified to his chagrin and to his benefit. The first was that somehow in his Sophomore year at Pius his photo was identified as Gary Shuck. No one has ever explained where the name came from or how it appeared on his photo. As high school kids are very excited to be represented in their yearbooks the mistake really "Frosted my ass" as he described it. There was no boy named Gary Shuck at Pius nor was there one anywhere in the entire Southeast as far as we knew. Even today, when you are searching for Greg material on Ancestry.com you will find him for one year as a Shuck and not a Sheehy. On the other occasion, the bold young Greg had established himself as capable of lifting brews with his older pals and longed to go to the legendary "Oar House" in Venice. The OH as it was called was a regular spot for Gate gents going back into the late 60's and lots of stories came out of the unique bar on Main street. There was blasting rock music, packed people, flowing  pitchers of beer and shenanigans that many times lead to over-serving of the guests. The only thing the OH lacked was an equal amount of girls who were in great demand. The few that were inside often danced on the tables and recieved more than a few offers of amor.  The regular visitors included me, Jack, Paul and Johnny Knowlton, Billy Hogan, Tom Black along with dozens of other Pius or South Gate kids. Somewhow Greg had managed to get the drivers license of an old St. Helen friend named Barry Galvin. Barry was a good natured man, liked by all of the crowd but Greg did not look a thing like Galvin. Barry Galvin was fair and Greg was dark eyed and dark haired. Yet, the besieged bouncers at the OH somehow let the eighteen year old kid into the raucous Oar House interior where he got "skulled up" like his mentors and was able to brag about putting one over on the normally rejecting masters of the sacred door of the OH. 




Gary Shuck

                       

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