Kevin Quinley's tribute to Charles Clay

1. Mr. Clay Top Ten…
Tribute By Kevin Quinley

2. Top 10 Memories of Mr. Clay …
and His Era
No event like this comes together without lots of hard work and organization.
This is no exception.
So .. let's recognize two people whose hard work spearheaded this event,
made it possible, and turned an idea into a reality. Those people are Pattie
Elder and Judi Adams. How about a round of applause for both!
I'm sure we each have memories of our time at Little Creek Elementary School,
especially if Mr. Clay was your teacher.
With apologies to David Letterman, here are my "Top 10" memories …

3. #1. Camp Owaissa Adventures ….
Remember the overnight trips to the YMCA camp near Lynnhaven? They were
wonderful adventures.
Sand in the clothes. Screen doors. Games of "capture the flag."
Hands-on science projects. Sweltering bunk houses.
But we still had a terrific time.
Nowadays to pull that off, you'd need three signed waivers, four self-esteem
counselors and an Environmental Impact Statement.
Related to that is …

4. #2. Before “The Blair Witch Project”…
Before "The Blair Witch Project" there was ….The Dark Lady …
At Camp Owaissa at night, I remember being hunched around a
campfire. Mr. Clay confided to us the local legend of . . . The
Dark Lady. Long before the "Blair Witch Project," Mr. Clay scared
bejeesus out of us . . .

5. . . . by telling us this tall tale. Then, while we were around a
campfire, he had someone dressed as The Dark Lady jump
out of the shadows.
(I think we all needed a new change of underwear right
after that…)

6. #3. He broke gender roles.
Back in the day, it was rare to have a male teacher. Most were
women. Mr. Clay broke that mold at a time when it was a
rarity. He was a walking example that "real men teach!"
He was willing to wade into deep water with his teaching, too.
Exhibit A…

7. No, not that "Big Bang Theory"!
One distinct memory I have is of Mr. Clay, explaining
to us the origin of the universe through the Big Bang
theory.

8. #4. The Big Bang Theory.
In 30 minutes or less, he got sixth-graders to understand
cosmology. (Jerry Falwell would have had a conniption!)
Nowadays, such a lesson plan would probably trigger a lawsuit
from Liberty University and the Creationists.
Now that was pretty cool. But, not quite as cool as the Little
Creek Library.

9. #5. Cool Runnings ..
At Little Creek Rec Center
Little Creek Summer Rec Center. My first exposure to Mr. Clay
was during the summers when he was the director of the
Little Creek Recreation Center. That became my "home away
from home" during Summer break between school terms.
Rec Center tournaments were held in everything from
paddleball to ping-pong to domino's.
Being an uber-nerd, I entered the checkers section. I soon
learned that I got to play the games in the school Library.

10. #5. Cool Runnings ..
At Little Creek Rec Center
So .., what's the big deal about that? This was special, because
the library was air-conditioned and we had no air conditioning in
our sweltering house!
(It was so hot, the bushes in my back yard were whistling for our
dog!)
In the library, the air-conditioning was cranked so low, it was
almost painful, I didn't complain and wanted to win every game
so I could stay in the deliciously cool library!
But if sub-arctic air conditioning didn't give me a chill, the
prospect of dissecting rats did …

11. #6. Rats!!!!
Rat dissection. On Mr. Clay's desk sat a product catalog from
Carolina Biological Supply. From it, you could order any number of
interesting items, including dead rats packed in formaldehyde. I
remember dissecting one during a "Summer Enrichment Program"
directed by Mr. Clay and learning the rudimentary art of taxidermy.
I put my rat on plastic surfboard with papier-mâché painted blue
waves and anointed it . . .

12. "Surfer Rat."
Talk about a surfer rat! He could "hang twenty"!
To this day, I'm still intrigued by taxidermy, but I get queasy when --
on the drive down -- I saw here in Norfolk a Taxidermy shop located
right next to a . . . Korean barbecue.
Not all the memories of Mr. Clay are from the classroom, though.
They extend to the playground and fields of competition . . .

