I was going through some local archives today and stumbled on a 1979 story about the closing of the old YMCA downtown. It was a serious piece noting the loss of an institution that had brought many a man together for intellectual exchanges. But even that can be sullied by a dirty mind . Here’s my favorite outtakes from the story.
“Some of Charleston’s knottiest problems were resolved in the health club’s steam room, shower stalls and exercise room. Politicians, businessmen, ministers, educators, tradesmen, salesmen, artists, media people and physicians joined together for a close-knit brotherhood of sweaty exercise both physical and verbal.”
“Several years ago Sen. Strom Thurmond showed up at the health club one Saturday afternoon. Members of the club marveled at his physique.”
“A long-time member of the Health Club once remarked that, ‘It is much easier to dislike a man who has clothes on than it is to dislike a man who is naked.’” (I’m not sure, but I think we just found the missing verse to “YMCA”)
“Many a wife in the Charleston area is indebted to the health club for that ‘attitude adjustment’ hour that changed her husband from a man who was mentally and physically tired at the end of the workday into a man who came home with a smile on his face, ready for a lively evening with her and the family.”
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