The Gracke, still going strong

[lookout123]

Chad Pregracke

Chad's dad was one of our high school teachers and Chad was a typical teacher's kid. He was kind of a partier, jock, sort of popular kind of guy. As all the jocks were known by nicknames, his was just simply "The Gracke" - not especially creative, but what do you expect from a bunch of pothead jocks.

Anyway, when I heard he was working on the Mississippi near his parents' old house, I just figured it was his attempt at avoiding adulthood while retaining some vestige of respectability. Float on the river, smoke some weed, pick up some trash...

I lost track of everybody from high school a long time ago, so i didn't really think anything of Chad's little hobby. Then a couple of years ago, I picked up a national magazine (I think it was Time) and saw this blurb about a guy dedicated to taking care of the Mississippi river. My jaw dropped when I realized it was Chad and he was really taking the hobby seriously and now getting national recognition.

Well, here it is 2005 and he is still going strong. I am impressed and happy that he is still doing this. It is a long way from being the gym teacher (or something similar) that I always figured he would end up being.