The Medical Marvel

Merry Christmas Dad

My service recipient this year is a man whom I greatly admire.  If I were to build a Mt. Rushmore of men whom I love and respect this guy would be on the mountain.  It has been a great privilege to live by this man for the last couple of years and I have enjoyed every minute we have spent together.  My favorite things to do with Ed are play sports and listen to him tell stories about his life. 

I call Ed the “Medical Marvel”, because of how much he is able to do at his age.  Despite turning 70 this year he still comes out and plays basketball.  Mike and I often talk about how incredible he is to still be out there playing at his age.  One of the highlights of playing with Ed this year is when he walked into the gym eating an ice cream cone.  There is a Dairy Queen on the way to the church and he couldn’t resist stopping for one of his favorite treats.  We were shooting for teams, and he quickly finished his snack in time to play.  He is still a great athlete, but I wish I could have played with him while we were both in our athletic prime.  It would have been a lot of fun to play together while both at our best. (Queue the wise cracks from McBride about me being past my prime).

In addition to being a medical marvel, he has got some great stories.  There have been many times when I’ve come home from hanging out with Ed and told Lani about some of the stories he shared with me.  She often responds that she has never heard that one before. 

A few years ago Kriss and Ed came to visit Lani and me in Spokane.  We drove to Coeur D’Alene, ID to see the golf course and the lake.  While we were driving we started asking them questions about their life.  It was awesome to learn so much about them.  Hearing their stories provided me with a new perspective of who they are and how they became that way.  I felt like I understood them both a lot better and my respect for both of them grew a lot.   The time spent on that drive talking has always been one of my fondest memories with Ed and Kriss.

Another fond memory with Ed occurred last year when Ed joined me and Houston on the drive from Cary down to Jacksonville to pick up AJ from his last day of radiation treatment.   During the nine hour drive we had a lot of time to talk and Ed shared some more great stories about his life.

In order to capture our mutual love of sports and my love of Ed stories my service this year involves two parts. 

As most of you know Ed did not have a lot of money growing up.  He and his brothers started working very young to help their mom support such a large family.  I think growing up in these circumstances helped him develop his legendary work ethic. I imagine that his mother did not have the money to sign him up to play organized sports. With this in mind, I decided this year to sponsor a child in playing a season of Upward Sports this year. The child will be able to choose from a variety of sports in the league including basketball, football, soccer, and even cheerleading.

Part two of my service was to document some of the great stories that Ed has told me about his life. My hope is that this will give him a head start in writing his personal history, so that his posterity can have access to MANY MORE of his great stories, not just the ones I’ve been privileged to hear. I, my wife, and my kids admire this man so much, I want to make sure they have access to these stories.  I will work with Ed to have him fill in the parts I couldn’t remember.

Merry Christmas Ya Ol’ Medical Marvel. Thank you for all you do for us.  I’m grateful for the 2nd father you are to me, the father you are to my wife and the grandfather you are to my children.  You are one of the greats!  Love Hock.

Here is a preview of one of my favorite stories of the Medical Marvel. 

LDS Church’s “Mr. Buckets”

Years ago, before the church grew to the size it is today there used to be a Church wide basketball tournament. Each ward that won their stake basketball tournament would then play in a regional tournament and the regional champion would move on until finally reaching the final teams of the LDS Church basketball tournament. 

When Eddie lived in Bountiful, UT his ward team was one of the final teams in the church wide basketball tournament.  One of his teammates was a former University of Utah basketball player named, (**get details from Ed).  The Utah player and Ed were a good combination.  Ed was really quick and moved well without the ball.  The former Utah player would command a lot of attention from the other team’s defense and Eddie would cut to the basket and get open.  When he did the Utah player would pass him the ball and Eddie would score.   Their team ended up winning the tournament to become church-wide basketball champions.

After the game they handed out tournament awards.  The former Utah basketball player was named the Tournament MVP and “Fast” Eddie Gates was awarded a trophy for being the tournament's Leading Scorer.  When Eddie told me the story, he kept telling me how surprised he was to win the award.  He wasn’t trying to win a trophy, he was just playing hard and doing what he was supposed to do and he won the award.

This story is a great illustration of Ed.  He isn’t someone that seeks individual acclaim. But he is someone that always works/plays hard and strives to do his best.  With effort comes success and acclaim.  Eddie has worked hard all his life and been blessed for it.