1 Attachment(s)
Ted May Boat Racer, Mentor to Many!
<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->The old Hell Cat, Ted May. Ted joined the Navy, December 1st, 1941... Spent 5 years and seven months on a Navy ship in the War Zone of the Pacific....at least that's what he said...I do know he was in the Navy in the Pacific... I do know he came back from the war and played football for the Navy's team.
I do know that he played quarterback for Manual Arts High for 7 years... they won the state Championships 7 years in a row, but in 1941, California passed a law you couldn't be over 21 and play high school football, so in '41, after his 21st birthday he joined the Navy..
He started boat racing the same year I did, 1955, I was 11, Ted was 34, we got along like brothers always. Ted was a teacher!!!
This picture hangs on Bill Curtis's wall. it is signed The Hellcat 54 Ted May.
This is Ted's old Molinari...many people in Southern California believed that Ted's trailer was welded to his truck, because you never saw the truck and boat separated...He was seen all the time going down the FREEWAYS...
Ted's belief, if you did 90 per cent of your boating NOT racing, you only had a 10% chance of breaking in the race...
Ted would co-drive with me at Parker, maybe run two hours, when the race was over and I got some prize money, I'd pay Ted by the hour...He loved it!!!!
<!-- / message --><!-- attachments -->
<fieldset class="fieldset"><legend>
</legend></fieldset>
Ted May was Everything to "US" Kids...
Ted played High School football until he was 21. He played quarterback for Manual Arts High. Seven years in a row they were State Champions. Ted would quit school after the championships, then return in the fall. In 1941, California passed a law that you couldn't be over 21 and go to high school, so, in November 1941, Ted turned 21. He left high school and joined the Navy.
He was in the Pacific 5 years and two months....At least that is what he told me. He said, he once won 200 insurance policies from guys on a ship, only to have the ship sank by the Japanese... Ted was one of the oldest on his different ships so, he was assigned shore patrol. Ted said he use to make so much money on shore patrol, he'd send cigar boxes full of money home...He told us he buried Japanese soldiers on many islands after major invasions....He had pictures to prove it...
Most of us, Ernie Dawe, Jimbo, Steve Cox, Val Snead, Mike Wetmore, Bill Boyes....Never knew if any of Ted's stories were true, but we did know he didn't work and seemed to have plenty of money....He never really left HIGH SCHOOL.
Ted came to more of my High School football games than my dad...Ted taught us guys, that the world was tough and it could kill you in a minute. He said, "Trust me, drugs will kill you...don't ever even take one hit" His brother had been murdered by some guys he met in a bar. As a result, Ted drank very little and watched out for US KIDS, like he was the mother hen, if we were drinking. We didn't need mom around, Ted kept us inline. When we were kids, we thought he was a handsome SOB....and he was.
More later.