PAUL "PODGIE" THOMAS
By Frances Killpatrick
The Old Town Crier
http://www.oldtowncrier.com/0605/feature1.html
"Alexandria was a city of nicknames," said Paul "Podgie" Thomas,
explaining his own nickname and his comment on the changes in the city
over his long life here.
Sitting at a table in the Old Dominion Boat Club at the foot of King
Street where he has been a member 50 years, and where he spends most
afternoons watching people and the river, the 84-year-old Podgie
reflected on a life rich in friends, family and a lifelong love of
sports, a love that once made him the "Golden Voice of Polo."
Podgie got his nickname when he moved to Alexandria as a young boy. He
was a bit chubby, he said, and pudgy became Podgie. His brothers were
nicknamed Guinea (the family moved here from Guinea, Virginia) and
Huckleberry.
 "That's
one thing you don't have anymore," he said. "At one time, a group of
Boat Club members got together and came up with five pages of
nicknames."
A sociologist could expound in the latest jargon on the changes in
population demographics here, but Podgie's pungent comment also explains
the influx of upscale outlanders. Years ago, Alexandria was more of a
distinct entity, separate from Washington and where there was a definite
old boy network in politics and business life.
"Now Alexandria is people who have come here, loved it and decided to
stay," he said. "And the economic situation has grown bigger than we
used to be."
Podgie is hardly a man harping on the past. He is surrounded by friends
and always has been a people person. He doesn't look 84, if there is
such a thing with people living to be 100 every day. His voice is
strong, his handshake firm and warm. Not a big person, one can still
believe he was once an athlete who boxed, wrestled, played basketball
and football. A Virginia gentleman, his speech quickly marks him so the
minute he says "house" or "about."
His roots are good working people. He was born in Baltimore on Camden
Street, where his father worked on the railroad. Having moved to Guinea,
his dad was sent to Alexandria to work in Potomac Yards and never went
back. Podgie was raised, along with his brothers and sisters at 404 N.
Payne St.
"There wasn't much to do, we had to play in the yard, that sort of
thing," he said,
Then in 1936, when Podgie was 16, something happened that he calls a
"savior."
The Boys Club built a building across the street from his house.
"Every day, when I wasn't in school, I was at the Boys Club. I loved
it."
There were social advantages , he said, just as important. Perhaps
Podgie"s sociability can be partially traced to the Boys Club's policy
of bringing together boys from all parts of the city. Previously, he
knew only the kids in his neighborhood.
Two years ago, the Boys Club organization held a major banquet in
Washington. Podgie and his brother, Huck, (Guinea has died) were honored
as two of the original members of the Boys Club here. Podgie had to
speak.
"I said one thing I remember about the Boys Club was that when they
built it, they put in showers which we had never heard of. It was so
nice to get hot water out of something other than a bath tub. It got so
bad, the janitor had to turn off the water and run us out."
Podgie's military service during World War II involved water as well. He
served 40 months in the Coast Guard, but it's a story he laughs about.
He was based in Norfolk.
"I ended up in a boat that came up the river, and we tied up at Ford's
Landing. That was my tour of duty."
After that he went to Ben Franklin College in Washington, and after
graduation, worked at a D.C. hardware store and then went to work for
the federal government at "8 or 9 different places" for 32 years until
his retirement at 55.
He has had some kind of involvement with sports for most of his life.
Asked if he had any hobbies, Podgie said, "Sports was my hobby."
Besides participating in basketball and football as a youth, early on he
helped sponsor boxing matches, "Smokers", in the members-only room of
the boat club.
'I had four fights," he said, "Won three and lost one.
"We also had a place on Queen Street, where we fought in the back yard."
As far as money goes, Podgie was strictly an amateur, he says.
It was after retirement that he began many years of refereeing
basketball, "from high school through college," something he loved
doing.
His involvement with horses began because two of his daughters began
riding and continue to be involved. His daughter, Summers, buys and
sells horses and is a "wonderful riding teacher," according to her dad.
"I would be around, watching them practice," he said. "The guy that ran
the place said he had seen me there frequently, and I was now his polo
announcer. I told him I didn't know anything about polo, and he said
'You'll learn'."
He loved doing that, too. Matches were held at Woodlawn and Fort Belvoir
and in Washington. He became, he said, the "Golden Voice of Polo." He
announced local horse shows for a number of years as well.
His biggest satisfaction came when he announced a match between a team
from Richmond and a British Army team at the parade grounds in
Lexington, Kentucky. After the match, he and Alexandrian Tom Hulfish,
well known polo player and promoter, donned tuxedos and attended a
lavish dinner dance.
Podgie quit when he bought a house in Ocean City and weekends were taken
up there, but there is some regret in his voice about giving up his polo
chores.
Another racing memory involves standing next to legendary trainer Wayne
Lukas during a running of the Belmont Stakes. And he's not more than a
$2 betting man. "I hate to lose," he said.
Not surprisingly, Podgie keeps up with local pro teams. He finds the
advent of the Nationals "amazing," but has one caveat.
"So many people come to Washington from somewhere else with other team
loyalties," Podgie said, " if the Nationals aren't winners, I think
people will just quit coming."
And the Redskins? "If Joe Gibbs doesn't do something in the first five
games," he said, "he's out. But he's man enough to take it." He also
wonders if Gibbs' health could not only be a factor but also a dignified
out for him, from a game that has changed from the Glory Days.
Divorced (he says he has an "ex-wife and an ex-house"), Podgie has four
children and six grandchildren. "I love them all," he said. And divorce
has not kept him from his family -
"When you have children, you can't deviate"-- going often with Summers
if she is out on horse business.
Besides Summers, his daughters are Shasha in Ocean City, and Paula in
Seminole, Florida. His son, Sgt. Major Brandt Austin Thomas, just
returned to Iraq where he is assigned to military intelligence.
Podgie is a member of the Baptist Temple on Commonwealth Avenue.
And along the way, in 1994, "Just say I was the recipient of winnings in
the lottery."
Today he spends enviable days at the Boat Club.
"My routine is to get up sometime between eight and noon," he said, "and
I get to the Boat Club, have lunch and then I just sit and look. I love
to watch the river and I love to watch people. Sometime around 3:30 or
4, I head back to the ranch." That's what he calls the Paul Spring
Retirement Community where he has lived happily for the last six months.
There is a little more to it than that. He has quite a reputation as a
raconteur.
Friend Paul Rapchak finds Podgie "such a personable guy, always great to
be around." Another admirer, Hunter Jenkins, says, "He's full of
stories. Did he tell you the one about...........?"
Some of these same friends also take a libation or two up the street at
Landini's, a popular watering hole and one of Old Town's best
restaurants. Only, with tongue firmly in cheek, Podgie calls them
"Linguini's." He can do that since a Landini son went to school with one
of Podgie's daughters.
Former Boat Club president Harry Harrington said of Podgie, another
former president and also past president of The Sportsmen's Club, " At
times when we needed someone to guide this place, he stepped in and
helped. He has worked on a lot of things here and been a steady
influence."
A good life, it seems. At the end of this interview, he was asked if
there was anything else he should have been asked.
No, he said, "Just put - Don't forget Guinea, Podgie and Huck."
And outside the wide windows of the Boat Club, the beautiful Potomac
rolled on.
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