Frank Workman: On Being 75

Frank Workman was a longtime LFP resident who moved to San Diego in 2017. For over a decade, he announced sporting events at Shoreline Stadium and the Shorecrest gym. In 2011, he was selected to receive Shorecrest's Heart of the Highlander Award for community service. In 2017, he was awarded The Golden Microphone. He still maintains close ties to many in our community.

Frank Workman reflects on the 4th Quarter of his life
Photo by Eyad Almasri

On Being 75

On Friday nights in the fall, when the scoreboard clock shows time has expired in the third period, high school football teams across the country will raise four fingers in the air, to acknowledge their anticipation and readiness to play the fourth quarter, with the game on the line in many cases.

I turned 75 on Sunday, and while it’s extremely presumptuous to think I’ll live to be a hundred, I’m clearly on the home stretch, my fourth quarter.

What do I make of it all, so far?

I believe if you’re going to take the class, you better learn the lesson.

I know if you gotta eat a bug, it doesn’t do any good to spend a long time looking at it. Speaking of eating….I’ve never had a bad piece of pie, a bad cookie, or bad barbecue (especially at Briley’s).

I know there are few better moments in life than when a child falls asleep in your arms or lap.

I’ve learned to appreciate what I’ve got, while I’ve got it, because things can, and do, change in a heartbeat.

I’ve learned the human body doesn’t improve with age. Father Time is undefeated. I sure can’t touch the rim or blast a tee shot 300 yards anymore (leaden legs and an inflexible torso are to blame) , but I don’t let what I can’t do keep me from doing what I can do. Brisk daily walks have had amazingly beneficial effects for me.

I’ve learned that the world is far better off, now that girls and women can play sports - an opportunity that my female peers were not afforded.

Kindness counts. Not just a lot. For everything.

I figured out along the way that sometimes the worst thing that could happen isn’t the worst thing to happen, after all. Worry is interest you pay on trouble before it happens.

I’ve learned that the old truisms have stood the test of time for a reason. ‘Honesty is the best policy’. ‘Never check an ace’ (thanks, Mom). ‘A walk is as good as a hit’. And ‘an excuse is just a lie wrapped up in … manure’.

Perhaps the lesson that’s stayed with me the longest was initially conveyed to me on the first day of school, fourth grade, in September of 1959.

Dear Mrs. Drew, who had lived through the Depression and lost her husband in WW II, wrote the following on the chalkboard, in perfect penmanship, and added the word ‘SAVE’ several times above and below it, signaling the janitor to not erase it. Every day we would all see the message.

It read ‘All that is needed for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing’. I’ve come to appreciate her words more than ever these last few years.

I’m going to get back to living. It’s late in the game, the clock is ticking, and time is running out. It’s the fourth quarter.