The Great Strawberry Shake-off
1
May

My boys are all about Strawberry shakes and the other day we were headed to a local restaurant to get one when I asked, “Who has the best shake in Poplar Bluff?” Ben decided we needed to taste them all to find out and, thus, we created the Great Strawberry Shake-off.

We’ve created a web site for you to stay in touch with the results, plus I’ll post the winners of each round here.

A Round of Golf with Joe Montana
9
Aug

I received a last minute invitation to the 1999 Internet Invitational Cup in Colorado Springs at the legendary Broadmore Hotel. Though they never had a 2nd annual, this event was designed to get the competitive companies together outside the office/convention arena and get to know each other. Various companies were recommended like Broadband.com, Yahoo!, and semo.net.

Just under 70 players were participating in one day individual stroke-play golf tournament. Each player had a caddy and U.S.G.A. officials were on the course to make rulings.

The buzz leading up to the weekend was that football-great Joe Montana would be playing as well. The night before the event, three business cards were drawn for who would be in Joe’s foursome. I couldn’t believe it when my name was pulled from the bowl.

A round of golf with Joe Montana was a treat. He was easy to talk to and full of stories. It was rainy that day, but it didn’t dampen the mood. He and I both shot 44 on the front, but on the back he shot a 41 and I fell apart and shot a 55. With my 20 handicap I shot a 75 which put me at 9th place.

On the way up the 17th fairway, Joe looked over at me and said, “You want to have a drink in the clubhouse after this is over?” I looked at him with a well yeah expression and said, “SURE!”

The four of us sat at a corner table for over two hours listening to his stories and adding some of our own. The longer we stayed, the larger the crowd around. It was incredible.

Joe signed two a 49ers and Cheifs football jerseys for Ben (13 months old at the time). And in Ben’s bedroom is a photo of me standing next to Joe who is holding Ben in his arms. A classic shot!

Signing the National Anthem in Busch Stadium
5
Aug

In 1898, Edward C. Becker purchased the St Louis Cardinals baseball franchise (at that time it was the St Louis Browns) from the founder Mr. Vander Auhe. 100 years later and in honor of this former owner, I (Edward’s great-grandson) got to sing the national anthem in 1998 on a hot August evening when the Cardinals took on the Atlanta Braves.

Many extended family members from all over the country and friends converged on St Louis as we celebrated the event.

My loving brother, Bob, tried to jinx me at the last moment. In the hotel elevator on the way to the stadium, my brother said, “Now, is it proof through the flight or proof through the night?” Nice…real nice.

It wasn’t a stellar job, but one person stopped me afterwards and said, “I’ve never heard the audience be so quiet for the National Anthem from begining to end. It was very special.”

Additional Note:
Since the event, I’ve had two total strangers recognize me in a crowd as singing the National Anthem that day. Just last year some 7 years after I sang, I had someone say, “I was there the day you sang the National Anthem, I’d never heard it sung with such passion.”