Doug House:
CLASS OF 1973
Tascosa High SchoolClass of 1973
Amarillo, TX
Stephen F. Austin State University - EducationClass of 1979
Nacogdoches, TX
Texas Tech University SchoolClass of 1977
Lubbock, TX
Temple Junior CollegeClass of 1976
Temple, TX
Doug's Story
Life
I have many mixed memories of high school, of things I did and failed to do, some things that I am NOT proud of today, and of things that I am lucky to be alive today. I guess I had an angel watching out for me.
During the junior and senior year of high school, my Mom worked the graveyard shift at the hospital to earn a few extra dollars and my older siblings had already moved out of the house. That meant my curfew was before my Mom arrived home the next morning. Obviously I took advantage of that and did some pretty stupid things. I will not mention names of my cohorts, they know who they are.
Perhaps through destiny, I seemed to have a miracle Senior year on the baseball field which opend up the opportunity for college sports scholarships and the increased discipline that it involved. I played at Temple Jr. College for 2 years (approx. 120 games/yr) summers in Kansas (playing semi-pro ball (70 games) and then chose a full scholarship offer to Texas Tech. I also had offers from SW Texas State, Pan-American in Edinburg, Arizona, and a few others I don't remember. Although, I was successful at Tech, (set a pitching record my junior year and beat Univ of Texas), I was definitely NOT pro material. I did pitch against Ozzie Smith while in Kansas. He "owned" me.
I received my BS and earned a Graduate Assistantship to Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches for further studies. (Since I didn't know what I wanted to do with my ...Expand for more
life after baseball, it made sense at the time). Upon receiving my Masters Degree, my thesis director offered me three options. (1.) Get a PhD (I was sick of studying) (2.) Become a HS coach at a higher pay level. (3.) Move to Colorado and go skiing. I was young (26), didn't know how to ski, and had a low economic overhead (I think you business majors refer to it as liabilities). A month later (Sep. '79) I was living in Steamboat Springs Co. skiing 100 days/year for 7 years.
Why did I leave Co?. I was managing 3 health clubs and they went out of business. I thought more experience would land me a more secure job so I went to work in cardiac rehabilitation IN HOUSTON TX. Talk about CULTURE SHOCK!
To make things short(er), I "FELL IN LOVE" with the supervisor of the stress testing lab and I convinved her to be my wife 2 years later or to say it another way..."I married my boss and now she is my boss forever." Joan was divorced with a 2 y/o son named Ian. I am honored to be her husband, Ian's (now 18 y/o)step-father, and Andy's (11) father.
Today, I own my own personal training and exercise rehabilitation business, live in Houston next to the Texas Medical Center and enjoy watching my family grow. I'm still growing, or at least I hope so. Maybe, we'll make it up to big A for the reunion. If not, all the best to each of you who have plodded through this bio.
I will try to live life "deliberately" as H.D. Thoreau would say.
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