Tom Stienstra

I found this website by accident, searching for a lost friend, and it led me here. As I looked it over, I realized from Garland to Jordan to Paly, and all the sports and classroom time, all those from other schools I played against, and the occasional shenanigans, that I do remember just about everybody here. To see those who have passed, so many I knew so well, it is both stunning and humbling.

My career is in the public eye, and if you're curious, a few people track what I'm up to and post the latest at Wikipedia, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Stienstra.

After Paly, I was working at the Beacon Station on El Camino in Menlo Park to help pay my way through college when a guy tried to kill me; hit me in the back of the head with a hatchet. In light of those who got cancer, heart attacks or fatal wrecks over the years, I guess I was lucky to make it. I wrote about it in the San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.sfchronicle.com/outdoors/article/Dog-at-your-side-peace-in-your-heart-10943245.php.

There was another story, several years ago, that went around the world, published in 8,000 outlets, where I was busted for pot. Truth is, I wasn't involved in the case at all and nothing came of it. If you remember me from the old days, drinking a beer was about as daring as it got. Plus as a pilot certified for high-power, complex aircraft, we get drug tested all the time.

One sidelight of the head injury is my memory is near-perfect, and I when I see a name, I remember the person who goes with it, and the interactions, no matter how passing or how little we were at the time.
[If anybody could provide me with any details how those passed, I would appreciate it.]

I do also appreciate your personal stories.

We swore not to tell, but Jon White, Walt Barrett (and I think, Mark Soltau, maybe Martin McComber once?) and me used to sneak into Jordan gym through the roof and then play basketball at night (I don't think we'd get in trouble for telling that one.) Yes, it was me who figured how to get the key copied with our own cutter, so we could get through the door on the roof.
The rest, well, I really can't tell!