wkrq59
01-29-2014, 08:07 PM
BY WKRQ59
I lost a special friend last week, a man I never met but had many wonderful exchanges with in the two prominent Xavier chat rooms, Xavier Hoops and Musketeer Madness.
I have written many pieces here about people I knew only through these boards-- the screen names Pablo and Firehose come to mind. Like Gary Griffin, they are no longer with us.
But Gary, aka Admin first, then Mr. Neutral, was in every sense of the word, unique. And he was my friend.
Another good friend, Muskieman, whose first post on Xavier Hoops was to tell us of Gary's departure to a pain-free, much better life, has long been a mainstay and reason to post and share on Musketeer Madness. He spoke of the three tragedies he was personally surviving.
JTG spoke of Gary's history at Xavier when basketball was “dreadful,” as I can readily attest, having the misfortune to report on the 3-23 year and subsequent seasons, pre-Staak, Gillen, Prosser, Matta, Miller and Mack years. He also spoke of Gary's humor, and I got an occasional glimpse of that, too.
Gary's day of departure is sufficiently in the rear-view mirror that I can step aside from the abject sadness I felt when Muskieman called me with the dreadful news. So I'd like to use a close that I employed when I said goodbye to Pablo and instead look ahead for Gary.
Every week on his once very popular Bravo-TV cable-satellite show “Inside the Actor's Studio,” host James Lipton would end each edition with a questionnaire of Bernard Pivot, his mentor. The final question to Lipton's actor-actress guest would be: “If God exists what would you hope to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?” The answers ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Here is what I think God would say to Gary Griffin:
“Welcome Gary, we've reserved a T-time for you tomorrow on our special Heavenly 18, at 8:55 a.m. Your clubs are already in the pro shop and your playing partners, tomorrow only, will be Bobby Jones, Walter Hagan and Ben Hogan.
“I'll let Gene Sarazen who heads our Golfers Welcome Committee, explain a few of the features (maybe wonders) of our course to you. “
Gene, “OK Gary, you'll really enjoy this course. Among the holes on this layout is the No. 1, which is identical to No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass. Your playing partners will advise you on club selection, and of course there are water-proof balls that never sink and just bounce onto the green.
“After that, it's pretty much down hill from there. Included are the best links holes from St. Andrews and Royal Lytham St. Anne's, the Amen Corner and other beautiful holes from Augusta National and the best, most challenging and most inspiring from Pebble Beach. Oh, and each day, the layout changes to keep you sharp.
“All greens fees have been waived, caddies are the best and they are forbidden to accept tips. They enjoy caddying more than you'll enjoy playing, by the way. The Angel aides in carts provide refreshments every three holes..
“Our 19th hole has a well-stocked bar you can't out-drink and you'll never overdo it because those things don't happen here. That, BTW, means no hangovers. Now, I have to leave you and turn your celestial briefing over to Skip Prosser, former coach at Xavier, your Alma Mater which you loved so much before you joined us and presumably you still do.”
Skip: “Before we start Gary, there are pints of really wonderful ales, mostly Irish brews, I want to suggest and share with you, but the imbibing can wait a while.
“First, there are a couple of books I'd like to recommend to you that you can read tonight before your golf game tomorrow. They won't take long to scan and absorb, about 10 minute each, even though they are both over 15,000 pages long. (Oh, you're gonna enjoy heaven.) And later, Father Hoff, Pablo, Jim McCafferty and Firehose and other Muskies including Ray Baldwin, will join us. Fr. Reinke will provide the piano music while we get together. Gershwin will be featured.
“Now, we have a special viewing room up here. The Xavier Room. We get to watch each basketball game either played or to be played this season. Each room is separate because God likes to move about the various college game rooms observing how we conduct ourselves. That means watch the language. Free Will only goes so far and I've heard but never seen, “Time Outs” can be issued. Wouldn't want to miss any of the action.
“Never tried it but I'm told the TVs (huge Cinemascope HD, 40-foot rectangle) here can be programmed verbally, some say by thought, too, although I've never tried it, to replay Musketeer games of the past and the outcome isn't always the same.
