The 2016 track and field season will go down as one of the most memorable timelines in my meet coverage life. I know many of you have felt like me with so many emotions flowing through your blood stream. In recent weeks I've talked about the toughness of today's generation of coaches, athletes, and especially meet managers in regard to the weather of all things. But now my thoughts have turned to something else and I want to share it with you.
It has been almost a week on April 21, 2016- a day that I will remember for the remainder of my life. It was a day that the artist known as Prince passed away. Prince was one of the most influential figures in my life growing up in the 1980s. He was a great recording recording artist who in many people's mind stood out as an enigma if you will. But the "Symbol" knew his lane and place among the greats of the greatest decade in history that featured Michael Jackson, Madonna, and the emergence of hip hop.
The movie Purple Rain came out in June 1984 when I was about to turn a sophomore in high school. It was a time when I reached the crossroads as a young teenager. To some of my so called friends back then I could have been labeled a follower because as a freshman in high school I got into some unnecessary trouble. I did not have an identify yet in early 1984. I was a very good athlete in my neighborhood, boarding on greatness but I chose to run with some bad characters. Some of the kids I used to hang out with played sports but they also had a taste for illegal activities as well. Let's just say I participated along with some of them. But eventually as I began to see the bigger picture in life I became somewhat of an enigma in my own right. The latter part of 1984 would change my change my life FOREVER.
For those of you who do not know I am a product of hip hop and I would later grow up in the "Golden Era" of the genre- the single most influential timeline of urban music and maybe music in general. As well there was heavy mental, pop music, and alternative music. But believe it or not it was the new wave music of Prince that caught my attention when I officially entered Terre Haute North High School which housed grades 10-12. I love music and the Purple Rain album caught me with its psychedelic influence. I never listen to music when I worked out but I like to listen to an album before a training run or race and certainly afterwards. I think most athletes of my generation did as well. We could feel in it our bones as well as soul whenever we practiced or competed. I also like to go to the movies with my friends. But on one occasion in 1984- October 27 to be exact I went on my first paid date with a girl named Jenny Marina. Jenny was someone who I liked and I believed she liked me but time was a major obstacle. I was enjoying the social aspects of high school as well as competing in cross country. My high school also known as North Vigo, had won the Sectional and Regional Championships with five sophomores and two juniors. We easily dominated the first two legs of the state series in the same year for the first time since the glory 70s. I placed sixth and second respectively and it was time to celebrate before the Semi-State.
The place to be for a Friday or Saturday night was the famous Village Theatre. It was a big theatre but old school house of fun built back in 1937. For that magical night of October 27 was the movie Purple Rain. The entire place was filled with teenagers who screamed their lungs out for the theme song "Purple Rain." You could hear them sing "Purple Rain, Purple Rain." Such incredible unison I say. Now 30+ years later it is the same thing only in mourning. I know they are going to have a Purple Rain party near the Indiana State University campus May 7. I will not be able to attend that glorious celebration but I will have my own Purple Rain fun. Warner Brothers has re-released Purple Rain in select cities around the country and it happens that 10 theatres in Chicago land will show the legendary flick. It looks like I will be celebrating a date night with my wife. I'm sure the feeling of this date night will feel just as good as the first one.