In 1978, we ventured to Providence, R.I. for the Matadors' Invitational. One of the geniuses up there thought it would be a GREAT idea to hold it indoors at the Providence Civic Center rather than at the, shall we say, "atmospheric", old high school field where it traditionally was held.
Corps had a great rehearsal and, IIRC, was riding the crest of a winning streak since dropping the very first show of that year to Sky. While we were taking showers after practice, Freddie Stone comes strolling out of the stalls, completely covered in soap suds and holding his hands to the back of his head (a la Ralph Kramden after he falls down the stairs on "The Honeymooners" episode where he and Norton chip in for a t.v. set.)
Freddie claimed to have slipped and fallen, hitting the back of his head on the tile floor, and now did not know who he was.
Freddie was quite a kidder, and since no one actually witnessed it, we thought he was having a little fun with us by feigning amnesia. He did manage to get dressed by himself--in spite of having a little trouble figuring out what the dickie was for, and even warmed up (on cases) inside the arena before the show. So while he may not have known who he was, or why he was in God-forsaken Providence, Rhode Island wearing a Sunrisers uniform, he DID remember his parts, apparently.
I can remember sneaking peeks at him during the performance that night, just waiting for him to make like one of the overweight guys from Sky or Reilly who used to drop like ship anchors at any given Dream Contest. But, aside from having this weird, gaped-mouth look on his face--almost as if he was surprised to be making such nice sounds on his triples set-- Freddie did us proud, finishing the show with no problems and hitting every mark in the drill--even though it was compressed so much because of the small dimensions of the arena, it was like trying to go a safe 80mph on the Belt Parkway in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
We won the show that night--in fact, we won all THREE of the indoor competitions we were in during the 1977-78 seasons (two at Madison Square Garden, and the one in Rhode Island), and had ample opportunity to savor the victory due to a bus breaking down outside the arena. We partied until around 4am and some of us used the time wisely: tormenting Fred with false stories about his life and times. He eventually came around, though, and was back to being just old Fred by next rehearsal.
Of course, somewhere deep in his subconcious he thinks he was fathered by 1950's "B"-movie actor Steve Reeves("Hercules"), and can speak fluent Urdu when the occasion arises.
Scott Yaniga: Sunrisers Bass line, 1977-78
