COACH WEST'S BIRTHDAY BASH (By Robert Robbins, c/o 1980)

Another Rota mini-reunion took place on July 9th, 2005 in Waco Texas.  A great big Texas thanks goes out to Allen West for organizing the event.  The occasion was to celebrate Coach West's 81st birthday with him and his family.  Coach Leslie West, commonly known by the nicknames of "Blaze" or "Spider", is one of our favorite coaches from high school.  Coach was still spry and witty, full of great anecdotes and stories, from all of those great years we remember so fondly.  We also got to see and meet many of his extended family, and grandchildren. 

The gathering started on Friday night, where we all met at Cricket's Bar and Grill.  People from Rota and Guantanamo Bay showed up.  It was the first time some had seen Coach West in over 25 years... 

The next day, we all came together for a good ole Texas "hang-down" BBQ.  The local VFW was gracious enough to allow us the use of their place all day.  We all met, shared stories, ate lunch, and then we all sang happy birthday to the ole Blaze.  He was very touched by so many traveling to celebrate his birthday.  Later that evening, the "Gitmo Gang" presented a scrapbook to Coach.  Coach addressed everyone and shared his feelings about how special it was for us to come visit him, and how many great people had touched his life throughout the years in the DoD School systems.  You touched our lives too, Coach, maybe more than you'll ever know!

Coach West and Robert Robbins

True to form, the Rota crowd started getting the dancing feet, and began dancing to the music from the DJ... After closing down the VFW, we all went out to Downtown Waco, and settled into a place called HALO to have a few drinks and continue to share stories about what we're all doing with our lives now...

Sunday found most of us sleeping in a bit, and heading back to our homes...  I think a good time was had by all! 

There were lots of rumors about when the next Rota reunion was going to take place... One was about meeting in the Baltimore Inner Harbor in 2007, another was about meeting in Denver in 2006 during ski season... place your bet and keep your ear to the ground, I'm sure there will be many more "mini-reunions", and hopefully another full-blown reunion like the Maryland 91, and Virginia Beach 99.

Cheers,

Robby (Robert Robbins, DGF Class of 1980)

DISCUSSION BOARD IS UP AND RUNNING AT WWW.ROTAADMIRALS.COM

Our webmaster, John Overall, just recently installed a discussion board to our website.  Check it out at http://www.rotaadmirals.com/forum_bbs/.  Right now we have a few topics posted.  Feel free to post and chat.  It's a great place to gather and get the latest skinny on RAA events, its alumni, etc.

MINI- & GRAND REUNION DISCUSSIONS ARE FLOWING

As Robbie mentioned in his write-up above reunion discussions seem to be abounding as of late.  I have received several email asking about forming "mini-reunions" as well as inquiries asking about the next Grand Reunion.  I'm aware of at least one mini-reunion startup for the c/o 1979-1985 (or 1978-1983 depending on which email you read).  You can contact Suzanne Freegard Schoenrock (sassyrock@aol.com) or May Jacobs (JacobsM@cnrc.navy.mil) for more info.

RAA itself is toying around with having another Grand Reunion similar to the ones held in Virginia Beach in 1999 and in Maryland in 1991.  Grand Reunions are not class specific--anyone who attended DGF is invited to attend.  We'd like to form an exploratory committee to get a feel for the amount of interest, potential reunion locations, potential dates, etc.  If you're interested in serving on the committee, post to our website discussion board or drop an email to DGFRota1983@yahoo.com.

If anyone else has a reunion in the works, please let us know so we can get the word out.

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ROTA SPOTLIGHT

The Legendary Doug Williams and Fletcher "Chris" Hill

Back in the DGF days, he wore his numbered jersey.  He claimed he threw like him.  He claimed he scrambled like him.  Now, Chris is standing by him (take my word for it...not the best picture, but it is Doug Williams, famed Superbowl champion).  If you miss the old school music of the early 80's, check out Chris' internet radio stations at www.rhythm96.com and www.oldskool101.com.

Greg Marquez c/o 1983

Greg is definitely "Da Man."  He was in Rota back in July and snapped some photos of the new additions to DGF.  According to Greg, the high school is still "the same old buildings."  "The new addition is the junior high and elementary schools.  The sports field, however, is new and they also have an outdoor street hockey rink."  Greg works as a Foreign Area Officer for the Department of Defense.  Here are some of the shots:

ROTA'S MOST WANTED

Look for some long lost Rota buds?  Can't find that old girlfriend or boyfriend from back in the day?  Given the large amount of space this section took up, we have now moved it to our website discussion board.  Check it out and post at http://www.rotaadmirals.com/forum_bbs/.

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