My column about Chuck Harmison a couple of days ago brought back some memories to Mark Robinson of Iowa City:
Hello, Ron,
"Chuck Harmison would never remember meeting me and playing ball, but I will always remember him.
"It was the oddest of coincidences. Ev Cochrane Jr., also known as Evy in those days, rented a room in Marshalltown on the third floor of my in-laws' house. They had turned the huge attic into two efficiency apartments and Evy was one of their first tenants. I do not recall why or how Evy ended up in Marshalltown, but he and his giant Great Dane dog took up residence with my mother and father-in-law. My father was principal at Lenihan Junior High in those days and I asked him to open the gym on a Saturday so Evy and I could play a little ball. Bad idea. Evy was a Big Ten-caliber ballplayer, in my opinion. I was no match and he pretty much said that it would be the last time we would face each other. I was thankful.
"I got a call from Evy weeks later and we met at the Marshalltown YMCA. He brought along with him a tall redhead, Chuck Harmison. Evy proclaimed that Harmison was the next 'Big Red,' the nickname of UCLA player Bill Walton [pictured at the right]. I watched Harmison throw down dunk after dunk, a rare sight in those days as dunking was outlawed.. We shot around for a while and I left knowing very well that, had I stayed any longer, I would be humiliated.
"Hard to put a date on it, but I think it was the summer of '76.
"Evy eventually left Marshalltown and spent some time in Ketchikan, Alaska, before returning to Ames. The future of Harmison is well documented and I thank you for bringing it to my attention, Ron.
"Keep writing,"
Mark Robinson
Iowa City
[RON MALY'S COMMENTS: Thanks for the memories, Mark. I don't, and didn't, know Ev Cochrane Jr., but I knew a little about Ev Cochrane Sr. Robinson says Ev Sr., "played at Iowa and later coached the Marshalltown Bobcats of the early 60s to back-to-back state titles. Mr. Cochrane passed away of acute leukemia five years ago at the age of 75. Ev Jr. continues to run the family business, Ev Cochrane and Associates in Ames, I believe." The Iowa basketball record book shows that Ev Sr., lettered as a Hawkeye in 1951 and 1952. And it's too bad, Mark, that Chuck Harmison wasn't able to develop into the next "Big Red," but basketball players like Bill Walton don't come along all that often.]
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I'm glad the paper finally caught up with the fact that Shawn Johnson of West Des Moines posed with Los Angeles third baseman Casey Blake of Indianola, then threw out the first pitch prior to a Dodgers game. Getting the news in the paper six days late is how things are going with the hard-hitting "In the Loop."
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I suppose the hard-hitting "In the Loop" will have something next Sunday on Johnson and What's-His-Name, her dancing partner, talking about how their trophies are broken. That news is only two two weeks old now.
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That's it for now. I'm going to spend the rest of the morning reading some preseason football magazines to see if they make any more sense than the paper.
