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Post being replied to

Speaking of Pinkett ... by 2020

I was working lunch in north dining hall one day in what was probably 1984 when a local elementary school was on a field trip or something. There were little kids everywhere, and much to their teacher’s dismay, they were running around like kids at a candy emporium told they had five minutes to grab all the free Snickers and Smarties they could fit in their bags. They were manic, asking anyone over five feet tall, “are you anyone?” (meaning, of course, are you on the football team?). They wanted to meet players, get autographs. The teacher was trying to round them up, sheepishly apologizing for the behavior in their wake.

The well prepared among them had paper and pen in hand. They were roaming about, and anyone over six feet tall quickly drew a crowd. “Are you anyone?” If “no”, they shot off in another direction. Some enterprising kids even left the cafeteria and went into the serving line. Alas, pay dirt. One kid discovered Allen Pinkett and excitedly let the world know about it, shrieking at the top of his lungs, “Hey everybody, Pinkett’s in here! Pinkett’s in here! Pinkett’s in here!” He was mobbed as he moved from the serving line into the dining room, papers and pens thrust in his direction by this growing cluster of fifth graders. One of the lesser prepared among them, with pen but no paper, begged as he rolled up his sleeve, “could you sign my arm?”

All the kids now in one place, the teacher finally caught up with them, apologized to Allen for disrupting his lunch, and moved the class toward their assigned area. I think there may have been some agreement that after Allen and his friends were done eating they would stop by where the kids were sitting to sign autographs.