Randy Smith: Sledding On Roosevelt Avenue

  • Wednesday, February 24, 2021
  • Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Randy Smith
Each time the "S" word comes up in the weather forecast, I tend to get a little excited. It's the kid in me I imagine.....the same kid that would go downstairs to his basement and get his trusty sled out and clean it off some 60 years ago in anticipation of the coming snow event. Growing up in Nashville or actually Madison, Tn., in the 1950s and 60s we got a lot more snow back then than they do now, especially here in Chattanooga. It's almost as if Chattanooga is cursed by that snow dome that hovers over our fair city whenever snow approaches.
I know you've seen it. Snow and ice to the west, and snow and ice to the east, but just rain over us. It happens every time.

Anyway, when I was a kid, the ritual was always the same. Get your sled ready and when the snow covers the street in the morning hit the slopes. Whenever the first kid in the neighborhood would start his descent down Roosevelt Avenue, others would join in and before long there were as many as a dozen kids going up and down the street. While we were reaching peak speeds on our sleds, the snow would continue to fall and after a few trips down the street, certain competitions would evolve. Like sled racing, first with just one person on a sled, then as many as two or three piled on top of each other. Those races would ultimately wind up in crashes about halfway down, or even worse, sled wrecks that would wind up in a neighbor's turkey pen where there were always plenty of rotten turkey eggs to throw at each other. And when we ran out of rotten turkey eggs, we would throw snowballs at each other.

One year someone got the bright idea to ride his bicycle down the street on the snow and ice and needless to say that someone was lucky not have a broken arm or leg or worse. We always had a great plan to keep things as safe as possible. We would station someone at the intersection of Brooks Avenue and Roosevelt to watch for approaching vehicles, though when the snow was heavy enough there were few cars passing through.

After a couple of hours of sledding, we would return to our homes to warm up a bit and, if we were fortunate enough, have a cup of hot chocolate. Then after a half hour or so, we would bundle up again and head to the front yard to build a snowman. Then when we got tired of that, we would grab our sleds and head back up to the top of Roosevelt Avenue to begin the whole process once again. 

I feel sorry for people who never got to experience snow days like that. I know that with the changing climate snow events like the ones we used to have in Madison, Tennessee are few and far between. While we were sitting and watching the cold rain here in Chattanooga last week, folks in Nashville and Madison were getting snowed in. I hope youngsters up there were able to sled, build snowmen, and have snowball fights as well as eat fresh snow cream. Memories like those are absolutely beautiful.    

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Randy Smith can be reached at rsmithsports@epbfi.com
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