By Sonja Barisic
Every Wednesday at noon, a quaint restaurant in Virginia Beach, Virginia, buzzes with the chatter and laughter of a group of Old Dominion University alumni who have carved out this time to keep their decades-long friendship thriving.
The core group is David Willett ’74, a former schoolteacher; Billy Goodson Jr. ’71, who was an insurance agent; and Jim Witcher ’75, who retired as manager of an electrical installation and repair company.
“It’s great to have old friends,” Willett said. “I miss my college days. I had a wonderful, wonderful time. And when we get together, it’s like the old days.”
Their camaraderie is evident as they settle into their usual spot in the back of Gus and George’s Spaghetti and Steak House, sporting their fraternity pins and graduation rings.
Over meatloaf, chicken kebabs, baked potatoes and other comfort foods, they browse old yearbooks and athletic programs. They talk about sports — a lot — as well as Major League Baseball. They reminisce about memorable events, such as when a cooker blew up during a fraternity house pig-picking party.
And they rib each other.
Willett jokingly introduced Goodson to a guest at the table as “my parole officer.”
Asked why it’s important for them to keep getting together, Witcher quipped, “We’re bored. We’re retired. We’ve got nothing else to do. I don’t even like these guys,” which sparked laughter among the group.
“Obviously, we have mutual interests,” Willett added more seriously. “Plus, I enjoy their company.”
As members of different fraternities, they were initially more rivals than friends. Willett was in Kappa Alpha, Goodson in Sigma Nu and Witcher in Tau Kappa Epsilon. They met at fraternity parties and faced off as opponents while playing intramural basketball and softball. Afterward, they drank beer together.
All also were big sports fans — and remain so. As students, they went to all the basketball games. Now they are season ticket holders for both Monarch basketball and football games.
Witcher and Goodson are also members of the Old Dominion Athletic Foundation, and from 1972 to 1986, Willett worked part-time for the athletic department, typing play[1]by-plays of basketball games as they happened.
In the ’70s and ’80s, the friends belonged to an booster club, the East Main Street
Social Club, that met at restaurant on Norfolk’s East Main Street after basketball games.
They began having weekly lunches once they all retired, 20 or so years ago. They can’t quite recall how the idea started. They initially gathered at a Surf Rider. When that location closed, they tried a couple other restaurants before landing on Gus and George’s, where the food is good and reasonably priced — and their regular server knows them by name.
Originally six members, the group now honors the memory of departed friends George Felts ’72, and Ira Erwin and Warren Perkins, both devoted Monarch season ticket holders.
They’ve also opened the lunch to neighbors who are not grads. “We don’t hold it against them,” Willett joked.
The trio’s Monarch ties run deep. They often tailgate at Monarch sporting events and gather for hot dogs at Perfectly Frank on Monarch Way before basketball games.
Family connections to also abound. Willett’s daughter, Brantley Willett, earned a master’s degree at the University in 2010. Goodson’s son, Billy Goodson III, graduated in 2005. Witcher’s wife, Marsha Smith Witcher, earned her degree in 1974.
“We bleed blue blood,” Goodson declared.
As lunch ended and the men parted ways, driving off in cars with vanity plates, they looked forward to their next Wednesday lunch.
Same time, same place.
