From: Rocky_Rasley

Becky,
As you probably know, I was cut before the start of the season. However, things do have a way of working out for the best. I caught on with the 49ers for my last year in the league. I now live close to San Francisco and I am invited to many 49er alumni functions. This past weekend for example, I attended a brunch along with 75 former 49ers at the Airport Sheraton. The 49er management bussed us to Candlestick for the game against Arizona. (We won.) I was allowed to bring a guest, so my son and I had a really nice weekend. Good luck with your Seahawks.

Sincerely
- Rocky

In a follow-up letter, Mr. Rasley added:

From: Rocky_Rasley

I haven't heard from Detroit regarding alumni activities but I did get an invitation from New Orleans to attend an alumni weekend. This alumni thing is a recent development and it looks like several NFL teams are organizing events.

One of the most interesting things about bringing former players together at these events is getting to meet guys from different generations. At this last 49er weekend I met Wally Yomamine. He was born in Hawaii and is of Japanese descent. He played for the 49ers in 1947. He went to Japan shortly after that and played baseball for the Tokyo Giants. He must have been a very good player because he was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall Of Fame. He splits his time now, six months in Hawaii and six months in Japan. I really enjoyed spending time with him.
Take care,
Rocky

In response to my question as to whether or not Rocky Rasley attended the OSU reunion described in the article below, Rocky wrote:

From: Rocky_Rasley

Becky,

I did attend the OSU Reunion. As a matter of fact my wife and I stopped in Redding on our way up to Corvallis and picked up Nick Rogers and his wife and made a weekend of it. Nick and I were both California Junior College transfers to OSU. We have been pretty close ever since. It was a great weekend except we lost the game to UCLA. We got a chance to visit our old Coach, Dee Andros. He was known as "the Great Pumpkin" due to a signature bright orange OSU windbreaker he would wear on the sidelines. See photo attached, I'm on the right.

- Rocky

I laughed so much when I received this message in my in-box:

From: Rocky_Rasley

Becky,

...On my way down the Umqua River during our Thanksgiving trip, I came upon your hamburger stand. Very good burgers, I'm surprised you didn't tell me. I mentioned that we were friends but they still wouldn't give me a discount.

Happy Holidays
Rocky

Ohhhh, I do so enjoy Rocky's sense of humor! He's up to his tricks again with spotting "my" restaurants! Thanks for the laughs, Rocky!

From: Rocky_Rasley
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 1:57 PM
Subject: Oregon trip 2005

Becky
On my trip to Oregon's Crater Lake I came upon another one of your restaurants. You can imagine my surprise when traveling through the forests of Oregon, there you are again.. I noticed right off that the management misspelled your name on the sign out front. Of course I mentioned it to our waitress when we ordered lunch and offered to make the correction. She said that’s how they spell it in Klamath County Oregon. Good food but still no discount when I mentioned that we were friends.

Rocky

We invite you to read more about Rocky Rasley!