On May 3, I lost a friend from my days of growing up in River Rouge. Tony Rinna passed away suddenly from a stroke less than a week after his 70th birthday. It is always so hard when it happens out of the blue. One day, he is posting on Facebook and getting lots of birthday wishes and then you get a call that he died. It has been a long time since I have seen Tony, but I will miss all of his words of wisdom and comments.
Tony, who attended Our Lady of Lourdes High School, was from a political family. His dad, Orlando, was a long-time city council member and his uncle, John, coached many of us in baseball during the summer. Tony, was smart and he was an above average athlete. He was a left-handed pitcher who could run fast. He was the best pitcher on our 15 under VFW Teener League team that finished fourth in the nation. He was also the ace of the staff or his high school team. Tony’s death reminded me that Tony grew up surrounded by great athletes. Tony lived on the third block of Walnut Street which was loaded with athletes. If you lived on this block, it was an expectation that you were going to be a great athlete. This small block produced some amazing athletes, who I will try to list by memory.
Lofton Greene, the greatest high school basketball coach in Michigan history, with 12 state championships.
Mr. Dan Krasun, multiple world champion pistol shooter.
Judge George Mihaiu, all-American diver.
George Mihaiu, all-state quarterback and all-conference baseball player at River Rouge. Starting quarterback at Michigan State University.
John Mihaiu, three sport athlete at River Rouge High and member of MSU baseball team.
Bill Johnson, multiple state champion swimmer, member of Western Michigan University swim team.
Paul Greene, member of multiple River Rouge High state champion basketball teams.
Ken Ledl, starting quarter on River Rouge High football team.
Tom Tatten, starting quarterback on Lourdes football team and All-Catholic baseball team member.
Mike Tatten, starting pitcher on the above mentioned Teener League team and starting pitcher for River Rouge High School’s baseball team.
Chuck Trysinski, all-catholic basketball player.
Loren Pittman, all-state basketball player and member of one state champion basketball team and one state runner-up team at River Rouge High.
Marty Slybodnik, member of multiple state champion basketball teams at River Rouge High and member of the University of Michigan basketball team.
Tom Jones, starting center on Lourdes basketball team.
Dave Bondy, all-catholic football at Lourdes, and member of Arizona State University football team.
Ralph Darin, who lived on Richter at the end of Walnut, two-time draftee of major league baseball and for a long time was the winningest pitcher in Central Michigan University history.
Today, Willie Mays, turned 90. He is the oldest living member of the baseball Hall of Fame. I received the following text from my good friend Richard Kerns who was coached by Eddie Stanky, a teammate of Jackie Robinson on the Brooklyn Dodgers. “During a discussion with Coach Stanky, he said Mays was the best 5-tool player he ever played with or saw. Compliments didn’t roll of Stanky’s tongue very easily, but his eyes would light up when ever he talked about Mays, Aaron, Clemente, Williams and a few others.”
Stay safe, wash your hands regularly, social distance, wear your mask properly and schedule your vaccine.
Quote of the Day: “You’d sit on the bench and watch Willie Mays. It was so exciting just to watch him. People did that with Jim Brown. They did that with the acrobatics and greatness of [Michael] Jordan. It’s like players today going to watch the pregame warm-ups of Steph Curry. To watch Willie warm up, to throw the ball underhand, to make a basket catch. The beauty and the grace. For the kids today, it was like watching Simone Biles. It was like watching [Mikhail] Baryshnikov. It was poetry in motion. It was so beautiful, so pretty, to watch this athlete just run on the field, catch a ball. I loved to play against Willie Mays because it meant that I got to watch Willie Mays.” Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson
Orchid of the Day: Willie Mays
Onion of the Day: Me, for buying Leah a birthday card which had a picture of two guys holding hands. It was in the wife section of birthday cards. I was only paying attention to the words and didn’t look at the picture as careful as I should have looked. Leah had way too much fun at my expense showing it to my kids and grandkids.
What?? No girls lived on Walnut Street?
Tell Leah at least you were thinking of her. Maybe a gift next time?
Deanna,
I got her a nice gift which included a jacket and two oversized T-shirts. She questioned why the oversized until my son told her they were for pajamas and wearing over her bathing suit when kayaking. He saved me. I am sure there were girl athtletes on Walnut, but it was pre-Title IX and there were no high school sports for girls at that time.
Biggs