My Friend, Quinn
Danny Smith and I have been the Quinn Twins for more than 40 years
I went for my annual physical at Dr. James Upshaw’s office on Tuesday.
It was Election Day, so I guess my blood pressure was a little high. But, then, so was everybody else’s that day.
I ran into Elizabeth Smith, a recent graduate of Auburn’s College of Nursing. It was great to see her. I have known her parents, Danny and Miriam Smith, for a long time.
As I was leaving, she said: “I’ll tell Quinn you said hello!!!!”
Her father and I have been calling each other Quinn for almost 40 years.
We are the Mighty Quinns. (Thank you, Bob Dylan.)
I don’t know any other Quinns, except for my neighbor’s 11-year-old grandson. I am friends with a Quinton and a Quintez, but there are no Quinns on my Christmas card or Facebook friends list.
There is a story behind this, of course.
You are probably relieved this election season is finally over and would prefer not to hear about another poll. But allow me to linger a little longer.
Danny is a banking executive in Macon. He and Miriam have two daughters. I first met him during my sports writing days when he was a student at Southwest High School and helped out as a statistician with some of the school’s athletic teams.
As a student at Mercer, he went on to work in the sports information department with the legendary Bobby Pope. During the 1984 season, the Mercer women’s basketball team – then known as the Teddy Bears – finished with a 24-7 record.
In a span of nine days of March Madness, Danny and I traveled 4,750 miles to Florence, Alabama (an all-nighter) and Hamden, Connecticut for tournament games and then on to Springfield, Massachusetts (home of the National Basketball Hall of Fame) for the Division II Final Four.
We lived out of our suitcases for more than a week.
Hamden was the most memorable leg of the trip not only because Mercer won the game on a sleepy Sunday afternoon but the opponent was Quinnipiac.
Until that day, neither of us had ever heard of Quinnipiac, much less know how to spell it.