A huge part of my biography from age 13 to 20

I started delivering the Denver Post when I was 11 years old and in 6th grade at Cameron Elementary School. That was how I could afford to go with my friends to the skating rink.

I had learned to skate using the old steel wheel clip on skates that you needed a skate key to tighten to the sole of your shoes (back when shoes had soles). The first time I went to Warnoco with my friends I found out how real skates were made with wooden wheels and were used almost exclusively on wooden floor rinks. And that experience absolutely blew away everything I knew about skating up to that point.

It didn't take me long to realize that even with my generous income each month (about $20 to $35 on good months), I would not be able to afford this new hobby for long. That's when old man Norcross let me know that I could buy my own skates on a lay away plan and also purchase a season pass that would let me skate any time I wanted for a very reasonable price. I was hooked! My youngest sister also liked to skate so we ended up buying a season pass for both of us and made it a shared family time.

When my sister got her drivers license, she could drive us to the rink. Our mother loved to use our skating nights as an opportunity to get out of the house and come watch all the skaters whenever she could. It didn't take long for us to become a part of the skating community in Greeley. Every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday night we would almost certainly be found a the rink. Even on Sunday afternoons and evenings we could often be found there.

I can still remember the rotation of events that Jay Norcross held on those week nights. There were barrel races at around 8pm on Wednesday nights: they would bring out about 6 or 8 small wooden kegs with a skate on the bottom and a wooden horse head attached to the front of each that the skater would squat down to ride on and use scissor like skating strokes to push the whole thing around the rink. I could never do these - my knees just could not take it! (I have looked for a picture of them but can't find one - if anyone has a photo I would love to see it!)

On Friday nights they would set out orange cones to mark the 4 corners of an oval on the rink floor. Then Jay would sort the skaters into groups according to their abilities and ages to run single lap races around the rink floor. The winner of a race would get a ticket for a free soda at the refreshments counter.

On Saturday nights, starting around 7:30 Jay would open the smaller "practice" rink and bring out the hockey equipment and let us all choose up sides and play roller hockey with plastic sticks and balls. I learned later that Jay actually made and sold these sticks and balls to other rinks all around the world. He even let me help him make some one year.

Sundays were always set aside for Jay to introduce patrons to roller skate dancing - and he always had people eager to learn new dance moves. Every night was entertaining an enjoyable, for everyone in attendance!