"Okay, until Sean gets here some day, that Ohio State game at UK will have to wait. Complications of some kind. Hey, he's having a really nice season. Too bad that automotive comment may require a bit of Purgatory to erase.
“Oh well, back to the topic at hand. We also have available all of the Musketeer and Muskettette golf, tennis, basketball, field hockey (later) and other athletic contest viewings available even though they were or weren't telecast.
“As I said Gary, You really are going to enjoy heaven.”
Those are wonderful thoughts to hang onto in the midst of our sorrow. And I'd like to add a few thoughts from Master of Reality (MOR) who knew Gary far better than I:
FROM MOR--”I first met Moose on our first day as fellow freshman at Xavier U in 1968. He was a brillo haired (finger in a light socket might describe the do) Greenhorn who attended St. Ignatius HS in south Chicago and was one of the funniest guys I ever met.
“We bonded- sometimes at Dana's where he tended bar for a time, sometimes at Woody's, sometimes on Corcoran Field and always on the front row courtside at Schmidt Fieldhouse starting with the Freshman game before the varsity- and have been fast friends ever since..although separated by miles most of the time. Our shared love of the Xavier Musketeers, golf, laughter and a good pint carried us through the years.
“Finally, it is ironic that Gary passed away from the same disease that he lost his girlfriend to a number of years ago. The Ironies in his life were numerous--A birthday on April Fools Day for a true comic, Passing away in California rather than his beloved Chicago that he would never leave, and not being able to finally attend a Xavier basketball game in the Windy City after all the years of road trips in the LHS. Gary never mastered golf, but he never stopped trying his best with self deprecating humor and good cheer which is a life lesson all of us can take forward. He would never take a cart on the course..even last summer when he was struggling. Wasn't a true part of the game to him....and he was "true", not always positive, but true.”
And, lastly, the Gary Griffin I knew through both of these boards was a super guy. I wish I had had a chance to meet him personally at my installation as an honorary Lew Hirt Society member, or at the number of times he came back to our Alma Mater. The late World War II journalist Ernie Pyle said it best, when he covered the death of a young soldier, “Damnit Anyway.”
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I lost a special friend last week, a man I never met but had many wonderful exchanges with in the two prominent Xavier chat rooms, Xavier Hoops and Musketeer Madness.
I have written many pieces here about people I knew only through these boards-- the screen names Pablo and Firehose come to mind. Like Gary Griffin, they are no longer with us.
But Gary, aka Admin first, then Mr. Neutral, was in every sense of the word, unique. And he was my friend.
Another good friend, Muskieman, whose first post on Xavier Hoops was to tell us of Gary's departure to a pain-free, much better life, has long been a mainstay and reason to post and share on Musketeer Madness. He spoke of the three tragedies he was personally surviving.
JTG spoke of Gary's history at Xavier when basketball was “dreadful,” as I can readily attest, having the misfortune to report on the 3-23 year and subsequent seasons, pre-Staak, Gillen, Prosser, Matta, Miller and Mack years. He also spoke of Gary's humor, and I got an occasional glimpse of that, too.
Gary's day of departure is sufficiently in the rear-view mirror that I can step aside from the abject sadness I felt when Muskieman called me with the dreadful news. So I'd like to use a close that I employed when I said goodbye to Pablo and instead look ahead for Gary.
Every week on his once very popular Bravo-TV cable-satellite show “Inside the Actor's Studio,” host James Lipton would end each edition with a questionnaire of Bernard Pivot, his mentor. The final question to Lipton's actor-actress guest would be: “If God exists what would you hope to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?” The answers ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous.
Here is what I think God would say to Gary Griffin:
“Welcome Gary, we've reserved a T-time for you tomorrow on our special Heavenly 18, at 8:55 a.m. Your clubs are already in the pro shop and your playing partners, tomorrow only, will be Bobby Jones, Walter Hagan and Ben Hogan.
“I'll let Gene Sarazen who heads our Golfers Welcome Committee, explain a few of the features (maybe wonders) of our course to you. “
Gene, “OK Gary, you'll really enjoy this course. Among the holes on this layout is the No. 1, which is identical to No. 17 at TPC Sawgrass. Your playing partners will advise you on club selection, and of course there are water-proof balls that never sink and just bounce onto the green.
