Meet (Old) Joe Black

I once did a column where I interviewed a much younger Joe Black.  Today, I get to interview Old Joe Black (OJB) at 90.

JB:  Ninety.  Did you think you would make it this far?

OJB:  Actually I did.  When my dad had his first heart attack, I dedicated my life to living long and living well.

JB:  About that living well thing, how has it worked out for you?

OJB:  I don't know...I'm still around.  Can't hear worth squat.  I do lose my keys about every other day but then my daughter thinks I shouldn't be driving anyway.  Especially not on my motorcycle.

JB:  Speaking of that, are you still on the bicycle?

OJB:  Oh yeah.  Still out there with Steve and Emil although we can't keep up with Kadena and Maysoun anymore.  They're only in their 60's. 

JB:  When your own kids were growing up, you coached pretty much everything.  I always thought you would coach your grandkids.

OJB:  Well, I realized that was a parent's job.  Or maybe it was that I realized that the lessons that a parent can learn from coaching other kids is too valuable for my kids to pass up.  Or maybe it was something else. I forget.  I do that a lot lately. Forget things, I mean.

JB:  You used to play basketball all the time.  Ever shoot hoops anymore?

OJB:  Shot free throws just last week.  I won't tell you how many I hit (mainly because I can't remember).  I thought it was pretty cool that David Marsh's great-granddaughter just took over the girls basketball program at Alcoa. Always a Marsh. 

JB:  What about your diet?  Still on that low carbohydrate thing?

OJB:  Absolutely.    It's part of the reason I'm still here.  Although my Benton's Bacon intake has gone up.  Three mornings a week, like clockwork.  Allan Benton is still the king.

JB:  What about our grandkids?

OJB:  They're all out there in the real world.  One's a doctor.  One's a lawyer.  We've got one still racing motorcycles.   I think he's going to end up as a stuntman. The artist is still trying to decide whether to paint or design clothes.  More money in the latter, I think.   I'm pretty sure there's a CEO in one's future.  And then there's the one in the NFL.  Randall Cobb is his coach, you know.

JB: I didn't know that.

OJB:  Yeah, they won the Super Bowl last year. 

JB:  What would you have done differently?

OJB:   I wish I had taken up fly fishing earlier.  I really enjoy that.  Rusty  Humphreys got me into it way back in 2015. 

JB:  Any regrets?

OJB: Well...there was the time that...well, not really.  But then there was the time that...no, didn't really regret that either.  Nope.  No regrets.