1. Is that when you became a ladies’ man?

No, but it is when I reached puberty.

2. Did you consider not going to college?

No, but others did, specifically the priests and nuns at St. Patrick’s church and school who were convinced that my destiny was the priesthood. I probably would have been able to deal with the priestly vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience, but the thought of wearing that stiff collar and drab suit every day just turned me off. When they told me to listen for God’s call to a religious life I reminded them that I was hard of hearing. I also pointed out that my hearing loss would likely result in violations of the secrecy of the confessional box as I would have to ask the sinners to speak so loud that everyone in the church would learn of their transgressions.

3. Did you have many choices as to what college you would attend?

Of course, I did. Who wouldn’t want me as an alumnus? However, I routinely trashed the letters from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia and the like because I knew from an early age that I wanted to be a graduate of the University of Scranton, otherwise known as the “U”. It was a Jesuit school and the Jesuits are well regarded as top educators. Plus, presumably because the Jesuits took the vow of poverty, the tuition was cheap.

4. How did your orientation into collegiate studies go?

Awful. I had one chemistry course in high school and I so excelled in memorizing the chemical symbols that I received the chemistry award at graduation time. Buoyed by that and considering I had dreams of being a pharmacist some day I declared chemistry as my major at the U. It didn’t work out very well. At the end of the first quarter of the first semester my faculty guidance advisor (who was the chemistry professor) asked to meet with my father and me. At that meeting he noted that I was far behind the other chemical students from prep and public schools who actually had been in a lab during high school and had conducted chemical experiments, and said that I was likely to get a grade of “F” in chemistry for the first semester. He suggested that I change my major. Also, chemistry majors had to take an advanced math course. While I’ve always been a numbers guy and liked math problems and knew all my multiplication tables, that advanced math course seemed to be more of a mixture of algebra, calculus, geometry and trigonometry, all of which I felt would be completely useless in everyday life, and so since I was struggling with a grade of “D” in that course he also advised that I select another math course for the second semester. At the end of that meeting I was embarrassed and particularly concerned that my father would view me as a doofus of sorts. Gratefully, he didn’t. 

4. What degree did you earn?

I received a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in accounting and a minor in philosophy. As to the latter I never sought a philosophy accreditation nor did I realize I was working towards that. I believe I earned that minor just because that I had a philosophy course of one type of another (including ethics and logic) all four years of college. I did enjoy the philosophy studies and I believe they did initiate my interest in law. With respect to accounting that is the major I selected after withdrawing from the science curriculum. I had no compelling ambition or goal of becoming an accountant and selected that major only because the group of four guys I had gotten to know at the U were accounting and/or business majors. I was a semester behind at the time I switched, but made that up by taking a summer course between my sophomore and junior years. That undertaking was somewhat complicated, however, because in the middle of the course I became infected with chicken pox which I caught while baby sitting my one-year old nephew. I had chicken pox as a young child and when I contacted the disease again as a 20-year old I was told by some that getting the disease twice sometimes led to sterility. I decided then and there that I would prove them wrong.

5. Who were your college friends?

Only two high school classmates of mine went to the U and they were in totally different curricula, so I had to make new friends there, not an easy task for a shy introvert. I did not live on campus so I never became pals with dorm students. But there were four guys (Mike, Frank, Paul, and Tom) with whom I would from time to time hang out. I called them my “up the line” buddies because while I lived in Scranton they all lived up the Route 6 highway line in Olyphant, Blakely, and Archbald. We would get together in the Student Union building for lunch and between or after classes to discuss our studies and exams and sometimes to play pool. During my junior and senior years I would drive on a Saturday night to Archbald to meet them at their local bar where we could stay without concern after the closing hour because Tom’s father was Chief of Police in Archbald.

6. What was your cumulative GPA?

It was about 3.5, as I recall. Good enough for cum laude but not magna cum laude. Actually, I got mostly “A’s” but the three grades that dragged me down were the “WF” (withdrew failing) in chemistry, the “D” in advanced math, and a “C” in ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps). Believe me, I did not elect ROTC. It was required of all students. Every Tuesday during my sophomore year I would put on the ROTC green uniform and hat, the tan shirt, and the black tie and shoes, and after lunch we would march up Adams Avenue to the Scranton Armory, pretending to be soldiers. While many commented at the time that I looked dashing in the uniform, I was a really sad case as an officer in training. The first quarter of the first semester of my ROTC experience centered around the disassembly and assembly of the M1 rifle. I never could get the hang of how the parts came apart and how they then were to be put back together again. Further, I wondered what’s the point of that? Isn’t the purpose of the rifle to shoot, not play with like a puzzle? The shooting part came in the second quarter with target practice. I didn’t kill anyone, but I was pretty bad at that too. My first semester ROTC grade was “D”, deservedly so. The second semester course was a study of U.S. military history, which did not involve any mechanical or sharpshooting skills but only the acts of reading, memorizing, and taking written tests. My cups of tea, for sure. Got me a nice big “A”.

7. How was your social life during college?

It mostly didn’t exist the first two years, but picked up nicely in my junior and senior years. The college hangout was O’Toole’s, a drinking establishment not far from campus. For some reason going to O’Toole’s became more of an alternative in the last two years of college when many of our courses were just electives that we chose not because we had any interest in them but because they were easy ways to accumulate the requisite number of credits for graduation. This meant that it was commonplace for us to ask each other “well, should we go to the afternoon classes or just go to O’Toole’s”. As I noted earlier my “up the line” adventures were part of my social life.

8. How about co-eds? Did you befriend many?

No, certainly not many. The U was an all male institution and its Scranton counterpart was Marywood College, an all female school. There frequently were socials, dances and get-togethers arranged for the U and Marywood, but I seldom attended, and then only if beer was included. Beginning in the summer between my junior and senior years and continuing until I left Scranton for law school I did hang out quite a bit with a girl named Dorothy. She was my age and a Marywood student. We worked part-time together at a local department store for two summers and during our senior year. She was quite popular and had dated guys much cooler than me. But I think she enjoyed my company as I did hers. I only saw her once after I left Scranton for law school and that was at my grandmother’s wake. She later married a college classmate of mine. Dorothy unfortunately died in her late 30’s. I heard a rumor that it was a drug overdose.

9. What was the high point of your college years?

That would be the 3-month accounting internship I had with Arthur Andersen in New York City during my final semester. About twelve of us senior accounting majors at the U were selected for internships (for which college credit was given) with the then “Big 8” international CPA firms. I enjoyed the freedom and the responsibility of being away from home and the sights and sounds of the Big Apple. During my stay there I roomed at the Hotel Bedford (not far from Grand Central Station) with my friend Mike (from up the line) and another senior from Scranton whose name was Sal. I did not previously know Sal. He was about 8 years older than Mike and me, was married, and was a Danny DeVito look-alike. After we were there about 4 weeks Sal dragged me to a bar in Queens one Saturday night. I am fairly certain that was the first time I drank whiskey. It didn’t take terribly long for me to suffer the consequences. I passed out at the bar and barely remember getting on the subway after midnight to go back to the hotel. I woke up in my bed about 3 a.m. and saw two ladies of the night in Sal’s room. When he awoke in the morning I asked him about that dalliance and he just casually said they were hanging around at the entrance of the hotel and that he, being a married man without sex for 4 weeks, was horny. When I asked “why 2” he said one of them was going to be for me but he couldn’t revive me. Thank God for the whiskey! A couple of weeks later he asked me if I would go elsewhere for the weekend because his wife was coming to New York for what I guess you can call a conjugal visit. I complied, and spent that weekend at my Aunt Mary’s apartment in the Bronx. It was pleasant enough, but she had no whiskey.

10. What was your worst classroom moment?

At the start of my sophomore year I was enrolled in Father McNichols’ philosophy class, seated in the last row of desks. From the time in 7th grade when I first learned I had a hearing loss my vanity would not allow me to wear a hearing aid. I was nerdy enough without wearing something that was for old people. So in every classroom I made it a point to sit up front. But Father McNichols insisted that his students be seated alphabetically, and hence my predicament. He called on me with a question and of course I couldn’t hear him. He repeated the question. I said nothing, which angered him. He accused me of being inattentive and suggested that I leave his class and not return until I changed my ways. So I bolted out of there, totally ashamed, and had a long cry. That was a Friday. The next day my father and I went to an audiologist and I got fitted for my first hearing aid. I apologized to the good Reverend the next week. When learning what the problem was he was gracious and said that even though I was getting a hearing aid he would make an exception to his policy and allow me to sit up front. I often thought of that incident and wondered if I was a trailblazer for all the hearing impaired to follow.

11. How did your college career end?

With a grand cocktail party, man. Hosted by my Dad at the downtown Holiday Inn in Scranton, friends and relatives in attendance. I don’t know how much it cost him, but I walked away with enough seed money to cover a few happy hours at my next destination, Washington, D.C.