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Chapter 8 - Giggles
Charles Ashe had decided in recent years to become more sophisticated about wine and food. This was one of his main purposes in taking this tour. He had grown up an Ohio farmer’s son, though his father also had a small tractor dealership in town. He vaguely remembered his mother, who abandoned him and his two brothers when Charles, the oldest, was six. When he received a football scholarship at Ohio State, he quickly lost interest in country life. He was a split end but caught very few passes on a running football team. Every Saturday the team played before 80,000 fans. On the sidelines, Charlie always removed his helmet and looked up at the stands in awe. People started to recognize him around campus. Some local sports writers touted him as an All-American his junior year after he played well in a bowl game, the first time eight balls were thrown his way in his career. He caught all eight. He told everybody about the articles and played it up enough in his fraternity and around campus that it was generally believed he was an All- American.
After graduation, he tried out for the Green Bay Packer’s professional football team. The first week of contact scrimmages, he was knocked unconscious twice and cut from the squad.
A competitive individual at a respectable institution of learning, Charles often bragged that he got A’s in every class he studied for during football season and straight A’s after Christmas. The dean of the medical school was an old football player. Charles sat down to talk with him the day he arrived back from the training camp. The dean arranged to have Charles put on the waiting list that afternoon while Charles filled out the application and a group of alumni were consulted about a scholarship fund. He was accepted the week classes began. That same year Charles was able to avoid the military draft on the basis of the concussions he had received in the training camp.