John Hudson:
CLASS OF 1968
Berkeley High SchoolClass of 1968
Berkeley, CA
University of California - BusinessClass of 1972
Berkeley, CA
John's Story
After BHS I went to Southern Oregon College where I destroyed my knee on the freshman football team. My parents moved to Tiburon. Unknown to me at the time, my father had terminal colon cancer. He died in June, 1969. I spent the next year at College of Marin. I transferred to Cal. I played on the JV rugby team ("Guanos") where I crossed paths with our late classmate, Kim Hayes, also on the Guanos. Kent Stewart, BHS '70(?) also showed up on the Guanos. The team gave me the nickname "Rugby" because the coach also had the surname of Hudson. (Miles R. "Doc" Hudson was a dentist. He is the only coach in any sport I have ever met who allowed his players to address him by his nickname.) Most of the first team and several, of the Guanos had full football scholarships. I was also silly enough to walk on to the football team. I got put on the scout team. I got to play with and against some really good athletes on both the football and rugby teams. I was tickled pink just to be on the same field with them. One, Loren Toews, played linebacker for the Pittsburg Steelers for nine seasons. I also got to bang heads with Sherman White, O. Z. White, Bob Kampa, and several others. Whenever I am hit up for a donation I tell them I already donated 15 points off my IQ as a human tackling dummy.
After graduating from Cal in 1972 I went through my hippie era. (I was turned upside down when I found out that everything my parents led me to believe about politics turned out to be a lie.) I started night law school at San Francisco Law School in 1978. I crossed paths with Kim Hayes again at San Francisco Law School. I passed the bar exam in 1982. Since then I have devoted myself to the exploration of the outer limits of our constitutional rights. I did not make a lot of money, but I haven't lost any weight and have had a lot of fun.
I moved to Rohnert Park in 1986 because I could afford to buy a house there. I have gathered a lot of moss since that time. I was surprised to discover how liberal Rohnert Park really is. As a touch of whimsey, Rohnert Park has a 50 foot long street named "No Name Street" because no houses front on it. It acutally has a street sign that says "No Name Street". Until 15 years ago there were no water meters in RP.
In 1990 I met Kathryn. We've been toget...Expand for more
her ever since. In 2002 our only child was born in Santa Rosa. We named him John Lee. Kathryn's middle name is Lee. My middle name is Francis after my mother. (The female version of Francis is spelled with an "e" instead of an "i".) If he had been a girl we would have named her Kathryn Frances. Shortly thereafter we bestowed my nickname from Cal, Rugby, on him. He is now known exclusively as "Rugby".
I never planned to die in Rohnert Park, however. In 2010 I acquired a badly abused place in Santa Cruz County that I am still working on. It is actually quite beautiful. (See photo) I plan to have it ready in 2016 when Rugby finishes his current school.
June 7, 2016: It has come to pass at last. Rugby has graduated from the 8th grade. (That's two more years of education than Jethro Bodine, Jed Clampett's nephew.) I have sold my house in Rohnert Park. We are going to move by the end of the month. Rugby is enrolled at San Lorenzo Valley High School. I can spend the rest of my life fishing in Monterey Bay. My ambition for this summer is to catch my first white sea bass.
10/24/2020: It's been one hell of a year. On April 23 I broke my arm doing something stupid, Specifically I could not get the top on one of our garbage cans. I climbed on top of the garbage can to let my weight tamp down the garbage. The can tipped over with my feet caught in it. I had to break my fall with my left arm to avoid hitting my head on a rock. I suffered a distal fracture of my left radius. I have regained the use of my left hand and arm except I still cannot make a fist with my left hand and there is residual weakness.
On August 20 the sheriff ordered us to evacuate because the fire that destroyed Big Basin State Park was moving toward us with 0% containment. I thought we would lose our house. We went to Rohnert Park because we have friends and family there. While we were gone the intrepid Ben Lomond Volunteer Fire Department cut a fire break on the west side of town and saved all the houses and businesses. (We live two miles east of the Ben Lomond fire station.) We had no damage. We spent our time evacuated visiting friends and family we had not seen in years. Our fire insurance paid for our hotel. I sure was glad to get back home. But God only knows what will happen next.
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