Remembering a Friend................................... I - TopicsExpress



          

Remembering a Friend................................... I received news this week of the passing of an old friend and I hope you all join me in a moment of thought for the life he lived. In late 1971 I met Bruce “Pinhead” Thezan at Northwest Missouri State when I was a new freshman and he was a fifth year senior. From day one I knew I met a character, a kindred soul and a very good man. We were both raised on the South Side of Chicago so Bruce sought me out just to make sure I was OK and knew the expectation placed on me to represent everything the South Side embodied. In other words, he wanted to make sure I was, or at least acted like, a tough guy because he certainly did. He was named “Pinhead” because his chest was so big from working out that it looked like he had a pin for a head. He was, in fact, bigger than life; too many stories for this page and too much fun back then never knowing that I would be writing about him more than forty years later. Bruce went on to graduate degrees in education and was a teacher and administrator in Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. I last saw him about ten years ago when we both traveled to Florence, Alabama for the National Championship of D2 Football which was won by the Bearcats of Northwest Missouri. After two days with “Pinhead” it was like we never missed the thirty years and we laughed, told many lies about each other and even shared a beer or two. It was great fun and near the end of our couple days together he pulled me aside and gently asked if I would be so kind to resist calling him “Pinhead. You see, he said, I am a PhD and a lead administrator for a Public School district in Kansas and the “Pinhead” stuff just doesn’t fit. I responded, “sure thing, Pinhead”. My life was enhanced because I had the opportunity to call Bruce M. Thezan my friend!!!
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 16:20:57 +0000

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