My Dad – The Finest Man I’ve Ever Known

Humility is a quality you don’t find much today.  My dad is soft-spoken, quietly funny, and just about the best guy you could hope to meet.  I don’t remember him ever calling in sick.  We had the most manicured lawn on the block, and we never had a gardener.  He is hardworking and honest, without any of the thick-headed machismo that often comes with those old-school values.

It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I realized what a football and baseball standout he was.  I querried him once, and reluctantly he pulled down a box a clippings from his youth and high school sports.  ”You really want to see ‘em?” he said as if he was somewhat embarrassed.  I replied with an emphatic “yes.”  He dug through the top shelf of a closet and pulled down a box… there were more clippings than in a bag of grass.  Buddy Bush was repeatedly in the Shreveport paper for his athletic accolades.  The pile of newspaper articles reached nerly a foot… literally hundreds mentioning my dad.  He was a standout tailback, a swift outfielder and a fierce left-handed hitter.  Later, he returned punts for Texarkana College and had designs on professional baseball before he met my mom and enlisted into Air Force.

Today’s athletes ooze hubris and arrogance, which is probably the single biggest problem in all of sport.  Their sense of entitlement is what leads them to think that they can skirt laws, cheat and worse.

As proud of my Dad as I am about his athletic achievements, I’m even more proud of what a good man he is.  With any luck, my son will inherit his ability AND  his decency and integrity… (Perhaps it skips a generation)!

In any case, I’d like to thank him for the genes he’s bestowed and the examples that he’s set.

Happy Father’s Day to the finest man I’ve ever known.