| Some of my favorites:
William J. Gleason, my father. It's hard to explain - you would have had to have known him, but he was a father to 6, a law enforcement officer for 31 years, a one time President of the Nebraska chapter of the National Peace Officer's Association. Among other things, he was a smart man who taught me more than I realized at the time about all manner of things from the difference between right and wrong, guns, tools, common sense, etc.
Cal Ripkin Jr. Not only is he the current Iron Man of baseball, but he did it with such class. He's a very humble guy considering his accomplishments in baseball and he was a great role model for young kids in this country. His place in the baseball Hall of Fame is secure.
Stevie Ray Vaughan - scorching blues guitar player, and although he fought his demons with alcohol and drugs, he beat them and helped many others to beat them as well. His untimely death in a helicopter crash in 1990 robbed the world of an incredible talent.
Wynton Marsalis - he turned the world on its ear by winning Grammys in both classical and jazz in the same year. While I have never really gotten into his jazz playing, I consider many of his classical recordings as the current standard, and it was his sound that I always tried to emulate when teaching myself the trumpet back in high school.
I'm sure there are others, but at the moment, I'm drawing a blank.
__________________ Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius |