Mean Joe Green and Alvin...

"Angie" by the Rolling Stones and "Midnight Train to Georgia" by Gladys Knight and the Pips were on the top of the charts... I was 6 years of age and living in Pittsburgh, PA wearing my #75 Steelers jersey for my favorite football player Mean Joe Green. I had a neighbor next door to me...his name was Alvin. He was a teacher with a beautiful wife. They'd let me come in their duplex anytime I wanted. He taught me how to play chess. Took me to museums, the zoo, and the planetarium. He was a tall black man and I was a little blond haired, light brown-eyed boy holding his hand walking everywhere together. He used to love the way people would look at him when he took me out for our little field trips. This was 1973. This was a big deal. He was a brave, intelligent, and caring man. Someone to be proud of. I was, and still am. I wish I knew where he was. Maybe we could get in a game of chess and laugh about those uptight "Archie Bunker" types that seemed to rule the world back then.