I would like to nominate Joe Fogarty for the prestigious, “Region 19 Man of the Year” award for 2020. Joe absolutely embodies the lofty principles of this long-dormant award, launched initially in the late 1980’s, by a handful of drunken KU Teke fraternity brothers in the Chicago area, and which is awarded entirely at random. I think it’s safe to say that Joe’s selection is “probably just as appropriate as the next guy,” as I have so eloquently detailed in my nominating petition to the board.
Congratulations to Joe, who is in the process of turning sixty-years-old. Having turned sixty myself, earlier this year, I can attest to the physical, mental, and other challenges which will no doubt bedevil Joe, as he enters his senior years. So, it will become doubly important that Joe keep a ready supply of alcohol on hand.
Joe has become an inveterate Chicagoan, even more so than me, and I like to claim that I spent 36-and-a-half of my formative years in Chicago, even though I lived within Chicago’s city limits for exactly one of those years. And, I’ve been an expatriate for twenty-four years now. So, even though it’s not a contest, Joe wins. Living near Wrigley Field for these many years certainly bolsters his case.
I have had the pleasure of attending numerous Jayhawk football and basketball games over the years with Joe, in such exotic locales as: Ann Arbor, Columbus, Milwaukee, Chicago, and yes, even Lawrence. And, who can forget Joe’s inappropriate and insensitive outburst at the conclusion of the 1988 NCAA Final Four final game, in which KU beat Oklahoma, when several of us were huddled around a 13-inch television set, in Mike Pierce’s apartment? I’m not able to relate what he yelled in mixed company.
Since our days in Lawrence, Joe has evolved, becoming an excellent husband, father, ex-husband, and gourmet chef, deploying herbs grown in a pot housed on a fire escape in a Chicago apartment building; there’s nothing quite like “Chicago apartment building fire escape potted herbs!” Let’s see Bobby Flay attempt to pull off that mean feat. Joe is quite a good chef – I’ve been the beneficiary of his cooking several times, and he continues to taunt us with his culinary talents on Facebook.
Joe is justifiably proud of his son, Liem, who has headed off to Central Michigan University, in Mount Pleasant. And, some day I’ll learn his secret to success at remaining employed by the same company for more than five years – a skill I have yet to master.
So, as you can see, Joe is as good a choice as any other to be this year’s recipient of the “Region 19 Man of the Year” award. Please join me in congratulating Joe upon his receiving this prestigious award, which used to come with a handsome trophy and sports-jacket, but those accoutrements were misplaced years ago by one of the above-mentioned, drunken KU Teke fraternity brothers. Therefore, Joe will have to settle for a printable copy of a hastily-assembled certificate, suitable for discarding unwanted in a desk drawer, which is attached as a Word document to this post. A screenshot facsimile appears here:
Congratulations to Joe! I love you, man!
Thanks,
B.S.
thanksbs 