Throwback Thursday: Coach Marx from Thruston Elementary School [Photo]

Over the weekend, my friend Lana McLimore visited her mother's church here in Owensboro.  And look who she ran into.  Coach Marx!!  If you went to Thruston Elementary School, there are some things about Mr. Marx you definitely remember!

Who remembers . . .

Moving the cafeteria tables so we could have class inside?  Here, Kid.  You weigh 40 pounds.  Fold up this gigantic table and roll it over against the wall so you have room to do some jumping jacks. LOL!

Jump Rope for Heart??  Thruston Elementary School.  A Saturday morning.  Jumping rope to Irena Cara's "Fame" for hours and hours??  I am sure there were other songs on the playlist, but that one sticks with me for some reason.  I remember Coach Marx encouraging us to keep going when all we really wanted to was drop dead from exhaustion.

Kickball?  Who remembers walking to the back ball diamond for kickball??  Why didn't we play on the front field?  LOL!  Does anyone know?  Was it because there was a fence and the back diamond didn't have one?  I never understood that.  Maybe the long walk was our warm up.

The Presidential Fitness Awards!  Do you all remember those?  I remember a series of physical education drills we had to do to try and earn a certificate.  I remember sprinting, picking up a wood block, sprinting the other direction, putting it down, then sprinting to another block further down the gym and repeating the cycle.  I also remember that horrible wall climb with the pegs!!  You guys remember that?  It was on the right-hand wall of the Thruston gym.  I don't think any kid ever mastered that thing.  It was torture.

And what about the giant parachute???  Lana reminded me of that.  I only remember Mr. Marx getting that out on special occasions though. If my memory serves me correctly, we all wanted to play with that much more than we were allowed to.  But it was SO MUCH FUN!

And, Lana had another great memory about the playground.  Those dreaded balance beams!!  I remember Coach Marx trying to encourage us to master those.  There were three of them, right?  Each one a little further off the ground?  Some of us did master them.  Other kids were completely hopeless.

Good times!  I am so glad Lana shared that photo of Coach Marx on the Thruston Elementary School for Life Facebook page.  By the way, in case you all haven't joined that page, CLICK HERE!

And if you have other memories about gym class at Thruston, share them with us.