First off, Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! I know my friends Kevin Blackwood, JLizard, and pdi88 on the forums whos poker skills are only overshadowed by their skills at being great dads ;) I hope you guys and all the other dads out there have a great weekend with your families =)

My dad recently passed away on December 22 of last year of bone cancer at the age of 83. He was was a proud father of 6 sons and a daughter and 9 grand-children.

If I had to sum up my dad in one word, that word would easily be humble. He rarely talked about himself unless you asked him something. I guess this made it in a way somewhat hard to really get to know him. At the same time he was really likable and easy going....so on the surface he was great too without really knowing about him. A few years ago, when his health started fading I started sitting with him and really talking with him about his past and life experiences to make sure I knew as much as I could about him. Not that we never talked, we did all the time....it was just he would never talk about himself much. Anyways, i'm glad that I really pinned him down because I learned a lot about him.

I guess i'd like to just share some of the background on my dad that i'm proud of and share a few stories that make up what a great guy and father he was.

First off, it's pretty amazing to say that my dad probably did more than most of us will do in our lives in the way of bravery and serving our country before he was 18. As a teenager, he was the youngest officer in the Navy during WW2. He was on his ship in the communications room when Japanese suicide pilots attacked the ship and flew directly into the control/communications room he was in, killing most of the people in the room. He was injured but was able to take over communications for the ship. Thankfully he and most of the others on the ship made it out OK.

It was always clear that my dad was proud of his time and service in the Navy. He had a blast going back to see his ship for a reunion with many of the other surviving crew a few years back. He really loved that ship and being out on the water. He and my mom would take a lot of cruises later in life and we went out on a cruise in San Diego a few years back and had a great time.

After the war my dad went to University of Illinois then on to banking school (grad school). By the time I was born in 1973 (youngest of 7) he was was a bank executive on the rise! He was president of our county bank for many years and was an important member of the community. I think he really liked most aspects of his job, particularly knowing that he played a part in the success of a lot of businesses and ventures around town. Over the years i've met a lot of people that said they got their first loans from my dad and couldn't have done it without his banks help which is really cool :)

Aside from a great career in banking, my dad was a bit of an entrepreneur. He would invest in land and different ventures. For example, back in those days, Christmas clubs were popular (where you'd invest x dollars per month then come December have money for presents for the family). Anyways, I think my mom liked the idea of a general club for vacations...so my dad created a Vacation Inspired Savings Account and called it VISA and was smart enough to trademark it. Sometime in the 70's he sold the mark and it became what we now know as Visa, who's headquarters is ironically just a few blocks from where I live in SF. It's cool to think of him every time I walk by there, and every time I use my Visa card as well :)

My dad had a really big work ethic. It's tough to describe how hard he worked...but I remember being really young and him not being around much and him working a lot of hours at the bank. I also remember him being sick and still going into work sick as a dog numerous times despite my mom begging him to stay home because "he had an important meeting", etc. But even when he would get off work late, I remember seeing him appear behind the backstop while I was standing in the outfield at my baseball games or seeing him in the stands at my basketball games or on the course at the end of a cross country race. He would always be easy to pick out because he'd be the only person in the crowd in his suit having come straight from work :) Despite working a lot of hours he would find a lot of time for hobbies like gardening and sports and spending time with the family.

Setting a really good example, it's pretty obvious that my dad passed on his work ethic to the family. My brothers and sister are all incredibly talented and definitely owe a huge thanks to my dad for instilling a great work ethic and values in the family. The lineup of success stories and occupations held in my family is impressive: coach in the NBA, dean in a large university, owner of a consulting firm, leader in a start-up, top salesmen in their fields, etc etc... there's no doubt that we owe both of our parents a debt of gratitude for raising us well and giving us the opportunity to succeed. I think my dad even rubbed off on my mom (or vice versa) because she worked full time and was always busy around the house and was raising the kids, etc...essentially having two full time jobs.

More important than my dads business success was the way he treated other people in his life. If you were lucky to know my dad and be his friend, you had a friend for life. I can tell countless stories about him giving back to both his friends and the community in general. I remember him having an elderly friend who was having serious health issues a few years back. My dad personally drove his friend to Mayo Clinic in Minnesota (10 hour + drive each way) to make sure his friend had the best care possible. Also, after my dad retired, he would help out friends by doing their income taxes for them. He would undercharge everyone and I even remember overhearing my Mom once getting on him about why he charged so little. The conversation went something like this:

Mom- "How did the return go?"
Dad - "Good, but they had a tough year last year."
Mom- "That's too bad...did they pay you for the return/work you did?"
Dad - "yes"
Mom- "how much?"
Dad- "Well she made me a piece of homemade pie"
Mom- "Huh?!! A pie?"
Dad - "Yes but it was pretty good pie!"

Hahaha, that was my dad in a nutshell, always doing something for someone else. Completely selfless. I could easily tell other stories like this all day about my dad.

In no particular order my dad loved his wife, ice cream, corn on the cob, his family, his friends, his old Mercedes diesel cars (which he drove to like 300k+ miles each then sold and we'd still see them around town LOL), running (he was the county champ in the 400 in HS), gardening, vacationing in Florida with his family and sports.

A final story about my dad. As a young bank executive, he lived in St. Louis for 20+ years, and followed and rooted for the the St. Louis Cardinals. He instilled in me the same love for the Cardinals and St. Louis sports in general. As far back as I can remember, he would take me and the family to old Busch stadium for games. I loved players like Ozzie Smith, Willie McGee, and particularly Andy Van Slyke =) My dad took time off a few times to make sure we were able to go on camera day when you could go down on the field and take pictures of and meet the players. I remember taking pictures of Van Slyke and him clowning around with the fans, and playing catch on the astroturf with my brother and dad.

A few years back St. Louis demolished their stadium and built new Busch Stadium. I hadn't been to a game yet, and neither had Dad....so we were able to travel to St. Louis and see it for the first time together! What an amazing stadium...it is really open and the field actually sits below ground level... so when you walk in from the street through the open gates there is the field below you. It's small and intimate, feels like a great minor league stadium might. So amazing. We went up to our seats high above home plate and saw the skyline and St. Louis Arch, etc from our seats. Dad's favorite player was Lou Brock and he told me stories about how in the 60's the players were so approachable and that Lou actually lived in my dad's apartment/condo complex downtown St. Louis and how he'd run into him all the time. It was beyond cool that Lou Brock just happened to be on hand that day to throw out the first pitch!

Sitting there together with my dad, regarding the view from up top in the stadium, he said "I sure never thought i'd see anything like this". I'll never forget him saying that. It was a really special moment for me.

I sure was lucky to have him as my dad. Thanks for reading and Happy Father's Day!!!

Mike

PS- Just a quick poker related note/aside: had it not been for poker, I would not have been able to return home for a few months once my dad was diagnosed to help out with his care, etc. Those precious months will forever be remembered by me and I'm thankful to poker for providing me a flexible schedule which enabled me to return and be with him! Others in the family would come back whenever possible but understandably could not leave their jobs for extended periods of time......it was only poker that enabled me to take extended time off...to which i'm REALLY grateful. If anyone ever tells you there's no real world value in playing poker, maybe you can tell them my story!!! :)