I was talking with a Mexican friend yesterday and we were sharing stories of days gone by...I shared this one with him. And in My Friend Horaces honor I want to share this with you once again.. RIP my friend Horace Mhire Jr. I just found out yesterday that an old friend passed in June of 2011. His name was Horace Mhire Jr. I am sure most of you knew Horace, and for those who didn’t, I can tell you that he was a shy, gentle soul and as good as they come. I thought I would honor him with a story of days gone by. The year was 1965, and we had just come over from Cameron Elementary to South Cameron High School. It was track season; the football field was full of people trying out for the track team. I remember like it was yesterday when the first four people lined up to run the 100 yd. dash. The four guys were Dwight Mhire, Rodney Boyd, Neil Shores and Tony Belanger. After they all got down in the blocks, once the race began, all four of them exploded out. Although it was a tight race, Dwight finished first with Rodney and Neal a close second; Tony was about a yard behind them. Coach Manuel had timed them, and Dwight had run a 10.2 second hundred yard dash. In those days, that was fast; this was after smoking a pack of cigarettes at school that day. As Dwight was talking to Coach Manuel later, I heard the coach ask if he knew any more fast runners. Dwight said that his cousin, Horace, was as fast as they come, but that he was too shy to come out for track. The next day, Coach Enos Derbonne had Horace at PE class, and anybody that know Coach Derbonne knew that you just didn’t say no to him. So that day, for track practice, Horace showed up. The first thing they did was to try and put a pair of track shoes on him. Poor Horace could hardly walk in them, much less run. He figured they knew best, so he went to the starting Line wearing the track shoes. The coaches tried to show him how to get in the starting blocks, but Horace just could not do it. Finally, Coach Manuel said, “Enough of this, let’s just see if the boy can run.” All the same people as before got down in the starting blocks with Horace standing up alongside of them. The coach yelled go, and they tore off; the results were the same as before except Horace was tied with Rodney and Neil. Dwight beat them all by a step. Coach Derbonne said, “Mhire, you’re pretty fast, but why can’t you beat Dwight”? Horace didn’t even look up and mumbled, “’cause I have these damn shoes on.” Grinning, Coach Derbonne said, “Well son, take them damn shoes off and show us what you got”! Horace sat on the grass with a big smile on his face and took the shoes off. His toes, I swear, were at least 3 inches long. Horace jumped up, grinned, and then looked at Dwight and the gang and said, “Ok boys, now let’s run.” Coach Manuel just shook his head as Coach Derbonne lined them all up again. When the coach hollered “go”, everybody took off like they were shot out of a cannon. Horace had his long toes digging in that cinder track, and I swear, it looked like he was pealing out and throwing rocks 10 yards behind him. He beat everybody by two yards from a standing start! The coaches quickly decided that he was the ideal person to anchor the relay team because there was no way in hell he could ever use the starting blocks. Nevertheless, Coach Derbonne insisted that Horace run the hundred yard dash at the first track meet. There were the runners from the other schools in the starting blocks when barefooted Horace walked up to the starting line. Apparently nobody told Horace about anyone shooting a pistol to start the race. He happened to glance out of the corner of his eye as this man on the side of the track was raising the starting pistol. When the guy shot the pistol, everybody shot out of there like they were shot out of a canon. Six of them were headed straight down the track, but Horace was headed in a completely different direction for parts unknown, running away from the guy with the pistol. When we found him I asked, “What happened Horace?” He said, “Ronnie didn’t you see that guy with the pistol in his hand? I knew he was going to shoot somebody; I just didn’t want it to be me!” We finally explained everything, which was no easy task considering we were all rolling on the ground laughing. Horace didnt think it was all that funny, but he reluctantly went back just in time to run the 440 relay. All four teammates took their positions around the track for the 440 yard relay. Rodney Boyd bolted out of the blocks; when he handed the baton to Dwight Mhire, he had a two yard lead. Dwight ran like the wind and increased the lead to four yards with had a smooth hand-off to Neal Shores. Neal managed to gain another yard, and when he handed the baton to Horace, Neal had to cover his eyes as those long toes dug in to run the anchor leg. Horace was running like the wind, had opened up at least another four yards of lead, and was flying down the finish line. He would have won by at least 10 yards. About 10 yards from the finish line, you could see Horace start to bend down. All of a sudden, he took a nose dive and skinned himself all to hell and back. Naturally everybody was concerned, and we all ran to him to see if we could help. When we asked him what happened, Horace was kinda out of it. “Horace, we asked, “What’s wrong? Are you allright,? What happened?” Finally Horace looked up at Coach Manuel and said, “Coach, why you think them fellows put that doggone rope across the finish line? Shoot, I could have hurt myself if I would have run into it!” Well shit! Nobody had ever told Horace about breaking the finish line tape. Rest in Peace my old friend. You will live fondly forever in the minds of your friends and family!!! Ronnie D
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:03:33 +0000
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