CAROLINE'S CORNER: GATOR AS GUEST

The recent visit of the Harlem Globetrotters to the Show-Me Center brought back memories of my family's adventure with Gator, who was a member of the Globetrotter team in the early 1980s.

We lived in Alabama and we took our young daughters and their friends to Huntsville to see the famous team. Since Cara was really into basketball, we stayed around after the game to try to get autographs.

We stood in line for ages, the stadium cleared, and the team left. We were standing in line with no autographs and a disappointed little girl.

As we walked out of the stadium, I saw the team bus leave. Then I noticed Gator, one of the players, leaving the stadium and looking for the bus.

"Hey, Gator," I yelled. "The bus just left. Would you like a ride to the Hilton?"

"Who you with?" he asked.

"I am with my family," I said. "See, they are right behind me."

I turned around to point to my companions, and they had vanished into the darkness without a trace. They had realized that Mama was about to carry out another one of her embarrassing acts, and they had scattered hither and yon.

Evidently Gator thought I was just another erring sister trying to make his acquaintance, and he did not wish to get involved.

I knew the family would eventually be proud of me and remember the night forever, so I persisted.

"See," I said, "There they are, getting into that gray car." I pointed to the lone car left on that side of the stadium.

"Okay, I'd appreciate a ride," Gator said.

When Gator and I arrived at the car, I said, grinning from ear to ear, "This is Gator. I believe you have seen him before. He needs a ride to the Hilton."

Mouths agape, the young people who had just fled from their mama in embarrassment scrambled to make room for Gator.

It did not take long for Boulware and Gator to establish common roots in south Georgia, the land of swamps, alligators and boiled peanuts. As they chatted about people they knew in Woodbine and Cordele, Gator autographed whatever slips of paper the girls could find for him to sign.

As we dropped Gator off at the Hilton, he yelled back to us, "See y'all in Georgia sometime, ya heah?"

Gator the Georgia Globetrotter is retired now, and the Simpson family still has a knack for vanishing when Mama starts to get into a potentially embarrassing situation. They know how to come out of the woodwork for the excitement.

They still say, "Remember the time Mama picked up Gator in the parking lot?"