Vintage Old School
Gold Member
Leland Sklar on his YouTube channel mentioned an interesting story the other day about individuals with strong names: Thurl Ravenscroft (actor, voice actor, singer), Gray Baskerville (legendary hot rodder), and Basil Rathbone (Shakespearean actor). That got me to thinking.
So if you could choose a new name for yourself what would it be and why? Or if you have a nickname or stage name--or you want one--what's the story behind it?
I was born with a hereditary bone deformity with my right foot pointing backwards at the 5 o'clock position. The doctors told my parents that I would never be able to walk without braces and some sort of physical assistance for the remainder of my life. Fortunately my parents never told me any of this and I started walking at a normal age. This was long before technical advances in surgery so I had to wear metal leg braces at night (think young Forrest Gump) to pull my right foot towards a normal position. I had to wear orthotic Wingtip shoes until I was 14-years-old before I was allowed to wear normal street shoes. All this to say I didn't have an athletic bone in my body and I was the only kid in school that had a legitimate doctor's note prohibiting me from playing sports. The way I'm wired I was never really into sports anyway so I never got around to understanding the fundamentals of different sports.
Fast forward to 2000, my youngest daughter is in her first year of Peewee Co-ed Soccer. The team coach called me right before practice one day saying he couldn't make it and would I mind putting the kids through drills, plays and a practice game. Sheer terror enveloped me. I didn't have any clue whatsoever to do. After "drilling" the kids and bluffing my way through practice one of the young boys ran up to me as we're exiting the field and said "Coach Doug, you're the best coach ever!" Now if there are two words in the English language that should never be used together in the same sentence it's Coach . . . Doug. My family and close friends from time to time will call me Coach Doug to remind me that it may be the greatest title ever bestowed upon me.
So if you could choose a new name for yourself what would it be and why? Or if you have a nickname or stage name--or you want one--what's the story behind it?
I was born with a hereditary bone deformity with my right foot pointing backwards at the 5 o'clock position. The doctors told my parents that I would never be able to walk without braces and some sort of physical assistance for the remainder of my life. Fortunately my parents never told me any of this and I started walking at a normal age. This was long before technical advances in surgery so I had to wear metal leg braces at night (think young Forrest Gump) to pull my right foot towards a normal position. I had to wear orthotic Wingtip shoes until I was 14-years-old before I was allowed to wear normal street shoes. All this to say I didn't have an athletic bone in my body and I was the only kid in school that had a legitimate doctor's note prohibiting me from playing sports. The way I'm wired I was never really into sports anyway so I never got around to understanding the fundamentals of different sports.
Fast forward to 2000, my youngest daughter is in her first year of Peewee Co-ed Soccer. The team coach called me right before practice one day saying he couldn't make it and would I mind putting the kids through drills, plays and a practice game. Sheer terror enveloped me. I didn't have any clue whatsoever to do. After "drilling" the kids and bluffing my way through practice one of the young boys ran up to me as we're exiting the field and said "Coach Doug, you're the best coach ever!" Now if there are two words in the English language that should never be used together in the same sentence it's Coach . . . Doug. My family and close friends from time to time will call me Coach Doug to remind me that it may be the greatest title ever bestowed upon me.