Northampton was lucky to have Jim Lindenmoyer

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

I've often thought that it's a shame every school in the Lehigh Valley, or even District 11, didn't have a Jim Lindenmoyer to care about them the way Jim cared about Northampton.

Lindenmoyer, who died earlier this week at the age of 65, served as the statistician and historian for Northampton High School sports throughout most of his adult life.

If there was a K-Kid record to be broken, Jim knew it and let us in the media know about it so we could provide proper recognition.

He loved being a part of the sports scene, loved being around the kids, and loved to promote all things Northampton. I don't know if he worked for the Blue Mountain Gazette as much as he became the Blue Mountain Gazette, at least from my perspective.

Jim was confined to a wheelchair at the age of 15, part of his ongoing battle with cerebral palsy.

But Jim never let cerebral palsy or anything else deter him from his mission to know more about Northampton High School sports than anyone else on the planet.

Serving the Northampton kids became his life's mission, his passion.

Everyone knew that when you went to a Northampton event, Jim would be there. 

In fact, when I thought of Northampton, I probably thought of Jim as much as I thought of Mike Schneider and all of the other coaching and athletic icons in that community. He was as much a part of Northampton to me as the still fabulous Roxy Theater.

It was quite fitting that Jim was inducted into Northampton's athletic Hall of Fame in 2011.

I expect a large crowd at his viewing tonight at his church, St. Paul's UCC in Northampton.

Northampton has always been special to me because my late grandmother, Margaret, grew up there.

She was a member of the class of 1934 and although a few years older, she knew Jim's mother, Harriet.

Harriet was a spunky lady, one of Northampton's biggest fans. She gave me the business whenever she thought I had slighted her school, and that seemed to be often.

Jim and Harriet were fixtures at Konkrete Kids games until she died in 2009.

Now, they will be together again and if there's a special section in heaven for Northampton fans, you can bet that Jim and Harriet will be in the first row, wearing their orange and black and cheering on the K-Kids.

As a tribute to Jim, here's the story I wrote about him in March of 1988: Download M2614323: