A true football hero passes

Art Schoenherr, a football hero at Lisgar, has died. I know no one reading this has heard of him, but he was the big man on campus. When I read the obituary, I could not believe it. Art Schoenherr!!?? No way. It was the same with Eric Vivian, another hero who died about three years ago. He was a local football hero, but Art I knew well; Eric was only a distant idol at Glebe.

I was in grade 12 and had to put on a dance act for the annual Lisgar concert. I knew nothing about dancing, but I was a pretty good athlete and head cheerleader (yes, I know, that last part is embarrassing), so I thought..."Why not ask all the football heros to be the principal dance partners?" At least, I thought, that would be a huge attraction.......to see these big gridiron gladiators prancing around on their tiptoes to jazz music. Because I approached Art first, the rest of them had to agree -- reluctantly, but they got into it. We had lunch-hour rehersals for weeks and slowly but surely, these burly football players transformed themselves into sleek and sexy dancers. It was fantastic!

To tell you what kind of guy Art was, I remember having a bad cold during these rehersals and one day after school, he knocked at our door and handed my mother a box of kleenex to help me through my sniffles. What other guy would do this?

The night of the concert arrived and our music started. We got right into our act, with everything going perfectly. Suddenly, Art -- who was my partner -- missed a step and the whole thing started to unravel. I was mortified! We stumbled around and managed to get back into the routine, but I was implacable. I remember coming off stage and almost punching him when he tried to apologize. I am sure no one in the audience even noticed, but I had. That was the end of our little "affair". Art went back to his original girlfriend, Jane, and I moved on. Happily, Art and Jane married and he became a high school teacher in Smith Falls.

I am sure Art made a difference in many students's lives. A football hero who could also dance. What a fabulous combo! Now, there was a guy who didn't worry about gender stereotyping.

Goodbye Art. You were a great guy.