I remember my childhood days as a student at Tennyson Upper Grade Center. Without question my favorite teachers were Mr. John Whiting and Mr. Richard Benson. Mr. Whiting was our basketball coach who also served as a youth director at "Midwest Boys Club" (now known as "Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Boys Club") on Sacramento and Washington Blvd. The "Tennyson Tigers" were the talk of Westside when it came to elememtary school basketball. A few of the "playground legends" who attended Tennyson and played for Mr. Whiting were Paul Jefferson and his twin brothers Edwin and Irvin Jefferson, James Sweeney, Joe Mason, Euriel Gee, James Harmon, Emmett Collier, and Nate Williams. Nate was an "All-Area" and "All-State" performer at Crane High School. He also played for the University of Illinois at Champaign and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls. On various weekends, Mr. Whiting would host a "sleep-in" at the Club and we would spend the entire night playing basketball, ping-pong, and shooting pool. The mother of the Jefferson boys was Mrs. Nancy Jefferson a civil rights activist on the Westside who took great interest in the youth of the community. She was instrumental in helping to get Harold Washington elected as the first African American Mayor of Chicago. The Midwest Post Office located on Madison and Monroe was renamed in her honor along with Washington Blvd; an elememtary school is also named after her. She was truly a "Great Lady" and one of the finest persons I've ever met in my entire life. Everybody on the Westside knew  and respected "Mrs. Nancy." Mr. Benson was my English teacher at Tennyson who taught many of us how to play chess. We would hold tournaments in his classroom after school and he never failed to assist us in every way that he could. Finally, I remember Tennyson because of our eighth grade prom. It was held at Garfield Park in the "Golden Dome" and it was then that I met my "first love" Brenda Collins. After the prom we went to the old "Riverview Amusement Park" which was then located on Western and Belmont Avenues. Brenda was my "dream girl" and I thought I would never love another like I loved her...