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MY PODUNK HISTORY
the Beginning to Podunk.com
Thirty years ago today Podunk.com was born... okay, there weren’t any .coms thirty years ago, but the podunk.com of today got it's springboard beginning on the night of October 13-14th, 1979.
The scene was a farm house, the kitchen of John and Ester Gowan in Brooktondale, New York. I had been asked to patch a hole in the ceiling made by an errant footstep while they were repairing the bed room floor above. As I was working elsewhere that day, my arrival was well after dinner. The plan was for me to stay late to cut out the "affected" area, nail up a sheet rock patch, tape and spackle, and hang around long enough to get it painted.
All went well, and it was a nice workman’s holiday visiting with old friends. Ester retired first, after which John sat in his easy chair beside the old wood stove, and we both listened to the World Series on the radio. It was a Saturday night and the National League's Pittsburgh Pirates were hosting the American League's Baltimore Orioles at Three Rivers Stadium. It was Game 4, and the Orioles led the series 2-1, but after a scoreless 7th inning, with the Pirates leading 6-3, John went to bed.
During the 7th inning stretch, I took a break and made a cup of herb tea and sat beside the stove. Next to the chair was an overflowing kindling box, from which a few newspapers and magazines had spilled out onto the floor. As the Pirates took the field at the top of the 8th, an article in a Newsweek caught my eye. It was about the success a sporting goods store in northern Iowa, was having selling things from a make-believe university. At the time I was living in Trumanburg, New York, just a stone’s throw from a little hamlet known as Podunk.
So, while the Orioles lit up the scoreboard in the 8th with a six run rally*, my imagination became equally energized about a Podunk University novelty company. Within the week, I had linked up with a graphic artist and the first Podunk University t-shirts were being silk-screened.
In the early 1980's, I hand carried a twenty page screenplay treatment and an XL Podunk-tee into the Osmond studios in Orem, Utah. The story department and the producer I spoke with, were all delighted at the project's "comedic universality." Sadly, I don’t think any of them knew they would all be out of work the next day... (no harm, no foul, but always felt they owed me $7 for the t-shirt!)
HAPPY 30TH ANNIVERSARY
William Stephen Fletcher
October 14th, 1979. Provo, Utah
* It should be noted that Orioles won the 4th game, 9-6, but that was the last game they would win that year, and the Pirates swept the rest of the series to become 1979 World Champions....
*****
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