More Memories of James Deen

Charles Elkins, a former coach and teacher at Temple High School, sent me his own memory of frog hunting with music teacher James Deen:
JD (Lynch) went frog hunting on the many farm ponds around Temple and gave a big "banquet" each fall together with the FFA teachers who supplied the "mountain oysters". A great get-together for all the boys and the rest of us who liked "delicacies." James Deen often went with us on these night expeditions. If you remember James, he was not what you'd call "athletic". In fact, he was a little on the fat side. This description is to set up this story.
One night James was with several of us who were out frog hunting when we approached a large dam with small streams of water running around the dam and spilling down the sides, making it necessary to jump the six or seven foot wide streams in order to reach the pond..Most of us had lights and had no problem leaping across the mud and water. For James, however, the jump was another story. He recognized the difficulty and called for all of us to shine our lights on the place where his great leap would take place, consequently, all spotlights were on the somewhat nonathletic band director as his takeoff foot slipped as he attempted the jump and he accidentally dived into the slime! As sympathetic as we all were for James, all of us nearly died laughing. James was such a good sport, but threatened to kill any us who reported the "great leap of faith". As I remember this, I still can't keep from laughing out loud.