I've written before that I have met the nicest and most amazing people. A special treat is the number of people I have met who are in their 90's. You don't live that long being ordinary, and every one of these folks has had an interesting life and interesting story to share with me. Let me tell you of one of them.

I first bumped into William B. Hoyer when I saw him walking across the parking lot at Ohio Stadium in the fall of 2007. I approached him cold, unbeknown, with the line "You look like you've been to a game or two here". He had. Little did I know then, that when I took him to breakfast many weeks later, he would tell me his memory, as a little kid, of being at the very first game played in Ohio Stadium! William shared some fascinating stories with me, but he shared more than that. I would call him occasionally just to chat. We would talk Buckeye football, politics, fishing, and life in general. I always came away with some good advice, and busy as he was, he always thanked me for calling.

Late this fall, during one of my calls, I offered to take him to lunch again. "I'll take you to the faculty club," he proposed instead, "and we'll sit at Woody's table! I'll give you some more for your book." That was an offer I couldn't pass up and I jumped. A quite successful guy, I have no doubt that William had sat at that table with Woody himself, and likely many a time. It took a couple more calls to get a date he was open. We set a time and I drove to Columbus. When I got there and called him that afternoon, he said, "I have to cancel. One of my close friends just learned he is terribly sick and I just have to go see him. He's in bad shape."

"Not a problem," I said cheerfully, "we'll take a rain check". I could see it was an emotional development, and besides, even at 93, William B still called the shots! Fall turned into the Michigan game and into Thanksgiving and into the busy holiday season. My day job consumed me. Before I knew it, it was cold weather. I thought several times in the last month about trying to set something up, but always I was afraid it would be too cold for him to go out at the times I was free.

I should have tried harder. I learned today that William passed away the day after Christmas. I will miss the luncheon we never got done, with he and I at Woody's table. But that's the minor part. I will miss our more our friendly chats. If I have any regrets in this project, it is that I haven't finished it while some of my storytellers are still alive to read it. I have William on tape, and through my work I hope to preserve his memory. I just wish I had gotten it done while he was alive to see the finished product, because he was a Buckeye through and through. That friends, is the hard part.