Larry Quite Contrary

Nice article in the St. Pete Times about Seminole Heights resident and artist Larry Gagner.

Great opening lines:

Larry Gagner remembers the look on his teammates' faces when he showed up at Pittsburgh Steelers training camp in 1969.

All on account of two 48-inch fern stands.

Gagner, then a 6-foot-2, 255-pound offensive guard for the pro football team, had picked them up at an antique shop somewhere in North Carolina. He'd been driving to camp from Ormond Beach when he discovered the stands.

He just had to have them.

So he strapped them to the roof of his Porsche and continued on his way.

"I'll always remember it," he said. "Like two battering rams coming down the highway. I drive into camp several hours later and "Mean Joe" Greene is the first guy who catches a glimpse of me, and he about laughs me out of camp."

I can just imagine that scene.