Moonstruck Memories

Nearly 50 years ago, I sat with members of the Maloney brood watching Lefty and Iona’s black and white television. Earlier that year, from the same location, I witnessed USC, which featured John McKay (a former Duck player and coach) and O.J Simpson, get stuffed by the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl.

On July 20, 1969, we all payed rapt attention as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended the ladder from the landing craft, “Eagle,” the first Earthlings to walk the lunar surface. The incredible moment achieved President John F. Kennedy’s bold prediction more than half a decade before. He was shortly after assassinated.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, was sure if the astronauts would ever come back. In their own minds, at least one pondered the grisly notion of a moon site grave. We all felt like participants in the heretofore ridiculous notion that humans could land on the moon, including people from around the world.

The effort was the culmination of eight years of intense labor that included a force of nearly a half a million workers at an astronomical cost that ran into billions of dollars (billion was a very big number in the ‘60s). A lot of things had to go exactly right to accomplish the unfathomable task at hand. In other words, no mistakes.

The moment lifted America’s spirits in what was otherwise a dismal and desperate time, with the Vietnam War, civil strife and other looming issues facing America. We all sat dumbfounded, then elated, when we heard Armstrong’s immortal words: “The Eagle has landed. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”