By John ‘Butch’ Dale
Guest Columnist

John ‘Butch’ Dale’s school photo from 1959-1960 school year.

Yes, I admit it. I am a cereal nut case. It all started back in the 1950s when I was a little whippersnapper.

I started playing summer baseball and I wanted to be a champion … so all I needed to do was eat Wheaties, “the breakfast of champions!” Bob Richards, an Olympic champion pole vaulter, was on the front of the box, so that was proof enough.

I ate Wheaties for breakfast. I took Wheaties in a Tupperware container for my school lunch (and purchased milk at school). I ate Wheaties as a snack before bedtime. I poured mounds of sugar on each serving … for extra energy of course.

As I grew older and watched more TV, I discovered that there were all kinds of cereal for kids. The heck with Wheaties, I wanted the ones that had the most sugar content … such as Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes (“They’rre Great!”) … Sugar Corn Pops (“Gotta have my pops!”) and … Sugar Crisp (“Can’t get enough of that Sugar Crisp”).

My mother kept trying to buy me cereals that had less sugar, such as Rice Krispies (“Snap, crackle, pop), Raisin Bran (“Two scoops of plump, juicy raisins”), Kix (“Kid tested, mother approved”), Cheerios (“Go with the goodness of Cheerios”), and Puffed Rice (“the cereal shot from guns”). I ate those cereals, but always managed to heap plenty of sugar on top, so she eventually gave up and purchased the pre-sweetened brands.

Through the years, I believe I have eaten just about every brand of cereal. Here is a list of the ones I can recall: Fruity Pebbles (“Rocks your whole mouth”), Honey Nut Cheerios (“Bee happy, bee healthy”), Life (“He likes it! Hey Mikey!”), Lucky Charms (“They’re magically delicious”), Alpha-Bits (“They’re A-B-C delicious”), Trix (“Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids”), Quisp (“Quisp for Quazy energy”), Fruit Loops (“Follow my nose, it always knows”), Honey Nut Cheerios (“It’s a honey of an O”), Apple Jacks (“A is for apple, J is for jacks”), Nut & Honey Crunch (“What are you eating? Nutin’ Honey”), and Golden Grahams (“So happy together!”).

John ‘Butch’ Dale

I did try Cocoa Puffs, but I was not “cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs” like they claimed I would be.

At one point in time, I became obsessed with eating Captain Crunch, which “stayed crunchy, even in milk,” and consumed loads of it for two or three years. While many adults had their standard breakfast of bacon and eggs each morning, I stuck with cereal.

For one thing, it seemed like I was always in a hurry, and cereal was a cinch to prepare.

During the time that I served as sheriff, I ate Banana Nut Crunch cereal every day, sometimes not eating any other meals. Too much stress and not enough time. To supplement that, I lived on coffee, cigarettes, Diet Pepsi, aspirin, and Pepto-Bismol. Not a great diet.

After I retired from the Sheriff’s department, I resumed fairly normal eating habits and gave up cigarettes…Thank the Lord!

When I was older, I began looking for cereals with lots of fiber. I tried all sorts, none of which were particularly tasty. I ate shredded wheat for awhile, but it was like eating tiny bales of straw, so I switched to Frosted Mini-Wheats, which contains plenty of sugar.

Not wanting to have diabetes, I now walk two miles each morning and then eat one cup of hot Quaker oatmeal, followed by six large strawberries, and a grapefruit. But not to worry, each night before bedtime, I head to the kitchen and fix a bowl of Life cereal … with a spoonful of sugar on top … “Life is full of surprises” He likes it! Hey, Mikey … Butch likes it!

And I forgot to mention, I won the county pole vault event when I was a senior in high school. Thanks to Wheaties and Bob Richards!