Local Guy

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

Johnny Lattner, the only Chicago-area native to win a Heisman Trophy, dead at 83.

Side note:  My parents, who dabbled in local Democratic Party politics when I was a kid, once hosted a fundraiser at our house for Lattner, who  was running for some local seat (County Board or something...doesn't matter, he got trounced).  In any event, during this fundraiser--Fall of '86 I want to say--Lattner brought his Heisman Trophy with (turns out it was his second one as the first one was lost in a fire at his restaurant), and so I got to hold it and take a picture with it.  #coolstorybro

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I have a second story that my dad shared with me.

Years before this fundraiser, some time in the 1970's I think, my parents were at a wedding and my dad found himself across from a woman who was introduced as "Mrs. Lattner".  Since my dad's recollections of Lattner were from as a kid growing up in Chicago (like most Catholic Chicagoans, my dad was a Notre Dame fan and since Lattner was from Chicago, he took on truly local hero status), it hadn't occurred to my dad that Lattner would have aged since the 1950's when my dad had followed his exploits in South Bend.  So, without thinking, he asked the woman, "Oh, are you Johnny Lattner's mother?" to which she coldly turned to him and declared, "I'm his wife."

[CT III]

I have a second story that my dad shared with me.

Years before this fundraiser, some time in the 1970's I think, my parents were at a wedding and my dad found himself across from a woman who was introduced as "Mrs. Lattner".  Since my dad's recollections of Lattner were from as a kid growing up in Chicago (like most Catholic Chicagoans, my dad was a Notre Dame fan and since Lattner was from Chicago, he took on truly local hero status), it hadn't occurred to my dad that Lattner would have aged since the 1950's when my dad had followed his exploits in South Bend.  So, without thinking, he asked the woman, "Oh, are you Johnny Lattner's mother?" to which she coldly turned to him and declared, "I'm his wife."

Still, it could have been worse.  Didn't Bob Costas basically make the same mistake with Juanita Jordan on-air in the one of the Bulls post-championship locker room celebrations?