Coach Roy's Random Thoughts....
Rest in Peace - Ron Smith and Gilbert Holt
We lost two people last week who, while they never knew it, changed the way I thought and acted over the last 15 years.
Ron Smith was a superior radio talk show host - rarely talked down to a listener - had strongly held opinions but would listen to your side. I don't remember him changing his opinion much, but he would agree to disagree and that was good.
I did get to talk to him a couple of times. Once was right after the introduction of Windows 95, I was driving around the Baltimore area, and he got talking about the new Microsoft release. I called in, and he was genuinely interested in the new system, and what I thought of it, not that my Unix oriented views carried much weight.
I listened to Ron when he was on while I was driving around the countryside - I got pretty irate when they moved him to 9 AM, since I usually go out in the afternoons. I'm not a big fan of the "Afternoon News Block" that replaced him a few years ago.
If I ever came back to Radio and tried to do a talk show, I'd pattern my presentation after him - he never went national, and that was good.
Gil Holt was a fixture around the Sussex County Little League. While I got involved with Little League through my 3 boys, it was Gil who first asked me to help with the Eastern Regional Softball Tournament. They were having to hold the thing in various locations, and the District 3 committee wanted their own game announcers.
After a couple of years, I was doing the final games, and when the Senior Softball World Series came to Sussex County, I wound up as the "Media Liason Guy" for the last 9 years, running the press box for the final games and coordinating all those statistics sport fans live for.
If you don't know who Gilbert Holt Sr. was, he was that great big guy on the golf cart at the World Series who usually had all the answers and who helped haul all kinds of material in and out of the park. Those who really knew Gil also knew that he was a never ending source of tables and chairs, knew all about Punkin' Chunkin and crowd security, had been the president of the Lewes Lions club, and knew his way around the Lewes Power House too.
He also had a position every December as one of Santa's helpers in Lewes - no wonder everyone was "good" around Gil.
Our life around here is going to be a little poorer now. Ron Smith helped shape much of my political thought, and his writings fortunately will live on in the Baltimore Sun database. Gil Holt got me into the upper levels of this area's Little League, and by extension, into the American Legion Baseball Committee.
I'm going to miss them both.
Ron Smith was a superior radio talk show host - rarely talked down to a listener - had strongly held opinions but would listen to your side. I don't remember him changing his opinion much, but he would agree to disagree and that was good.
I did get to talk to him a couple of times. Once was right after the introduction of Windows 95, I was driving around the Baltimore area, and he got talking about the new Microsoft release. I called in, and he was genuinely interested in the new system, and what I thought of it, not that my Unix oriented views carried much weight.
I listened to Ron when he was on while I was driving around the countryside - I got pretty irate when they moved him to 9 AM, since I usually go out in the afternoons. I'm not a big fan of the "Afternoon News Block" that replaced him a few years ago.
If I ever came back to Radio and tried to do a talk show, I'd pattern my presentation after him - he never went national, and that was good.
Gil Holt was a fixture around the Sussex County Little League. While I got involved with Little League through my 3 boys, it was Gil who first asked me to help with the Eastern Regional Softball Tournament. They were having to hold the thing in various locations, and the District 3 committee wanted their own game announcers.
After a couple of years, I was doing the final games, and when the Senior Softball World Series came to Sussex County, I wound up as the "Media Liason Guy" for the last 9 years, running the press box for the final games and coordinating all those statistics sport fans live for.
If you don't know who Gilbert Holt Sr. was, he was that great big guy on the golf cart at the World Series who usually had all the answers and who helped haul all kinds of material in and out of the park. Those who really knew Gil also knew that he was a never ending source of tables and chairs, knew all about Punkin' Chunkin and crowd security, had been the president of the Lewes Lions club, and knew his way around the Lewes Power House too.
He also had a position every December as one of Santa's helpers in Lewes - no wonder everyone was "good" around Gil.
Our life around here is going to be a little poorer now. Ron Smith helped shape much of my political thought, and his writings fortunately will live on in the Baltimore Sun database. Gil Holt got me into the upper levels of this area's Little League, and by extension, into the American Legion Baseball Committee.
I'm going to miss them both.
Posted by Coach Roy at 12/26/2011 11:07 AM 
Categories: Pop Culture, Broadcasting, Political Theory, Athletics:Youth Sports
Tags: Gilbert Holt Ron Smith Little League Baltimore Radio WBAL
Categories: Pop Culture, Broadcasting, Political Theory, Athletics:Youth Sports
Tags: Gilbert Holt Ron Smith Little League Baltimore Radio WBAL
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