| the
hardware (from left to right) |
 |
1985
Jr High Top Unrated: Memphis |
|
1986
Jr High 5th Place: Memphis |
|
me |
|
1989
High School 6th Place: Memphis |
|
1986
Jr High 8th Place: Tennessee |
|
| |
| the
story |
| ok,
for those of you that have only known me for 10 years or less...
i know this amazing achievement comes as a shock. after all, the
context of me that most of you are familiar with probably doesn't
scream "champion chess player". characteristics such as
concentration, planning, patience along with the ability to sit
still and formulate organized thoughts are probably not on the top
of your "things that remind me of richard" list. |
| |
| so how did
this all come about? well years before my tremendous success i used
to play with my dad after dinner. not real playing... just taking
turns moving pieces around and smashing them together. the best
part was the sounds i got to make when they hit. anyway, in this
"game" the taller piece always won... sort of like the
card game "war" except you got to choose your own card
each turn. |
| |
| over time he
taught me some moves (and rules) and we began playing for real.
as our skill levels became more and more evenly matched, i worked
up the courage to join the mus chess club. we were all pretty much
dorks (duhh) but by my senior year, i was sort of their leader -
which meant that i had to go up @ assembly and present all the team
trophy's. is was sort of like an meeting AA for losers... |
| |
| ME:
"hi my name is richard and i'm a loser" |
| THE
ENTIRE SCHOOL: "HI RICHARD!" |
| ME:
"today i'm presenting a trophy for 17th place in the
nation" |
| THE
ENTIRE SCHOOL: applause |
| MUS
HEADMASTER: "thank you lead loser, we will proudly
display this next to our large collection football trophys" |
|
| |
| it was rough,
but seeing how i was elected despite not being one of the better
players on our "team" i was in a weird way sort of honored. |
| |
| now some of
you may say... "hey rich, what happened during 1987 and 1988?"
well, that is what makes this whole story even more amazing. during
those years the TSSAA introduced the prop 48 rule affectionately
known as "no pass, no play". now despite my best efforts
during those years i was having some difficulty in my algebra 2,
victorian lit, spanish, chemistry and western civ. classes. what
resulted was sort of groundbreaking for the TSSAA. strangely enough
they had never come across a "no pass, no play" issue
with any chess player before - so i was the first. after much deliberation,
they decided that i shouldn't be treated differently than any other
athlete and was not allowed to compete in city, state & national
tournaments - a real downer. however, by my senior year things had
turned around enough on the strength of my PE, art and music class
grades to get me back on the roster... but only for the state tourney.
by the time nationals rolled around so had spanish 2 and trig. |
| |
| now just to
show you that i'm not making all this up, the picture below serves
as proof that i didn't just go down to "earls trophy shop"
and have these things made up so that i could make up some phoney
addition to my already amazing "amazing achievement archive".
|
| |
 |
| in this photo
i am picking up my 1989 (sr year) trophy during a breakfast being
held by the shriners @ the mark twain cafeteria on summer avenue.
it was first class all the way. |
| |
| you are now
dumber for knowing all this. thank you. |
