At my core I’m a true Californian, I was born in Gardena and raised in Hawthorne, grew up in Hawthorne and lived here until I was 28 before moving to Torrance after I married my wife.
My mom and dad grew up in Mississippi, farm country during the late 30’s until the 1950’s. My father wanted to fly plains, not big commercial jets but small craft and really the only way to make a living flying those in Mississippi was crop dusting which at the time was very dangerous and not something he wanted to venture into. He married my mother in 1957 and soon after. off to Southern California where he soon got a job at Western Airlines (it would later merge with Delta). Along came my brother and then 6 years later, me.
I was raised to have a kind demeanor about myself, when you have parents from the South they instill that Southern hospitality in you. School was priority as was church on Sunday morning. I struggled a bit at first with school I was also hyperactive and had to be put on medication to help control that. I met my first friend, Colleen at Anza Elementary school in Del Aire, California. We would hang out and I guess you could say we were boyfriend and girlfriend for a bit and my aunt took us to the Hawthorne Fair for our first “date”. A few years later, I moved onto middle school at Dana in Hawthorne, I meant my brother from another mother, David or Dave as I call him, it turns out we lived around the block from one another and we have been inseparable since.
My grandfather (my dad’s father) would later move to California with my grandmother and my 2 uncles, he shared with me 2 things, his love of the Los Angeles Lakers and his love for gardening, he grew corn, tomatoes, and a few other things in his backyard.
But it was the passion he had for the Lakers that had the biggest impact on me as a kid, he showed my the team photo of the 1972-73 Lakers team that won 33 in a row (still a record today for a winning streak) and they beat the New York Knicks that year for an NBA Championship, it was a super team before there was a thing known as super teams. Wilt, West, Baylor, Riley..no one could stop that team.
The 1980 season was the first season I followed of the Lakers and boy what a season..Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael “MF’ing” Cooper (yes he prides himself on calling himself that), Norm Nixon, and Jamal Wilkes..what a team..what a time to be in L.A! They beat the Philadelphia 76’ers 4 games to 2, the clincher had Magic playing center in place of an injured Kareem, he scored 42 points and lead the Lakers to a title in his rookie season..man..I was the original MJ fan (sorry Michael) from that point on.
I also became a fan of the Los Angeles Rams that year, my Uncle Dolan is a big fan of them and under his influence I became a fan of them and the UCLA Bruins. They came up short in the Super Bowl to the Steelers that year, but I was hooked again. My pastor took me to a Dodgers game in 1982, they beat the Montreal Expos 10-1 as I recall. I got hooked on baseball right there, I started to follow the Dodgers and the California Angels. The Angels won the AL West that year and then I learned my first experience in sports heartbreak when they lost to the Milwaukee Brewers in the ALCS (I was so pissed off I rooted for St Louis to beat the Brewers in the World Series and to my delight, they did.)
I was hooked into all things sports in Southern California, and the food, and going to the beach, Disneyland..all of it..Cali was home and in many ways I was California it is in my blood!
Nineteen years in the South could not clean it out of my system, I stayed up late watching Dodger and Angel games on the coast. We moved around..Nashville to Tupelo, Mississippi to Greenville, South Carolina..I do have to say Southern food is delicious..but authentic Mexican food and an In-N-Out, it lacks.
We moved back to Southern California this past June, not only did we move back but as fate would have it, we are right back in Hawthorne where I started my life.
I’ve taken my daughter to a Rams game, my favorite restaurants growing up, the malls I went to, and even as a family, gone to Disneyland with my friend Colleen and her mom Peggy (my “CaliMom”). I have found a new happiness being back home, maybe it is the sunshine and mild summers without the Southern humidity, but I couldn’t be happier to be back home once more.
