Daddy, what is electricity?

I can relate to the father who was walking with his young son. The boy asked, "Daddy, what is electricity?"

         “Well now, I don't really know," said the father. I never knew much about electricity. All I know about it is that it makes things run."

         A little farther on, the boy said, "Daddy, how does gasoline make the automobiles go?"

         The father answered, "Well, I don't know. I don't know much about motors."          Several more questions followed with much the same result; until at last, the boy said, "Gee, I hope you don't mind my asking so many questions."

         "Not at all, son," said his father. "You go right ahead and ask. How else would you learn any thing?”

The Daughter Who Booed Her Father

            Fatherhood can be tough.

            Sparky Anderson was one of Major League Baseball's all-time great managers. He had a nickname, "Captain Hook." He was given that nickname because he so often went out to the mound and pulled his pitchers from the ball game.

            Pitchers hated it. The fans did not like it much either. Most the time, they would boo whenever Sparky would come out of the dugout.

            One night, Sparky removed the pitcher and was booed heavily by the crowd. Later, he found out his own daughter, Shirley, had booed him.

            "Why would you boo your father?" he asked her, surprised.

            "I didn't want them to know you're my father," she honestly replied.

            Fatherhood can be tough.

  

Source: THE LONG BALL by Tom Adelman

Like a Father

Frank Leahy is a name forgotten by most today. He coached the Notre Dame Football team during the forties and early fifties. He won four national championships with Notre Dame. Throughout the 50s, 60s, and early 70s, he was generally considered the second greatest coach of all time next to the legendary Knute Rockne. Unfortunately, he was not considered by his family to be a great father.

In his authorized and official biography on Leahy, Wells Trombley tells of a sad moment immediately after Leahy's death. Before I share that moment with you, let me brief you on the context.

Although, Leahy was portrayed by the press as being a model father, the reality was he neglected his wife and children. Leahy, who died in the early 70s, battled various diseases before they took his life. Trombley, who accompanied Leahy much of the time during the final months, observed the battle Leahy's wife and children faced mediating grief and bitterness. It is in this context in the aftermath of Leahy’s death, his biographer observed a sad encounter.

A person who had worked under Frank Leahy, whose life had been directly touched by Leahy, approached famous man’s widow and said, "Mrs. Leahy, I'm going to miss the coach so much. We had a very special relationship. He was just like a father to me."

Leahy's widow wearily replied, "That's very nice. I just wish he had been just like a father to some of his children."