Dick Ring

Speaking of the Ringer brings back alot of stories he's told me over the years. Here's a link with some old pics including him:
http://www.westhillshop.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=27

#1. He used to live in Brighton, MA....they didn't have ice in Brighton (Bawstin) so he and a buddy had to take the T over to Brookline to skate. They did a couple of laps on the flooded pahhk when some goons came up to his buddy and him. They said your not from around her and get the #$#$ out. They continued to skate. I remember Ringer telling me that this guy was standing on a snowbank and he knew there would be trouble. He said he made sure he got in a good first shot then they got their #@# kicked. But as Ringer said at least I did some damage....:).

They licked their wounds and next day showed up again in Brookline for a skate. Same guys same result....limped back home again.

Day 3, they show up in Brookline again to skate. These same guys are ready to whoop on them again when some neighborhood tough guy intervenes as they are about to get whooped on again. He says to them, "you guys must really like this skating thing huh." Ringer says, "you bet your @#$ we do. We are training for Nationals and the Boston Silver Skates". The goon was obviously impressed with the Ringer and his salesmanship and gives them the ok to skate.
Ringer says the funniest part is a month later they are skating at the Silver Skates in Brighton. The guys he says who just a few weeks earlier we're beating the S#$t out of them are now cheering for them as they race.

Another good one. Maybe this was when he went with Art Longsjo to Nationals as the chief fundraiser. He said they would always run a raffle with some turkeys for Thanksgiving to pay for their skating trips. He would go to all the workers and neighbors in the hood. They would raise alot of money for the trip and the "winners" he said were always the families that needed the turkeys the most. I asked so you mean you fixed the raffle? Not really.... everyone felt good about the raffle. What a marketeer even in his youth :)

That was like the time I had no idea about bike racing and how good an announcer he was. I said to him so do you get paid to announce these bike races?? He looked at me with that Ringer look and was like you think i'm doing this for charity.....u bet your a@# i do.....