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really preferred Math and Science. He surprised our parents, announcing
his decision to be an electrical engineer, but they were supportive.
He turned down the scholarship and instead attended CCNY.
“Because,” he says, “I thought then that the violin was good for my
avocation, not my vocation. With so many brilliant musicians then, you
really had to know somebody to get anywhere in that world. It’ s not like
YouTube today.” While at CCNY, he played with a square dance group
and became Official Fiddler for the New York/New Jersey Square Dance
Callers Association. He learned that a caller earned twice as much as he
did, so he put down his fiddle and took up calling square dances. He was
also captain of the varsity boxing team.
George went to the University of Michigan for his Master’ s Degree.
Our mother insisted—-and to please her-—he mailed his laundry home in a
light aluminum case she had purchased for that specific purpose. To pay
for his tuition, basement apartment and other expenses, he got a teaching
fellowship, was a research assistant, sold programs at football games, and
bussed tables at a local restaurant, which he quit when the table he
cleared was occupied by fellow students.
He won the all-campus boxing championship, but had to fight in a
heavier weight class since no one else weighed as little as he did. “Being a
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