The College of William and Mary's alumni magazine just published a long piece on WandM alumnus/coach/PhysEd prof extraordinaire Joe Agee... and didn't use the descriptor "Screamin'" once.
For the uninitiated, Screamin' Joe Agee was a hollerin, intolerrin' oldster when we were in school. Older than the hills. Of the oldest school.
As it turns out, he was 57 then. Five years older than several of us here. Wow.
Well, he matriculated in the 1940's and 50's, so he came up in a very different era than the one in which we enrolled. And he seemed very much of that era.
Joe Agee coached golf, and he instructed a few different PE classes back then. I myself was in his Basketball I class in the fall of my freshman year. I made 2 key mistakes.
- 8:00 AM class. "Hey, I used to get up earlier than that in high school, and the gym is right next to my dorm." Dumb.
- I enrolled in a Joe Agee class. He suffered no fools like me and took no absences lightly. I had no idea, but... dumber.
- Most every Tuesday and Thursday, I'd walk down the hall in my high-tops in the early morn, and someone would ask where I was headed. "I'm going to Blow Gym," I'd say with a smile. Always worth a grin or a glare.
- I missed three classes in the first 7 or 8, and I got a talking-to from Coach Agee that reminded me of his nickname. Unpleasant.
I did. Made all the rest. Got P instead of an F. One of my very, very few early transcript success stories.
Anyway, what the College did right was profiling the man now rather than posthumously. Check it out if you took his class or got coached by Screamin' Joe way back when.
Now that Blow Gym is Blow Memorial Hall, an administrative building ("now" meaning since like 1990), the dumb joke is gone, and so are the memories of a decrepit old athletic facility. I wonder what it looked like...
...but wait! It was immortalized in Bruce Hornsby's 1988 video for "The Valley Road"! Check this sucker out, and lots of old WandM/Williamsburg footage. And Blow Gym.
Welp, there you go. Nostalgic. Old.
I could tell you more about how the song's lyrical content was about abortion 'twixt social classes in the South, but we'll save that for another episode from the great minds here at Gheorghe: The Blog.
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Agee was always very congenial to me. To my surprise, he invited me back sophomore year to take another shot at the golf team, despite the fact that I didn't have a very good short game (unlike Rob).
Alas, Drive for show, putt for dough.
Love this.
I always thought Joe was probably passed that the gym was used for a music video.
I had an 8 am class my first semester all the way across campus. I did not pass.
I have a recollection that when school was ending in the Spring of our freshmen year on our freshmen hall (which was Whit, Rob, and Dave's hall, too), I walked by Whit and Doug's room, as they were cleaning up because it was move-out day (like the final day we had to move or close to it) and overheard one of them saying, "Whose textbook is this? Is it yours? Was I in this class?"
I chuckled.
And I'm not making this up.
Alas, Donna, it gets worse. Hightower came in and was helping Doug and me clean out our hovel. He dug a book out of a pile of debris and said, “Hey Whit, here’s your Econ book.”
Me: “I don’t take Econ.”
Hightower: “Dougie?”
Doug: “Ecooooonnnnn. No… nooo! I forgot to drop Econ.
Doug took the F. We sucked at academia.
It's good to look back sometimes and see how much progress you've made.
I took Principles of Coaching with Agee. He wasn't a bad guy, but he struck me as a living caricature. The fact that he was a Marine clarifies why he acted like the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket. During his introductory speech on day one of class he said "Ah bleed green!!" And based on the look on my face he must have realized I was saying to myself "Whaddayoo, fuggin Spock?" so he added "And gold!!" And based on the look on my face he must have realized I have zero interest in school spirit. He was able to produce a piercing whistle by pursing his lower lip forward. No fingers in the mouth, no pulling on the lips. Just an absolute rip of a whistle though. The final exam was a test on the NCAA rules of the sport of our choosing. I chose tennis, but that wasn't an option. So I chose swimming because I figured how hard could it be? "Yoo get in da wadda and fuggin swim." I got a C-, turns our there are a lot of swimming rules because the rules for each stroke are different.
I believe Agee taught my golf PE class and I believe I passed. This class was not at 8am but I did have that health & wellness PE class at 8am on a MONDAY across campus, which was very poor scheduling on my part.
And, following up on Danimal's Q from the last post: I still haven't had COVID (to my knowledge) and I am sure that this means I'll get it while I'm here in Hawaii, or on my trip home.
I took Principles of Coaching! Not with Agee.
Cliffy and I had to coach a little league team for the 3rd credit. Our first grade soccer juggernaut The Comets crushed all takers. Lots of funny tales from that experience.
i took golf 2 with agee. all one need to do to pass was play ten rounds of golf and turn in scoresheets and receipts. i played nine rounds at deer park because nine holes cost students $3. played the tenth with my uncle at wintergreen. he paid. i forgot to get a receipt. told agee my uncle would vouch for me. he failed me because the rules required a receipt. my kids kill me about failing golf on a regular basis.
come on you whites!
Ten rounds of golf seems a bit excessive by today’s standards, no?
I played loads of golf from age 7-18. The last time I played with any regularity was my freshman year, when Rex Alex B worked at fords colony and was rushing Sammy the bull and I in the fall of 93. My last round was in 2013. Perhaps this is the year I’ll get out again.
Poor Lisa Marie. She never really stood a chance, did she? Rest in Peace gets said every time, but it really seems right for her. Someone play Don’t Cry Daddy and imagine little Lisa Marie back in the King’s arms.
No doubt...what a life. Sounds like she had a tough row of it. Four Ex-husbands including MJ and Nic Cage, combined for less than a year. And a kid that died a few years ago at the age of 27. Sad stuff.
Z - as a USA Swimming Stroke/Turn Official and Starter, shame! A year ago after years of being asked, I finally succumbed. I too was surprised with the knowledge requirements and the possibilities of what can and does occur between the start and finish of either a newby 8 year old's 50-yard breast stroke or an elite h.s. kid who is heading to D1. Probably worthy of a post...I'll get on that straight away.
I don’t have the swimwear. Besides, I’ve never swum.
But that’s okay, ‘cause we could use the time. ‘Cause I’m… I’m not that… stronga swimmer.
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