
While growing up in Philly in the ’70s and being an avid Flyers fan. I played in many hockey leagues as a youth and young adult. While attending Archbishop High school. I was playing in a roller hockey league in ’77/’78, when I was struck in the mouth by an errant hockey stick. This caused my front tooth to be cracked in half. After some extensive dentistry, a crown was placed over the cracked tooth. In 2015, the original root had cracked and I was fitted with a temporary “Flipper” which I wore in my mouth for the last six months. That flipper was misplaced quite a few times in those six months, including one time while on a trip to Lowell MA while on official Police business. Lastly, it was lost just a week before the permanent implant was to be inserted while on a weekend in Jim Thorpe, PA along with a group of friends. We were biking along the Lehigh River Gorge when I stopped to take a break and eat a protein bar. I placed the Flipper into my jacket pocket. Then, while traveling down the bike path, I realized that the false tooth was missing. I doubled back 1.5 miles along the trail, to the exact location where I had stopped for photos and a snack and, very fortunate for me, I found in the grass this, my flipper, which had become a part of me for the last six months of my life. I gave “him” the nickname “Snaggletooth” I hope this makes it into your Shadow box…..