I'd love to be able to tell you a wonderfully imaginative tale of when the stork delivered this beautiful blond headed boy to Lucille Czajkowski, baby pinned to his swaddleing cloth was a note written by the hand of God from the Well of Souls, 'nik-name this child 'Chi' and he will be loved and remembered by everyone who knows him for all the years of his life'.
Of course this wouldn't be true. Actually it was the tooth fairy who delivered Bob Czajkowski to His mother, Lucille. No! just kidding.
It seems to me however that we've been calling Bob, 'Chi' for as long as I can remember but actually he recieved this nik-name from Harry Houser after Harry met Bob's older brother who we younger kids knew as 'Chick' Czajkowski. Chick was a big guy and somewhat of an imposing bully as I remeber or at least he appeared as though he could squish the lot of us youngr boys whenever he took a mind to.
It must have been 1964 or 65 when Harry started calling Bob 'Chi'. Harry said, 'Chi is a great nik-name for Bob and has 2 letters fewer than 'Chick'. Of course we all thought that the name 'Chi' would intimidate 'Chick' a bit but so much for Bullying big brothers anyway. At the time, who knew back then that the Nik-name was going to 'stick' like it has over the years? After a while of palling around with Chi this nik-name became common place and by 1966 at our Burbank Grade School Graduation, everyone knew Bob Czajkowski as 'Chi' except for our grade school teachers who called him Robert.
Bob Czajkowski was now destined to enter High School carrying the 'Chi' nik-name with him. Everyone he met, including our High School Teachers (and of course his coaches) called him Chi. In fact, he is still affectionatly called and remembered as 'Chi' by everyone who knows him. The nik-name became a tribute to this man's good character and I'll wager that it will be chiseled into his gravestone at the end of his years. When Bob Czajkowski once again returns to the Well of Souls, He'll be known forevermore as 'Chi'.
Best Regards,
Thomas L. Milligan  Â
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