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<\/a>Jack, blowing out not quite 75 candles<\/p><\/div>\n
A party was held in our home last week to celebrate the 75th<\/sup> birthday<\/strong> of our brother, Jack Sparrow<\/strong>. He is not only my brother, but my best friend and has been since right after he broke my arm. I was 12, he was 14 and like most brothers we\u2019d have an occasional difference of opinion; fights never lasted too long as he was much bigger and stronger than me, but I was of the opinion that it \u2018wasn\u2019t the size of the dog in the fight, it was the size of the fight in the dog\u2019<\/strong>. Yeah, well that philosophy didn\u2019t work out so well on this occasion when I thought I was going to land a big \u2018haymaker\u2019<\/strong> right on his chin, when he put up his arm and blocked it. My forearm hurt for several days after and when I finally went to the doctor and had it x-rayed, my arm was found to be broken. That was our last fight.<\/p>\n 6’4″ center at Novato High School<\/p><\/div>\n Later that same year, he entered high school and was a three-sport letterman for the next four years<\/strong>. Not just a letterman, he was good . . . real good. I idolized him, he was the best athlete I had ever seen and the great thing about it was he didn’t treat me like a ‘bothersome little brother’, he always had time to work with me to teach me to throw a baseball and football and shoot a basketball.<\/p>\n In his senior year he was 6\u20194\u201d and 180 pounds<\/strong> \u2013 great size in 1959<\/strong>. Aside from getting good grades and being student body president, he stood out in every sport he played. \u00a0In basketball, at the center position, his turnaround jump shot from 15\u2019 and in was an automatic. He was the top scorer and rebounder on the team and amongst the leaders in both categories in the league; he was a unanimous All-League selection<\/strong>. He received scholarship offers to play basketball at a number of West Coast schools.<\/p>\n He was the ace pitcher on the baseball team and an All-League selection, who lead his team to a league championship in his senior year. He had a great fastball and a wicked curve; he threw several one and two-hit ball games and was being talked to by major league scouts<\/strong> to continue his career in baseball.<\/p>\n College of Pacific quarterback<\/p><\/div>\n But his love was football. At quarterback he had a rifle arm, could run extremely well and was a great on-the-field leader of the team. In his four years of high school football, he lost only 4 games.<\/strong> Back in 1959<\/strong> there was a North-South Shrine game,<\/strong> where top high school seniors from Northern California played against the top seniors from Southern California in the Los Angeles Coliseum<\/strong> in the summer following their senior year. Jack was selected to play in that game along with two other quarterbacks from the North, Daryle Lamonica<\/strong>, who was headed to Notre Dame<\/strong> and ultimately a great career with the Oakland Raiders<\/strong>, and Bill Munson<\/strong>, who was headed to Utah State<\/strong> and later drafted in the first round by the Rams<\/strong> and played 16 seasons in the NFL<\/strong> for various teams. Needless to say, it was a very tough competition for the starting quarterback spot. Guess who worked his ass off and was named the starting quarterback for the North? Yep, Capt. Jack<\/strong>; and they won the game!<\/p>\n I was a sophomore during Jack\u2019s senior year and was in awe of the college football coaches and recruiters from all across the country who sat in our living room trying to convince Jack to go to their school. He ultimately chose College of Pacific<\/strong> in Stockton<\/strong>, the school his high school coach had attended and at the time, had a high-powered football program, headed by star running back Dick Bass<\/strong>, who went on to have an outstanding pro career with the Los Angeles Rams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Off Shore Bar & Grill – Lake Tahoe<\/p><\/div>\n Tragically, Jack broke his neck playing in a game in his junior year in college, yet remarkably came back to play in his senior year. But the neck injury came back to haunt him after his senior year, when he took the physical at the\u00a0San Francisco\u00a0<\/strong>49ers <\/strong>training\u00a0<\/strong>camp and was told that\u00a0the risk of re-injuring the neck was too great for him to pursue a career in football.<\/p>\n Jack went on to have an outstanding career in the restaurant management business, capped by owning his own restaurant, the Off Shore Bar & Grill<\/strong>, on the shores of north\u00a0Lake Tahoe<\/strong>. After he and wife, Sharon, moved to Santa Maria<\/strong>, he was convinced by none other than Fess Parker<\/strong> himself, who became a good friend, to come to work at the Fess Parker Winery<\/strong>, where to this day he still enjoys working part-time in the tasting room.<\/p>\n Bob, Suzanne and Jack<\/p><\/div>\n Some 25-30 friends and family attended the party to help Jack celebrate his\u00a0three-quarters of a century<\/strong> on the planet. \u00a0He enjoyed some good wine and a few gag gifts, but most of all he enjoyed the friends and family who had gathered on this beautiful southern California evening to wish him well.<\/p>\n You readers know what a awesome sister I have; I just feel so fortunate to have such great siblings – hat’s off to Mom and Dad, who at least got 2 out of 3 right!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow A party was held in our home last week to celebrate the 75th birthday of our brother, Jack Sparrow. He is not only my brother, but my best friend and has been since right after he broke … read more![\"Jack](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/Jack-BB-266x300.jpg\")
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