Beyond the Byline: Of egg salad, pimento cheese, oval spiced ham, Chucks and Skechers

WILKES-BARRE — Listening to ESPN radio a couple of weeks ago, Marty & McGee were talking about The Masters and Rory McIlroy’s stunning win.

But Marty Smith decided to inform listeners of another sensational story at the Augusta National Golf Club.

Smith reported that the most popular lunch item was a combo of half of an egg salad sandwich topped with half of a pimento cheese sandwich. Smith said he tried it and he described it as unbelievably delicious.

For some reason, this intrigued me, so I couldn’t wait to get to Gerrity’s in Wyoming to purchase some of their amazing egg salad and to also grab a tub of pimento cheese.

I couldn’t wait to get home and try this delicacy — spoiler alert! — it was, as Marty Smith said, absolutely delicious.

UPDATE! — I just bought some more of that egg salad and pimento cheese at Gerrity’s and I will have it today for lunch and dinner.

And this got me to thinking about sandwiches of my youth. A couple of years ago, while standing in line at the deli counter at Wegmans, a woman next to me ordered a half pound of oval spiced ham and my mind started churning.

In a split second, I was back to my grade-school days and coming home for lunch. I would sit on the right side of our couch, which had wooden arms, and wait for my mom to bring me the day’s delicacy.

More days than not — when tuna fish was not on special — it was a sandwich consisting of two slices of fresh white bread, a slice of cheese and, yes, a couple slices of oval spiced ham.

Sometimes mom added mayonnaise, other days it was mustard. And the sandwich was always accompanied by soup — my favorite was Campbell’s tomato soup with a splash of milk. And I usually dunked the sandwich in the soup.

To a 9-year-old kid, this was fine dining.

Some days, mom would serve up tuna fish sandwiches and a cup of tea. I preferred the tomato soup, but either way, I always dunked. Try it sometime before you criticize. And try potato pancakes with sour cream and jelly — mmmmm.

Yes, I did purchase some oval spiced ham and I made a sandwich and I dunked it as well.

When I made it to 9th grade. I had the honor of playing for Coach John “Snoggy” Mergo, a Plymouth legend. Coach knew his basketball, football and baseball, and his teams won may titles over the years.

Anyway, back in those days, the right of passage for a member of the Plymouth High School Shawnee Indians basketball team was making the varsity. And with that, each player received a pair of Converse Chuck Taylor sneakers. In this era, a pair of “Chucks” meant you were a player.

So it was a Friday afternoon practice when Coach Mergo called me over and told me to go downstairs to the locker room to see one of the team managers.

I went down and it was then that I discovered I was to receive my first pair of school-issued Chuck Taylor Converse All-Star sneakers.

I was overwhelmed. I couldn’t even speak when I was asked what size I took. I had to go to the water fountain to take a drink.

“A 10, I think,” I said.

The manager gave me a box and I sat down and opened it to see those glorious Chucks. I laced them up and put them on, tossing aside my U.S. Keds. I thanked the manager and I ran up the steps and returned to practice.

Those sneakers felt so good on my feet — I was sure they had some sort of power that would improve my game beyond all expectations.

Not really. I mean, I was still taller than most of the other kids, so I could still put the ball in the basket without much of a problem. The new Chucks really didn’t make much of a difference.

Except that I felt I was more a part of the team — the entire team — 9th graders, JVs and varsity.

All of these wonderful memories came rushing back one day years ago when I was standing in that supermarket deli line when that woman ordered that half-pound of oval spiced ham.

Today it’s an egg salad and pimento cheese sandwich — and I’m wearing Skechers.