By request: Some of Dad's BYU experiences as a non-member athlete in the early 70s...

So, some people wanted to hear some further stories when I mentioned that my father was a BYU athlete back in the early 70's in another post. These stories are second hand by me, from my father, so you'll have to take them for what they're worth.

My dad went to BYU as a non-member on a sports scholarship because his high school sport coach was LDS and recommended the university. My dad wasn't necessarily the best student, his grades would have never have granted him access to a university education, but he was a gifted athlete and a hard worker.

Over the years I've listened and absorbed some of his BYU stories. I'm even able to relate to a few of them because I went to BYU myself. However, I went as a TBM.

Anyhow,

My dad lived in Helaman Halls (Merill Hall) where his roommate would probably have been best described as a Jack Mormon. Apparently his roommate spent all of his time drinking beer and playing the guitar. (Yes, in the BYU dorms). My dad never felt the need to report anything though, in fact as a nonmember, it never even crossed his mind that he needed to. To him, it was just the college experience.

They were a bit of a wild bunch and apparently got in trouble once for taking some doors off of their hinges, placing them across the opening to the showers, stuffing the cracks with towels etc and then flooding the area, in effect making a swimming pool. They did this on more than one occasion and apparently the reaction was always, "Oh those athletes..." My dad never faced school disciplinary action.

He was on a scholarship for sports, but his family wasn't wealthy. As a result he says he survived by eating 10 cent hotdogs that were sold at the old Reams grocery store that has since been torn down. http://www.monolithic.org/benefits/benefits-strength/dr-arnold-wilson-and-the-ream-s-turtle

Being a student athlete he said his fondest memories were training on the steps that run from the RB to upper campus. (The team ran up and down the steps every morning at 6 am to stay physically fit during the season.)

My dad didn't understand mormons and quite frankly he didn't care to learn much about them. His younger brother came to campus to visit once, (his brother was also a gifted athlete) and smoked cigarettes while he walked around campus, my father didn't even bother to tell him to put it out. Apparently some people on campus did though, which convinced my dads brother that he no longer needed to look at BYU as an option.

I've heard a few good dating stories. This is the one I shared in the other thread.

Favorite father's story. When dating.. BYU girls would find out he wasn't LDS mid-date and then immediately ask to be taken home. One girl he took out to Salt Lake City and in the middle of the date it came out that he wasn't LDS. She asked in the middle of dinner to be taken home back to Provo. My dad, ever the gentleman said that would be fine. He drove her a few city blocks to a SLC bus station and bought her a ticket.

On another occasion he spoke of, he and 2 buddies were entering a grocery store when they saw some ladies coming out struggling with large bags of groceries. My dad and his friends volunteered to carry the groceries out to the women's car. At the car, the women thanked my dad and his friends graciously and then invited them over because they were headed home to make dinner. Being the poor starving students that they were, they accepted. They followed the girls home and helped them take the groceries up a few flights of stairs and into the apartment. They were making small talk when it surfaced that the women were all members of the church, but the men were not. In what must have been a really awkward situation, the women asked the men to leave. When the men asked why, the ladies said they just no longer felt comfortable with these "strangers" in the apartment. The men agreed to leave but on the way out, one of my dad's friends asked if he could take the garbage out for the girls. The girls said that would be fine, so lifting the garbage out of the bin, my dad's friend walked down the stairs and before getting in their car to leave, he dumped the garbage out on the hood of the girls' car. (Yeah, they didn't exactly reciprocate by showing love as they probably should have...)

My dad remained a non-member throughout his freshman-senior year. He didn't care much for mormons toward the end of his time at BYU. But one day, he was delivering something to the Cannon Center for a colleague when he decided to stay and eat. After getting his food he sat down alone at a table to eat. A few minutes later, my mother (who didn't exactly fit the BYU typical woman either) and some of her friends asked if they could sit next to him because all the tables were at the time full. He agreed, they struck up a conversation, and the rest was history.

However, my mother does like to tell the story about their first date. My father showed up to the door drunk. She told him she would not go out with him in such a state and told him to sober up and try again in the future. The next time he came sober.

They dated for the next 2 years. Eventually, my mother wanted a temple marriage and as a result my father joined the church. He's been a faithful member ever since. He's never been given leadership callings but is always the one people call when they need something fixed or service rendered. It sometimes makes me angry because he's such an amazing person, and people seem to take advantage of that.

Anyhow, there you go... I was always surprised when I heard of his stories because I could never have imagined such a person at BYU while I was there.