JIM SANFORD

On our first day of school in 8th grade, two new faces were seen in the lunchroom, where they all gathered us prior to putting us in our classes. One was Kevin Minkel. The other was Jim Sanford. I remember that he was wearing a red spring jacket as he sat there.

Jim was a hefty guy. He was rather large. There's no way to sugar coat that. Because of his size, he would often sweat a lot. I had him in gym class a couple of years. And when we got back into the lockerroom, he would be coated in sweat - big red and sweaty.

In my opinion, Jim was kind of an asshole. He was smug and annoying. I never understood where his bitterness came from. He just treated a lot of people like jerks.

I seem to recall that Jim was into ninja stuff, and collected throwing stars and such.

In my sophomore year, I had Jim in gym class again. I remember being placed onto a volleyball team with him. And he groaned when he saw me. Whatever. Because truth be told, I was actually pretty good at volleyball. Cindy Rohrer was on that team as well. You could tell that Jim had the hots for Cindy. When she screwed up, it was cute to him. If I screwed up, man did I hear it. But it didn't take Jim long to see that I was an asset. And I earned his respect - not that I really gave a shit. Having Jim like me was nothing I sought out to do.

Most mornings in high school, you could find some kids selling donuts. I seem to recall that Jim bought one quite often.

After our sophomore year, Jim disappeared. I assumed that he simply moved. He didn't seem like the type of person who would simply drop out. I'm pretty sure I've never run into him. And he's probably hard to miss. Today it looks like Jim has moved to Manitowoc. I think he's married to a woman named Stacie. I have no idea if they have any children.