“After that, it's pretty much down hill from there. Included are the best links holes from St. Andrews and Royal Lytham St. Anne's, the Amen Corner and other beautiful holes from Augusta National and the best, most challenging and most inspiring from Pebble Beach. Oh, and each day, the layout changes to keep you sharp.
“All greens fees have been waived, caddies are the best and they are forbidden to accept tips. They enjoy caddying more than you'll enjoy playing, by the way. The Angel aides in carts provide refreshments every three holes..
“Our 19th hole has a well-stocked bar you can't out-drink and you'll never overdo it because those things don't happen here. That, BTW, means no hangovers. Now, I have to leave you and turn your celestial briefing over to Skip Prosser, former coach at Xavier, your Alma Mater which you loved so much before you joined us and presumably you still do.”
Skip: “Before we start Gary, there are pints of really wonderful ales, mostly Irish brews, I want to suggest and share with you, but the imbibing can wait a while.
“First, there are a couple of books I'd like to recommend to you that you can read tonight before your golf game tomorrow. They won't take long to scan and absorb, about 10 minute each, even though they are both over 15,000 pages long. (Oh, you're gonna enjoy heaven.) And later, Father Hoff, Pablo, Jim McCafferty and Firehose and other Muskies including Ray Baldwin, will join us. Fr. Reinke will provide the piano music while we get together. Gershwin will be featured.
“Now, we have a special viewing room up here. The Xavier Room. We get to watch each basketball game either played or to be played this season. Each room is separate because God likes to move about the various college game rooms observing how we conduct ourselves. That means watch the language. Free Will only goes so far and I've heard but never seen, “Time Outs” can be issued. Wouldn't want to miss any of the action.
“Never tried it but I'm told the TVs (huge Cinemascope HD, 40-foot rectangle) here can be programmed verbally, some say by thought, too, although I've never tried it, to replay Musketeer games of the past and the outcome isn't always the same.
"Okay, until Sean gets here some day, that Ohio State game at UK will have to wait. Complications of some kind. Hey, he's having a really nice season. Too bad that automotive comment may require a bit of Purgatory to erase.
“Oh well, back to the topic at hand. We also have available all of the Musketeer and Muskettette golf, tennis, basketball, field hockey (later) and other athletic contest viewings available even though they were or weren't telecast.
“As I said Gary, You really are going to enjoy heaven.”
Those are wonderful thoughts to hang onto in the midst of our sorrow. And I'd like to add a few thoughts from Master of Reality (MOR) who knew Gary far better than I:
FROM MOR--”I first met Moose on our first day as fellow freshman at Xavier U in 1968. He was a brillo haired (finger in a light socket might describe the do) Greenhorn who attended St. Ignatius HS in south Chicago and was one of the funniest guys I ever met.
“We bonded- sometimes at Dana's where he tended bar for a time, sometimes at Woody's, sometimes on Corcoran Field and always on the front row courtside at Schmidt Fieldhouse starting with the Freshman game before the varsity- and have been fast friends ever since..although separated by miles most of the time. Our shared love of the Xavier Musketeers, golf, laughter and a good pint carried us through the years.
“Finally, it is ironic that Gary passed away from the same disease that he lost his girlfriend to a number of years ago. The Ironies in his life were numerous--A birthday on April Fools Day for a true comic, Passing away in California rather than his beloved Chicago that he would never leave, and not being able to finally attend a Xavier basketball game in the Windy City after all the years of road trips in the LHS. Gary never mastered golf, but he never stopped trying his best with self deprecating humor and good cheer which is a life lesson all of us can take forward. He would never take a cart on the course..even last summer when he was struggling. Wasn't a true part of the game to him....and he was "true", not always positive, but true.”
And, lastly, the Gary Griffin I knew through both of these boards was a super guy. I wish I had had a chance to meet him personally at my installation as an honorary Lew Hirt Society member, or at the number of times he came back to our Alma Mater. The late World War II journalist Ernie Pyle said it best, when he covered the death of a young soldier, “Damnit Anyway.”
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