by Jack Healey
November 22nd,1963
It’s still a date that sends chills up my spine. November 22nd,1963 was a Friday just like it is this year, I was a sophomore in high school and I was excited because it was the Harvard-Yale football weekend. It was always exciting as we went to the game every year,but it was especially exciting when the Harvard-Yale game was played in New Haven, Connecticut. I didn’t go to school that day because we were travelling to New Haven for the game the next day and we were going to stay at the Yale Motor Inn which I remember had a goal post on the grounds so you could have fun trying to kick field goals through it. It would be a blast and we were really looking forward to it, but then the unthinkable happened. I remember that we stopped for lunch on the way at the Red Coach Grille in Framingham, Massachusetts and while we were there the waitress told us that President Kennedy had been shot! We were stunned! We got back into the car and continued our trip to New Haven and heard on the radio that the President had died. We stayed in the motel that night and were glued to the TV all night. The game was postponed until the following Saturday and we again went to New Haven,but the feeling was different.There was still a sadness and there was no real excitement surrounding the game. The country was in mourning and would be for a long time.
Here it is 56 years later and again it’s November 22nd on a Friday and again the Harvard-Yale game is the next day and again the game will be played in New Haven, Connecticut.
Today is November 22nd,2019,but I remember November 22nd,1963 like it was yesterday.