SAXONS SURVIVAL Next October, the remaining members of the Saxons S.A.C. will be celebrating the 74th anniversary of our club. A group of sixth graders from P.S. 167 in Brooklyn, New York, decided to create a club to play punch ball, softball, football and basketball against other teams in the neighborhood. Through the years our determination kept us together and the club survived although we attended several different high schools, colleges and even served our country during the Korean War. One of my major regrets in life was that I was not an original member of the club since I moved into the neighborhood in 1943, one year after the birth of the Saxons. In our third year as a club, we were forced to address a financial crisis. We wanted to purchase club jackets but had about $10 in our treasury and our dues were just 25 cents a week. After a long and argumentative meeting we decided to purchase raffle tickets to accomplish the task. The first prize would be $25 worth of war bond stamps. Amazingly our raffle sale and accumulation of money was done without the input of any of our parents. Several months later we picked up our club jackets. Although it was the middle of the winter, we proudly wore the maroon and gold jackets every day. As 8th graders we were the envy of every kid in Crown Heights. The same year we had another critical meeting, since we would be attending several high schools and were fearful that the club would not survive our enforced daily separation. Would schoolwork and new friends interfere with our friendship and the club’s survival? All our collective experiences at Tilden, Erasmus, Boys High, Brooklyn Tech and Stuyvesant served only to strengthen our bonds. We kept meeting regularly and played ball on Saturdays and Sundays in Lincoln Terrace Park. As we matured we faced another obstacle. The club members debated whether to change the name of the club to the Saxons Social Athletic Club from the Saxons Athletic Club. We grudgingly recognized our interest in girls and dating had to receive equal status with our involvement in athletics. Instead of dreaming of Duke Snider, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, we began fantasizing about female movie stars and the welldeveloped females in our school classrooms. We were being mugged by our own hormones. It was an era when our adolescent sexual desires were running hysterically through our circulatory system. The “S” in our name stood for “Social” but it just as well could have stood for “Sex.” The awareness of sex caused a radical change in where we would conduct our meetings. Our parents no longer welcomed the 15 Saxons into their apartments and we voted to rent a basement in a home on Montgomery Street. As a cellar club we had the freedom and independence to host parties with the girls we were dating. If a guy was with a girl in the clubroom, those wanting to simply socialize were not admitted. If the tiny American flag in the basement window was on its side, that meant one of the guys was “making out.” The couple’s privacy was always respected. The Saxon jocks soon became a part of the sexual revolution. Although part of the Silent Generation, we were not angels. Frequently, Larry stole his mother’s car and we went joy riding around Brooklyn. Larry’s theft almost made his mother lose her mind. Since he was never able to get the same parking spot when he returned home, his Mom often came back to the apartment in tears because she couldn’t remember where she parked her car. Our new clubroom was furnished with our parents’ old furniture, things thrown away by neighbors and by apartment house lobbies, which suddenly reported many thefts of couches, chairs, lamps and framed artwork. We were the first generation in our families to have the opportunity to go to college. Amazingly, every Saxon went! With little guidance from our school counselors, most of us went to Brooklyn College, City College or N.Y.U. Those whose families were more sophisticated sent Marvin to Columbia, Barry to Hamilton College, Basil to Annapolis and Morty to the University of Hawaii. When the Korean War started, we were all classified 2S and the draft boards called us to service as soon as we graduated. Carl, Moose and Kid wound up in Korea. Morty served as an Air Force jet pilot. Jake and Stan became U.S. Navy officers, Marv was a J.A.G. attorney, and I spent two years teaching Morse Code at Fort Gordon in Georgia. When we returned to civilian life, the Saxons continued meeting and celebrated every anniversary together and spent New Year’s Eve with our wives and the girlfriends of those who remained single. By Bob Ricken We were party animals and shared many highlights in each other’s lives. Denny was the first to marry and became a United States Government Psychologist;. Carl was the first to get drafted; Shy graduated from Harvard Law School; Marvin graduated from Columbia Law School; Axey was in charge of research at I.B.M.; and Barry became a famous research Medical Doctor at Belleview Hospital. No matter what the level of individual status, we spent every New Year’s Eve together. As the song goes, “Now that we’re old, and ready to go… We get to thinkin’ what happened a long time ago…” We’ve lost several of the guys, but simply adopted every one of their widows. We’re an integrated group waiting to celebrate our 74th anniversary party sometime in the year 2016. Saxons will come from all over the United States. We will hug and kiss each other and then tell stories about those who’ve departed. Most important of all, we’ll plan the next meeting of the Saxons S.A.C. Robert Ricken is a retired school superintendent and presently a Professor of Education at C.W. Post, L.I.U. His latest book, “Mastering the Balance of the Principalship: How to be a Compassionate and Decisive Leader” has just been translated into Chinese. North Shore Towers Courier n February 2016 37
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