13. #7. Kicking ass at volleyball.
To us 6th-graders, Mr. Clay was a towering intellect, but he
was far from a nerd. He had a competitive streak. This
surfaced in his coaching our class volleyball team, first in
school-wide competition and then later representing Little
Creek at the City competition at Foreman Field.
I remember him drawing out game strategy on the chalkboard
before games, about where to spike the ball against other
teams.

14. #7. Kicking ass at volleyball.
He may have been able to explain cosmology, but -- on the playing
field -- he also wanted to kick your ass. I wasn't good enough to be
on that team. I was, as they say, "vertically challenged." That was
OK. So I sat with classmates in the stands at Foreman Field,
watching other schools march in.
We saw inner-city schools with six-a-half foot tall "12-year-olds."
Many sported huge muscles and facial hair. (And those were the
girls' teams!!)

15. #7. Kicking ass at volleyball.
Remember the scene in "Jaws" where Richard Dreyfuss' character
looks out over the ocean, gets his first look at the great white
shark and says,
"I think we're gonna' need a bigger boat!"? I looked on in
amazement as these "sixth-graders" waved to their wives and
children.
But of course, not all of us were athletically gifted.

16. #8. The original Crummy Team.
The Crummy Team. Me and a bunch of buddies were typically
picked last were not picked at all for pickup games of kickball or
other sports.
We understood. We got it.
So . . . we decided to form our own group and called it the
"Crummy Team."
We made up our own "Crummy Team" T-shirts.
(We tried to get Nike sponsorship, to no avail …)

17. #8. The original Crummy Team.
We did "Crummy Calisthenics."
We'd play the girls teams sometimes, just to give them a little
competition. Other classes caught wind of it. They formed their own
Crummy Teams. Fortunately, Mr. Clay tolerated this bit of
nonconformity. To this day, I keep in touch with some of my Crummy
Team alumni. (We're still crummy!)
So, a few minutes ago, I mentioned The Blair Witch. Now, we come
to "The White-Haired Bitch…." This evokes memory number nine …

18. #9. Drawing the line on
Mrs. Battleaxe.
Everyone at Little Creek Elementary and was intimidated by the
martinet music teacher, Mrs. Whitaker. Well, everybody but one
person.
Once, Mrs. Whitaker stormed into the middle of Mr. Clay's class,
presumably to complain about one of his students.
Mr. Clay faced off with her, told her off and told her to get out of his
classroom. Stunned silence followed.

19. #9. Drawing the line on
Mrs. Battleaxe.
Nobody -- and I mean NOBODY -- had ever stood up to Mrs.
Whitaker.
(Funny, I don't recall her ever entering the classroom after that …)
I'll wrap up with my tenth memory of Mr. Clay.

20. #10. There’s NO debate!
Another distinct memory is Mr. Clay hosting Norview's debate
team for an exhibition/demonstration debate for our class.
I sat in slack-jawed attention thinking, "That's so cool! Someday, I
want to be one of them!"

21. #10. There’s NO debate!
Eventually, I was, debating three years in high school, three years
in college.
It was a formative life experience, ignited by Mr. Clay's decision to
bring Norview's team in that day.
As an added bonus, I learned in high school and later in college
that telling a girl, "I'm on the debate team" …

22. . . . was the most effective form of birth control known to man.
Some closing comments ….
You may know that early May is the calendar spot for National
Teacher Appreciation Week. It's a time to pay tribute to
teachers, a time to honor educators and acknowledge the key
role teachers play in making sure every student gets a quality
education.

23. We know and recognize that there are many teachers in our
past who gave their hearts, minds and souls to nurture in us
the things that they saw as vital to our education, critical to
our success, and important for our future.
But one that uniquely stands out in my memory -- and I
suspect in yours -- is Charles Clay.

24. So even though it's July and not May and even though it
comes belatedly, today we recognize and salute Mr. Clay for
his inspiration, dedication, and occasional perspiration.
And we say, "Thank you for being in our lives!"
"Thank you for being a wonderful teacher!"
 Kevin Quinley, July 26, 2014