Dad
This is my dad, Ron. He was born in Houston, Texas in 1939. Soon after, his family moved to St. Louis where he grew up. He became a huge St. Louis Cardinal fan and was the classic example of a boy growing up during those times. He would leave school early with his friends and they would ride their bikes to see the Cardinals play. He is the reason I am a Cardinal fan today. We watched the World Series together in 1985 and I immediately fell in love with baseball. He coached me and my brothers throughout our Mims Park playing days. He coached football and baseball, and most baseball seasons, he coached both mine and my brother's team. He devoted all of his free time to the park and our sports. He is also the reason that I became a baseball coach. I owed him a favor after he payed to fix my car, and he told me that a little league coach needed an assistant. I did it and fell in love with it. My dad coached another team in the league and we coached against each other 3 times (My team won 2). After the regular season, he was asked to coach the all-star team and wanted me to be his assistant. Then, the day of our first game he died suddenly of a heart attack. I was crushed. At his funeral, I was amazed how many people showed up. There were literally hundreds of people; former assistant coaches and players, and everybody else that knew him. I saw the positive impact that he had on those people and that's when I decided to follow in his footsteps.
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