General Yeager had a great singing voice, too.
He would sing along with Jim Ed Brown to one of “our” songs: “Doggone My Soul, How I Love Them Old Songs.”
And I ran across a youtube video of General Yeager and Carol Burnett singing Auld Lang Syne to Jimmy Stewart at the Kennedy Center honoring Jimmy Stewart.
One year, around 2003, we stayed in a friend’s condo on the Big Island of Hawaii. We would go to the attached hotel now and again for a virgin pina colada with ice cream or maybe for a walk.
While hiking along the coastal trail, we ran into a football coach who knew General Yeager and he invited us to the Nike gathering that evening on the beach. Nike had brought 30 of the top college football coaches to Hawaii, presumably to sell some shoes.
I thanked the coach. In true, Gen Yeager fashion, he said, “We’ll see.” He didn’t want any fanfare if we did show up.
We continued on and eventually cut across the lawn where a man was practicing his fly-fishing technique on the grass. I asked, “Would you like a lesson from General Chuck Yeager?” The guy laughed. Then he looked at the man standing next to me observing and started stuttering. GCY gave him a few pointers, but again, true to form, GCY told the man, “No one can teach you. You have to practice and learn on your own.”
I think the fellow’s grandchildren and great grandchildren will hear this story. “There I was, standing on the grass, practicing my throw with the fly rod, when General Chuck Yeager shows up……and gives me some pointers.” It is a fish story so it might become bigger and bigger.
That evening we did show up to the beach party. The coach asked if GCY would like to sing karaoke. At first, GCY said no but then after we ate a little, he acquiesced.
He got up with another guy – another coach, I think – and they started singing that exceedingly long song, “American Pie”. All the coaches, their families, and Nike employees were thoroughly enjoying this and pleasantly surprised how good a singer GCY was.
I was standing next to Phil Knight, the CEO at the time. He turned to me, big smile, and said, “You, two, are welcome to any of our events here, any time.”
I replied, “But we don’t have the right shoes!”
He laughed and later someone asked our sizes, and some Nikes appeared the next day.
When GCY finished singing, I went up to the stage to make sure we didn’t lose each other. What I saw was….no words on the machine. I asked about it and the fellow with GCY announced:
“Just so you know, the graphics quit working at the start of the song. General Chuck Yeager sang the entire song from memory.”
Wow!
I was glad we were included, even though GCY had had to sing for his supper, literally, because one night, we could not get a reservation at the hotel restaurant…because Nike had every table. Fortunately, Nike found two seats for us next to Phil. So glad we weren’t going to starve.