Good at Everything

Story and photos by Max Jenkins

“They’re a fantastic dance team,” people kept saying.

I wasn’t the jealous type, but it was hard not to be a little worried. This was in the 1950s at Idaho State College (which became Idaho State University in 1963), where my girlfriend and future wife Jean was taking a dance class in the gym. Lloyd Harris was the star of ISC’s basketball team. A high-scoring guard, he was the agile leader of the team’s fast-break offense. From what I heard, Lloyd saw Jean at the gym one day and quickly identified her as the best jitterbug dancer in the class, and possibly in the whole school. Many times, I heard that after the class ended, Lloyd danced with her, and they drew a crowd. I never saw them dancing together, but I was told he would twirl her around, swing her between his legs, bring her gracefully back to her feet, and they’d twirl and twirl to the crowd’s delight.