He was one of the nation's top high school basketball players, courted by many colleges. So it was no wonder that Marc Upshaw of Columbus, Ga., received a letter from the Stanford basketball coach hoping to lure him west.
No, the wonder was that the letter took 21 years to be delivered. Signed by Dick DiBiaso, the Stanford coach from 1975 to 1981, the note to Upshaw was mailed in May 1978 -- and arrived a few months ago. Upshaw, now 38 and living in Atlanta, ended up at the University of Rhode Island, where he was an All-Atlantic 10 Conference player. He finds the missing missive "kind of funny" and says he probably would have gone to Rhode Island even if he had received it on time. DiBiaso, now a real estate agent in Santa Clara, Calif., hasn't lost confidence in the post office: "It took them 21 years, but now I know they persevere."
