This morning Bob Ackles died unexpectedly of a heart attack. He was 69. I never met him personally, but he was in my life on a peripheral basis for years. His title when he died was President and CEO of the BC Lions Football Club, but he was much more than that.
He started out as the BC Lions’ first water boy when he was a teenager and worked his way up to Equipment Manager by the time they won their first Grey Cup in 1964. He kept moving up and was General Manager for their next one in 1985. Although he left in 1986 to work for the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL and one XFL teams, he returned in 2002 to lead the Lions once again. He hired a respected and proven head coach in Wally Buono and the Lions won their fifth Grey Cup in 2005.
Since Bob Ackles returned to the Lions, season ticket holders have gone from around 8,000 to about 25,000 this year and the team and fans have worked together to improve on and off the field. (Unfortunately, the Lions have lost their first two games of this season, but it will be interesting to see if this motivates them to get back on track.)
Although short in stature, Bobby Ackles is being mourned by football fans across the country as a giant of a man who always had the best interests of the game at heart and still managed to be an asset to his community and stay close to his family.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Ackles; you deserve it.
On a happier note, after a month of the Goners board being down, it suddenly came back up today. I was IMing with Diso when I got an e-mail notification that lilbird had posted in a Goners thread. I was dancing in my chair. I have missed that forum in a way I wouldn’t have believed possible.
It’s more than just a forum – it’s my Internet home. Even though most of us moved over to the Serenity board to post, not everybody did and it just wasn’t the same. Some of us kept in touch by e-mail, too – or by IMing. Diso and I ‘talk’ almost every night by IM, which may not have happened otherwise and I talk to Blue usually once a week or so on the phone, but I missed hearing what everyone was doing on a day-to-day basis. Or, in the case of Dragoned, week-to-week.
We don’t know how long the board will be up, but QuoterGal is working to move everything over to the new Goners forum she’s been setting up and to which most of us will contribute.
In just over two weeks I will be meeting some of my Goners friends – and a couple of non-Goners Whedonesquers as well. I can hardly wait, but I will save that for another post on another day, since I should be in bed already.
Ponderings from a Procrastinating Prognosticator 