{"id":2015,"date":"2016-03-05T15:06:04","date_gmt":"2016-03-05T21:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=2015"},"modified":"2017-07-08T15:27:13","modified_gmt":"2017-07-08T20:27:13","slug":"son-of-the-great-santini-passes-author-pat-conroy-was-70","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fredsportsextra.com\/?p=2015","title":{"rendered":"Son of the “Great Santini” passes; Author Pat Conroy was 70"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pat Conroy (photo by photo by: Steve Leimberg)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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From the movie CONRACK- a first year teacher Pat Conroy, as white as the sand beaches of the island\u00a0of South Carolina on which his school sits, talks to his all black\u00a0class, kids that have never traveled ten miles across the water to the nearest town, Beaufort, SC. The kids are of elementary age upwards to higher junior high:<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Pat Conroy<\/span><\/a>: Gang, we’re going to learn all these records. We’re gonna look like geniuses when we know all these songs. Visitors are going to come here, expecting nothing but stupidity and poverty – I’m going to switch on this record player – you’re going to look those people right in the eye, and exclaim: “Are you perchance… familiar with the works of Rimsky-Korsakov?” We’ll knock their behinds off… Now here we got something very sweet<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

[begins playing record<\/span>]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Pat Conroy<\/span><\/a>: … Brahms’ Lullaby. You don’t need any Seconal, any Phenobarb, or any Miltown. You just drop this on, and The Sandman’s got you.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

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Pat Conroy passed away yesterday in his beloved Beaufort, South Carolina.\u00a0The author of works like “The Great Santini”, \u00a0“Conrack”, “The Prince of Tides”, and the “Lords of Discipline” was 70. Pancreatic cancer was the cause of his death.\u00a0 He was my favorite writer.<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n

I first discovered Conroy when I was beginning my teaching career in a mostly black school in a disadvantaged part of Oklahoma City in 1974.\u00a0 The movie “Conrack”\u00a0was\u00a0based on the book and\u00a0hit the big screen\u00a0in that first year of teaching for me.\u00a0\u00a0That film became\u00a0 significant for me, giving some very\u00a0valuable insights of the morality of teaching\u00a0in general and working with the downtrodden in particular.\u00a0 I was, in fact,\u00a0not ready to teach a group of 5th grade\u00a0students, and being only 21 at the time, was just not that ready to do that job. But with time and experience, things fell together.\u00a0 Just as\u00a0“Pat” did in the movie and the novel.\u00a0 \u00a0Autobiographical in nature, a trait of Conroy’s novels, it set the tone of how I\u00a0do my business teaching of teaching children and, in time, become a competent and skilled instructor.\u00a0 During my early adulthood, I too, had the same political views of the author, that being\u00a0anti-war\u00a0and one that supported racial equality for all.\u00a0 As Conroy suffered for\u00a0some from his beliefs (as brought out in his writings) by his family, his beloved South, and the foes of justice for all,\u00a0\u00a0his trail was not unique, and it\u00a0was a difficult time for\u00a0many on the path of right over wrong.\u00a0 The nation had to grow up after the previous tragedies of the 1960’s.\u00a0 It was still a time of turmoil and the Reagan come-together regime was still some years in the future.\u00a0 The film still stands fresh, as does the novel it was derived, “The Water is Wide”.<\/p>\n

I can say I have read as much of Conroy as possible.\u00a0 His books are a reflection on a time that has come and gone, and is coming back again.\u00a0 Not all that has gone and is\u00a0returning is bad. Conroy’s last book, “The Death of Santini” is a must read for closure for this author. First read “The Great Santini” and if interested, his other major offerings. But in the end, read his novel on his father, the Great Santini.\u00a0 Life is never simple, never a paint by numbers, and sure as hell not as easy as eating a piece of mom’s apple pie.\u00a0 The world is a more enlightened place for a twenty-year old first year teacher on the bad side of town, thanks to Pat Conroy.\u00a0 I sure would not have made thirty-seven years in the profession without his novels.\u00a0 That is for damn sure.<\/p>\n

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Quote from the movie CONRACK when a small male student was given the business by an older student in the school’s rest room. To his class and said with emotion:<\/span><\/p>\n

Pat Conroy<\/span><\/a>: On the outside of every men’s room in the world is the word “Gentlemen.” I’ll tell you what that means. A gentleman treats his fellow man with respect for his person and for his dignity. He doesn’t slander his religion, his color or his pecker. And if he does any of these things around me, I’m going to lay this fist ‘longside his jaw.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Note:\u00a0 \u00a0Conroy was a outstanding high school and college basketball player, a starting guard\u00a0for\u00a0his alma mater, The Citadel Military Academy in Charleston, SC.<\/p>\n

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  From the movie CONRACK- a first year teacher Pat Conroy, as white as the…<\/p>\n

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