Do you remember your Pop Warner football days, Little League moments or Biddy Basketball games long ago?

My son, Brandon and I watch a high school baseball game in Whitehall, Wisconsin.

I wonder how many memories my son, Brandon will have of the many, many games he’s played in, or cheered at. Will he remember the NH Grizzlies tournament games, or the crazy parents playing Dominos in the hotel lobbies? Will he remember his undefeated junior high baseball season,  or the separated shoulder he suffered in 7th grade? Will he remember a Fisher Cats game last year, or the broken bat given to him by a player?

I have many memories of my games as a child, and others I covered as a photographer for The Telegraph. Some are good ones, and others I’d rather forget, if I could. For me, it’s not the games themselves that stick in my head, but the events surrounding them. Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose which memories to keep, or forget.

I think I’ll always remember walking to my car at half-time during a high school football game a few years ago at Manchester West. I called my sister’s home in Wisconsin to see how my mother was feeling. She was staying with my sister briefly, before going into the hospital for tests. It would be the last conversation I had with my mom before she died a couple months later.

My mother and father, Duane and Alice Hammerstrom

I also remember the man with the half-shaved head, who shouted at the referees, much like I sometimes do. My father had suffered through two operations for brain tumors, which changed his personality, but also made him passionate for everything he did. He lived for nearly 12 years after the first surgery, and influenced many people in that time. I remember sitting in the starting tower with him at the Soap Box Derby car races in Chicago in the 1960’s,  while he worked. I don’t remember much about the races, but I do remember the big radio he talked on, and climbing up the scaffolding.

Whitehall High School basketball game stub from 1986, the weekend after my dad, their #1 fan, died.

The weekend after my dad died, our family went with friends to Madison, Wisconsin, to watch the Whitehall boys basketball team compete in the state championships. He was an avid fan, and this was the first time in many years that a Whitehall basketball team made it to the state championships. I do remember some of those games, but the stronger memories come from the activities surrounding the events. The principal’s wife, Mrs. Anderson had suffered from an illness as well, and the semi-final game was dedicated to them.

I also remember Wayne, a fellow flag football player, grade school classmate and friend of mine from Park Forest, Ill. He was hit and killed in a freak car accident in a store parking lot. His wake was probably the first I had ever been to. There are very few other memories about the team.

Then there’s the Twins game I went to with my Little League baseball team. The memories of the game are a little foggy, but my recollection of buying beer for my 11-year-old teammates on a dare, are very vivid. With my tiny mustache, I asked the man at the big counter for two 20-ounce Oly’s please. The coaches suspected something on the drive home, with all of our giggling.

Even though some of these memories seem sad, they are still good ones, and life-changing in positive ways. There are reasons beyond our control, why we remember one thing, and not another. What are your memories of childhood sports?

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: alice, athletic, Baseball, dad, death, died, Duane, father, fields, Football, game, Hammerstrom, High School, manchester west, memories, mom, mother, nashua high school, Parents, Whitehall, Wisconsin