Certain types of mold in combination with old boiler-fed radiator heat. Probably sort of close to the gym, but not close enough to get the full, eye-watering sweat and rotten socks, eau du body funk of an old locker room.
Remember it well. After going back into public school from private school in sixth grade, it was an old, and I do mean old school building. Anywhere near the gym smelled like that. It intensified in the gym itself, but still not pungent enough to put your finger on it. The locker rooms were in the basement, and nobody would go there unless they had to. It was really that bad.
Well.....I’ll be darned.
Us kids always thought he was just crazy.
Maybe I should look him up on the Internet and apologize for tying him to his chair.