I didn’t plan it that way, but that’s how it ended up. It all came down to two things: math and science. I like to tell people, I love math. I love it so much that in high school I took every math course twice. I’m not sure why I struggled so much, my dad was an M.I.T. engineering graduate — the genes must have skipped a generation. Science was only a little better. Chemistry was especially difficult because it was too much like math with its formulas and ratios.

On the other hand, because I loved sports, I fully expected to use the summer to get in the best shape of my life. My football/wrestling coach had lent me weights and had designed a circuit training workout for me that I was sure would do the trick. The hope was to head home in August for a wrestling camp in Rochester before football started. Jack Armstrong, all-American Boy

The previous school year, I managed to flunk both geometry and chemistry … and not by small margins.

So, instead of a summer of fun on the lake, it became the summer of teachers, Mr. Legasse and Mr. Schroll. Beyond that, I worked part time for my great-aunt as her handyman. That left little time for anything other than lifting weights and wind sprints. Thus, instead of a summer of fun, it became the summer of monasticism.

Jack’s Silvertone transistor radio. (Provided photo)

My typical day kicked off at 7 a.m. with breakfast, because running on only good intentions isn’t sustainable.

By 8 a.m., it was time for geometry class, which lasted until 11. That’s three solid hours of angles, proofs and wondering if Euclid ever had to deal with teenage angst.

After a lunch break, I shifted gears to chemistry from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Here I tried to balance equations and convince myself I might actually need to know this someday. (Which I never did.)

At 4 p.m., I headed outside to mow my great-aunt’s lawn, fill the boat with gas or some other equally demanding tasks.

From 5:30 to 7 p.m., either weightlifting or sprint intervals were the priority. I trained with the dream of making the all-conference football team.

Evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. were the highlight of the day: dual solitaire or jigsaw puzzles with my great-aunt. I called it “competitive relaxation” — she was shockingly good at both, and the fact that she cheated at solitaire didn’t hurt.

Then from 9 to 10 p.m., I wrapped things up with a study session. That’s where I looked over everything I learned and convinced myself that tomorrow’s brain will be better prepared than today’s.

This was the unaltered routine of the summer.

Most kids my age would’ve considered it more like prison than anything else. But me, for some reason, I thrived. I had my little one room cabin where I studied, lifted weights and contemplated the meaning of life. I have no memory of my daily treks to the hallowed halls of Petrova School (the current high school didn’t open until 1969) but do know that I have to credit Mr. Lagasse, with his thick glasses and portly physique, for me getting a 93 on the geometry Regents, and Mr. Schroll, with his punny sense of humor, for getting me to pass chemistry.

Late at night, just before I went to sleep, I’d listen to music. There was no such thing as an iPhone (or even a Walkman). If you wanted to listen to music, you had to have a phonograph (In all probability mono. The first, exclusively-stereo Beatles album wasn’t released until 1969) or, in my case, a transistor radio. At night I’d tune my Sears and Roebuck Silvertone 9 transistor radio to Joey Reynolds of 1520 WKBW in Buffalo. He had the greatest corny jokes, like: What flies, is black and dangerous? Obviously, the answer is: A crow with a machine gun. The music taunted a young teenager with love. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” by the Beach Boys, “I Saw Her Again” by the Mamas and The Papas, and “Let’s Spend the Night Together” by the Rolling Stones come to mind.

So how did it all pan out? It was a mixed bag.

I missed wrestling camp because it conflicted with the Regents exams. But my buddy Lee DeRuyter went and became sectional champ. (Fat consolation)

The football season was great. We lost only one game. I was made captain, and I even made the All-star team.

And to top it all, I fell in love and had a steady girlfriend the entire year.

Alas, I flunked trigonometry. Which, when I look back at it, may have had something to do with falling in love and having a girlfriend.