Pre-string theory

In this note, I recollect a two-week period in September 1968 when I factorized the Veneziano model using string variables in Chicago. Professor Yoichiro Nambu went on to calculate the N-particle dual resonance model and then to factorize it on an exponential degeneracy of states. That was in 1968 and the following year 1969 he discovered the string action. I also include some other reminiscences of Nambu who passed away on July 5, 2015.