Seeing Joe Namath conduct the coin flip before Super Bowl XLVIII this past Sunday brought back memories of my good friend George Sauer. George Sauer was Joe Namath's favorite target back on January 12, 1969 in Super Bowl III. George caught 8 passes for 133 total yards in that famous game in which the New York Jets upset the vaunted Baltimore Colts 16 to 7. Almost thirty years later, while working at my summer job at the Sunshine Food Store on the east side of Sioux Falls I met George Sauer and over the next five years George and I become very good friends. George left Sioux Falls in 2002 and we eventually lost touch. Upon learning of his death this past May, I wrote the following tribute:
There was sad news in my morning paper today. My friend George Sauer has died in Ohio.
It was in August of 2002 that George Sauer quit his
job at Sunshine Foods and moved back to Texas. We exchanged a number of letters
over the next two or three years and several phone calls. He once called me
late at night to tell me that he was watching National Lampoon's Vacation on TV
and he was wondering if I was watching. That was his favorite movie. He loved
the "Cousin Eddie" character and he often made references to
"Cousin Eddie" during the time that we worked together at Sunshine.
In the movie Cousin Eddie would refer to his home, a ramshackle trailer, as "paradise". George would often
refer to the back room at Sunshine as "paradise" and he once posted a
sign inside the door saying "Welcome to Paradise".
A great sense of humor was one of the many
"talents" that George had. He was, without a doubt, the most
intelligent and talented man I've ever known. He knew and understood things
from medicine and nuclear physics to classical and popular music to Saturday
morning cartoons and 50's and 60's TV sitcoms.
He was curious George in the flesh. Anything new that he read about or
heard about he would research thoroughly until he understood it completely, and
in George’s case that usually didn't take long. He was a quick study and once
he learned something he would remember it.
I was fascinated by his ability to quote lines from prose and poetry
that he had read and then stored in his mind for future reference.
George slept in a sleeping bag on the floor of his
small apartment because his back bothered him (an old football injury). His bed
and bedroom floor were covered with books and newspapers, all with little
yellow sticky notes referencing something of interest that he planned to
eventually research, but just hadn't gotten to yet.
One of the most enjoyable times I ever spent with
George was the evening that we invited him for dinner and he brought along his
guitar. We sat in the family room after eating and listened for two hours while
George played and sang rock and country songs from the "60's & 70's. I
was fascinated. Here was another example
of the diverse assortment of his talents.
But, aside from being extremely smart and talented, he
was by far, the most tormented person I've ever known. We would often meet for
lunch at the Pizza Inn and I would listen while he talked about the demons that
lurked in the dark corners of his soul. He would lament the fact that he never,
in his whole life, had ever really finished anything. His marriages didn't
last, he had unfinished novels that he had written, he never was able to stay
very long in one job, he had moved on too quickly and too often. The one regret
that he seemed to not make much of was his short career as an NFL player. He
had a six year career before he called it quits. The experts will tell you,
that with his talent and the numbers that he put up during his peak years as an
NFL wide receiver, that had he had stayed and played out a full career he would
be in the NFL Hall of Fame today.
But, most of all, George wanted to be a writer. It's
the one thing that I think, if he would have received acclaim for, he might
have embraced.
George Sauer was the most interesting guy I've ever
known. It always amazed me that, though I had gotten to be such a friend to a
Super Bowl hero, I was never awestruck by it. I think that was because of the
depth of the man. The more I came to
know him, the more I realized how much more there was to him than just a former
football star. He was an incredible man
who could never overcome his demons. His is a sad story about a man who, I
think, wanted to achieve greatness and,
at the same time, was scared to death of the greatness that he wanted to
achieve.
When George moved away in 2002, my son Eric and I
helped him pack up a U Haul truck with his meager belongings. When it was time
for him to go he shook my hand and with teary eyes said, "Thank you my
friend". I just said something about writing and staying in touch.
We exchange a number of letters and a few phone calls
those first two years after his move to Texas, but eventually the letter
writing slowed and then stopped. Then one November day a few years back I tried
to call him to wish him a happy birthday and to see how he was doing, but the
number was no longer in service. Eventually I tried to locate him via the
internet and found his mother's obituary on-line. The obituary listed George
and his sister, Dana, as survivors and through a “people search” I was able to
locate her phone number. When I called she told me that George was now living
in Ohio and was in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer’s. She said she knew
who I was because George had spoken of me often before his disease had become
too severe. I sent a letter to George, through her, and some pictures of me and
my family but, evidently, George didn't recognize us. That was a blow, but
I understood.
Now, George is gone and, with tears in my eyes, I say “goodbye old friend”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Bowl_III
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