Small Town, Big Name

Small town living is, in many ways, a lot like the way it is portrayed on TV. I graduated with a class of less than 200 kids. I knew everyone in my school: the quarterback was in my Spanish class, my English partner ran the morning announcements, the saxophonist for the band had a locker across from mine, and the janitor helped me hang my Homecoming posters. It was a community within a community.



This is a video created by my english partner featuring a full tour of the school led by three classmates and our friendly janitor, Doug. 

St. John's is very similar. I have found last semester that I see faces daily and never match a name or voice to it. This semester, some of those faces ended up in my classes or even a floor below me.


Recently, during the time I was around campus working on my Capture the Storm project, I ran into a face that matched a name I had heard. I entered the elevator in the library as a man in a khaki trench coat said, referring to a man at the coffee counter, "that's Carnesecca."


Just like my town, who everyone recognized the name Jim Thorpe as a famous athlete, St. John's all recognizes the name Carnesecca as the legendary basketball coach.


I knew the name and the story behind this legendary name, but there, at the familiar library Seattle's Best, was the face. In this small little St. John's town, I had finally run into the superstar who is commemorated by the arena I had been in more times than I could count.


I immediately rode the elevator back down. I had to meet him. Not only did I meet him, I asked for an interview. He looked at me sternly and said "I only talk to students inside the classroom." It didn't take many moments after my stunned expression that he laughed and asked if he could just have his coffee and then have me meet him in his office.


This was a man who had learned all about fame and success and was still willing to feed the curiosity and shake hands with students of his alma mater. He did this knowing he would reap no benefits other than making an aspiring reporter's day.

People like Mr. Carnesecca are the types of people who make small town living have it's positive energy. He is someone who is around the campus for other reasons than because he has to be.


Him talking in the interview, in my next post, will prove that further.