In 1964, the Olympic Games were held in Tokyo, Japan. But more importantly for my friends and me, the Olympics were again televised and brought into our living rooms.

In track and field, Al Oerter of the U.S. won the discus for the third straight time. Sprinter Bob Hayes of the U.S. equaled the world record of 10 second flat in the 100 meters. He also helped lead the U.S. to set a world record in the 4 x 100 meters.

I had been working at the Shell Gas Station on Hillside Avenue pumping gas since the morning. It was now about one-thirty in the afternoon, in late September, and it was still fairly warm in the New York City area.

I wore a pair of jeans and a white tee shirt. My arms were pretty tanned, and pretty greasy, and my blond hair was longer now and was matted on my head from the sweat and my habit of constantly wiping back the hair from my face, no matter whether my hands were clean or dirty. I had just finishing pumping gas into a Ford Station Wagon, and the car seemed to take endless gallons of gas. Just as he finished up, a brand new 1964 red Oldsmobile convertible drove in. There was a cute brunette in a kerchief and sunglasses behind the wheel. She wore a halter top and tight fitting shorts.

I strutted up behind the car on the driver’s side, and approached the car, asking politely, “Can I help you ma’am?” The young woman turned in her seat, took off her glasses, and says in a familiar voice, “Why sure Bucky.”

It was Dan Roger’s sister, Shelia, and I had not recognized Shelia behind the sunglasses in her new car. “Oh, hi, Shelia!” I said. “Nice car, is it new?”

“Yes,” remarked Shelia, “My dad bought it last week, and this is the first time he let me drive it.”

“Can I fill up your tank,” I asked.

“Sure,” replied Shelia, and with that opened the front door and got out of the car to watch me fill the tank.

She came over close to where I was fitting the nozzle into the tank and propped herself against the side of the car, hands behind her backside, arching her chest in my general direction. Even though I was younger than Shelia, I was much taller than she was and I couldn’t help glancing down and admiring her beautiful figure.

“So, where’s Dan today?” I asked.

“He’s at home cutting our lawn. Do you like this car, Buck.”

“Yeah, sure is nice and I love the color,” I answered. I finished pumping the gas and Shelia paid me. As she was leaving, she said, “I’ll have to take you for a ride sometime, Buck.”

I immediately replied, “You betcha, Shelia.” She casually got back into the car and took off.

That night me and the guys gathered at Johnny O’Donnell’s house, because Johnny’s parents were away for the weekend. We watched some of the Olympics together on television, and took a break in Johnny’s driveway. There were some nights when guys just wanted to be together to bond, play sports and have a few laughs. The gang that night included Hank, Pete, Dan, Ritchie, Johnny and me – the usual suspects.

Johnny lived over on Campbell Avenue, between Center and Lafayette Streets in Williston Park. Johnny had a deadly jump shot and set shot, and played basketball for Chaminade during the basketball season. On the face of his garage, Mr. O’Donnell had fastened a backboard, hoop and net. The O’Donnells’ driveway was wide enough for a great half-court game. It was just enough space for a game of three on three.

We had some water we were drinking, when Johnny got the idea to bring out some of his Dad’s beer from the basement refrigerator. He didn’t think his Dad would miss a few beers among the many he had stored there.

That night was a pretty warm night and all of us were wearing gym shorts with athletic supporters underneath. After a couple of hours of playing, it was around 10:00 p.m., and we started to take turns running under Johnny’s yard sprinkler. Of course, we all stripped to our athletic supporters so as not to get our shorts wet. The conversation now turned to the Olympics and the great running the United States was doing in Japan.

“Let’s have our own Olympics,” Pete said excitedly.

“What do you mean?” I asked him.

“Buck, we split into three teams of two guys each who race around the block and we time the races. Johnny has a stop watch. We can just do it in our jock straps, because no one is out this time of night. It will be fun!” replied Pete.

“Shit, what if somebody sees us?” said Ritchie.

I quipped back, “Ritchie, with your ugly skinny butt, they won’t be seeing much!” Everyone laughed, and then everyone agreed. The race was on!

We decided that we would call this exciting Olympic event in Williston Park, “The Round-the-Block Olympics.” Hank laughingly suggested, “Or we could call it ‘The Round-the-Block-in-Your Jock Olympics.’ ”

Whatever the name, the first two teams were around the block and back without incident. The start and finish lines were in front of Johnny’s house. Dan, who lived on Campbell Avenue, just down the block from Johnny, and Johnny himself, were the last contenders to make the Olympic track event. Dan and Johnny were very good athletes, and both took off in a flash down the street with jock straps tightly gripping their bare behinds as they made their way south down Campbell Avenue towards Lafayette. Near the end of the street, the boys could only make out their fleeting figures under the corner street lamp.

A few minutes later, here they came around the corner from Center Street past the Episcopal Church onto Campbell Avenue. As the runners came around the corner, Johnny was in the lead by a few steps, but Dan was literally and figuratively close behind.

As luck would have it, just across the street from Johnny’s house, the door of Pastor Owen’s house opened, and out stepped Mrs. Owen with Rudy, her small terrier, tugging at his leash. Mrs. Owen and Rudy started to walk up Campbell Avenue towards Center Street in the direction of the oncoming runners. As the boys got closer, old Rudy started to bark at the approaching figures running swiftly down the street. As they passed by a street light, Mrs. Owen got to experience “The Round the Block Olympics” in both the frontal and full rear view. She was startled to see these young semi-nude boys run by under the street light.

As they streaked by, she stepped close to the curb with Rudy barking incessantly, and heard one of the boys say, “Oh, hello, Mrs. Owen,” in a nonchalant voice. She thought that the voice of the boy belonged to Johnny O’Donnell, but she was not sure. As the boys faded into the distance, Mrs. Owen embarrassingly realized she had been starring at their bare behinds. She quickly turned, and strode off down the street towards Center Street, huffing and pulling Rudy behind her, as he continued to bark at the Olympic disappearing act.

At the finish line back down by the O’Donnell house, Johnny beat Dan by a “fanny.” Cheers erupted from all of us and we broke into laughter.
I said, “If one of us had a camera, this would have made an interesting photo finish.”

“Yeah, nice butt race!” yelled Pete. “I can’t think that the Olympics in Tokyo had any more exciting fanny finishes.” he continued.

It turned out that I was the winner by two seconds over Johnny. I had won an Olympic Medal in 1964. It was the only Olympic Medal I had ever won. The other guys told me that it was not gold. They said my ass was definitely a tarnished Bronze Medal winner, and pretty sweaty at that!

“Hey, is anybody hungry?” said Hank. Hank was always hungry.

“I could eat a hamburger at the Diner,” replied Pete.

In a few minutes, we were all dressed, sitting at the Diner and cooled down with some Cokes. We sat in our favorite booth, discussing the big Olympic event over a couple of buns. Hamburger buns! The big topic of conversation, however, was the look on Mrs. Owen’s face as she saw the outfits on the infamous Olympic runners! Johnny and Dan knew she would be too embarrassed to ever say anything to anyone about what she saw. However, Rudy knew who the boys were, and from that day forward always barked loudly at the neighborhood boys.

It was a night we would never forget! Every time I saw the Olympics now, I was reminded of our not so famous “Round-the-Block Olympics” and my tarnished Bronze Medal.