I was probably the opposite of a basketball player. However, since I spent a lot of time in Jadwin Gym from 1969 until 1973 – I was on the cross country, wrestling, and track teams – I got to know Pete. Just being near him would not mean that we would interact very much. However, besides being fanatical about working out, we did share something – we both had strong connections with Reading, Pennsylvania. He had coached high school basketball there, and my parents had just moved to Reading in 1969.
Spending a couple of summers working for the post office in Reading, I got to know a lot about the grittiness of the place. I don't recall how we started talking about that, but we did share lots of stories about that city. I am sure that Pete thought that I was a pretty mediocre athlete. I was, but in those days, mediocre athletes could participate on varsity teams, and I was pretty OK running marathons. He mentioned to me many times that doing marathons was crazy. But he did have a tiny bit of respect for my doing the Boston Marathon.