Larry’s Story a page turner
By
BILL CLARK
Late in the spring of 1958, Ol’ Clark was the Columbia (MO) distribution manager for The Kansas City Star. His office was across Seventh Street east of Hickman High School, and it was there Larry Andrews, a Hickman senior, came with the lament his team had been denied entry in the Looper League, Columbia’s unique organization of “good ol’ boys” and pitches that had to go at least 10 feet over the hitter’s head.
The team needed sponsorship. So it became The Kansas City Star team and proceeded to have a perfect season — it didn’t win a single game!
Fast-forward 52˝ years.
An e-mail to the Tribune found its way to me in September. It was from Lincoln, Neb., and closed with: “I’d appreciate a plug from Ol’ Clark. I think he’ll remember me.” It was signed by Larry Andrews.
How could I forget him after our perfect record?
Larry, who graduated from high school in 1958 and from the University of Missouri with a doctorate in English in 1969, spent 40 years as a professor and administrator at the University of Nebraska, teaching English, retiring in 2008.
Since then, he’s become a busy novelist and has published his first novel, Songs of Sadness, Songs of Love.
I must admit I haven’t read the book, but I’m convinced it will be a good read — all about a young boy growing up in the fictional town of Columbus. Here’s why:
Larry has published four university-level textbooks, including one translated into Korean. He has been a consultant to Imo University in Nigeria and a visiting professor at the University of London.
But, more important, Larry is a success story with a rough beginning. The older of two sons of Senator and Betty Andrews, he celebrated his 70th birthday on 10/10/10. When he was 5, he became the first child in Boone County to contract polio. He was left with an arm without muscles — there, but of little use.
Larry adjusted and hardly missed a beat. He helped in his family’s carpet business, attended Ridgeway School for six years and, as a seventh-grader at Jefferson Junior High School, began a three-year run as a Tribune paperboy. Later, he would drive the truck delivering bundles of Tribunes to the carriers. He even worked part time on the sports desk.
Larry moved on to MU, graduated with a degree in English in 1962, taught school for three years in Iowa high schools, then returned to complete his master’s and doctorate under the guidance of Steryl Artley in 1969.
A day after he received his Ph.D., he was on the job in Lincoln.
Larry played tennis for more than 20 years and finally gave up coed slow-pitch softball at age 50. He was an avid fisherman — a catch-and-release guy — until five years ago, when pneumonia plunged him into a two-week coma. He’s fine now, except for nagging post-polio syndrome, has finished a second novel — now en route to the printer — about the theft of intellectual property, and even has five chapters done on a third novel.
So how does a born MU Tiger handle the land of the “Big Red?”
“It is easy to become a fan of a team that wins national championships.”
But, Larry adds, “I have marvelous memories of growing up in Columbia, and when I return to Boone County, like I tell my friends in Nebraska, I feel like I’m one step closer to heaven.”
Don’t forget, the name of the book is Songs of Sadness, Songs of Love.
Who knows, you might find someone in the fictional town of Columbus who looks familiar.
Bill Clark’s columns appear Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Reach him at 402- 474-4510. This article was published on page A2 of the Friday, October 15, 2010 edition of The Columbia Daily Tribune.
