Roasted at a BASK Meeting, August 27th 2008.


I announced my completion of the entire Left Coast of the USA just before a BASK (Bay Area Sea Kayakers) meeting while I was still in Oregon. I was unable to get home in time to attend, but at that meeting I was unanimously acclaimed “The Czar of he Left Coast”. One month later there was another BASK meeting and I suspected that there might be something going on. But I had no idea what my friends were planning.

Half way through the evening I was called up to the front of the auditorium, and six of my friends stepped up with me. Each was dressed as a Mike Higgins impersonator! Apparently this means a battered fedora, reading glasses, a beard, a bandanna around the neck, a vest full of pockets and baggy blue jeans. Marjorie Little wore a helmet like mine and a picture of my smiling face enlarged and turned into a mask.

Fred Cooper emceed the “Who is the Real Mike Higgins?” contest. Each contestant was asked who he was and the answer was “I am the Real Mike Higgins”. Then we were each asked a question. Dave Littlejohn has occasionally been accused of trying to impersonate me. But Don Barch got my vote as the best Mike Higgins impersonator. He was so good I hear the other impersonators hid from him, thinking I was approaching, while getting ready before the contest. People who see the pictures of the event usually pick Don out as looking more like me than I do. But during the Q&A period I noticed that Don had a non-RPN calculator in one of his vest pockets. I announced that this proved he could not be the real Mike Higgins. But Jesse Meyer, who knows my tastes in calculators and was one of the other impersonators, pulled three HP RPN calculators out of his vest pockets!

The Applause-Oh-Meter was used to measure the audience approval of each Mike Higgins. I, of course, received the lowest score on the first round of voting. The winner, Gordon Schanck, immediately sat down in Kate DesLaurier’s lap. But on a re-take I was finally recognized and President LaRhee Webster officially crowned me “Czar of the Left Coast”.


All text and images Copyright © 2008 by Mike Higgins / contact