Four stories courtesy of my friend Bobby (a repeat)

Keith

Aug 29

I recently was reminded of an old friend Bobby. I was a client and friend of Bobby and knew members of his team. Four poignant stories come to mind about him or his team. I should mention Bobby was a good golfer. I once witnessed him make five birdies in a row en route to a seven under par 65. But, that is not one of the stories.

Bobby told me of the time he was playing in his club championship. Telling the story, he was down two holes heading into the 16th hole. He birdied the 16th and 17th holes to tie and then stood on the 18th tee. He then proceeded to top his shot into the lake. One friend shouts and accepts money from another saying "I knew he was going to do that." Yet, the story becomes funnier when he over heard his caddy relate the story about how "we birdied the 16th and 17th to tie, then 'he' hits it into the lake."

On a more serious note, a tragedy for many ended well for his friend and colleague. Bobby received a call at night that his colleague's 54 seat plane had crashed and there were only four survivors. Bobby got the call as the ticket was purchased by his firm. He called all of the hospitals and learned his friend was one of the four. He called his friend's wife to let her know there had been a crash, but her husband had survived, was hurt but OK.

The friend said he survived because he was calm and followed instruction while others went beserk. Although not an overly religious man, he made his peace. He said the crash was more violent than he could possibly describe and afterward he smelled of jet fuel and crawled toward the cold January breeze. He said he felt like he crawled 100 feet, when it turned out to be only about twenty.

Then, there is the story about another colleague who was driving along I-85, when a car veered across the median and hit him head on. This was before the wired fence-like structures were erected in the median to prevent such occurrences. They both walked away from the accident as both cars had driver side air bags. Bobby's colleague suffered only broken knee caps.

Finally, on a more humorous note, another colleague was working in their office in Greensboro. A friend called him and asked him what he was doing that day. He said he was working and his friend said he needed to play golf. To his "no" response, his friend said you need to play because you are the only member of this club I know and I have someone who wants to play with you. It turned out to be basketball legend Michael Jordan. Jordan eventually played 54 holes of golf, but Bobby's friend begged off after a very tiring 36 holes.

Thanks for indulging my memories. I actually have a few more Bobby stories, but this will give you a good taste. These remembrances made me smile.