Fred Hornkohl (1951-2016): Donations to Rizzo Family Foundation

[Banedon]

I met some NSBB folks once, many many moons ago at a Peoria Chiefs game I think. And I really don't even remember who all was there. I don't think Fred was one, but I can't be sure.

Was it with Laura and I where I made the donation to the Katrina relief fund in NSBB MLPOY Eric Patterson's name?

 

:D

 

I think it was! You and Laura were the only ones I remembered for sure...wasn't sure who else was there...

[SheffieldBoy]

i haven't posted much on here but have lurked on the site since 2007.. I always enjoyed reading Fred's stats and posts. They were so thorough and fun. I enjoyed his "Greetings from..." intros and always loved how he capitalized CUBS. I know that I haven't posted much and never really even had an interaction with him, but reading about his passing really was saddening to see. Especially since the Cubs are so great this year and he had endured so many awful seasons.

 

Rest in peace, Fred.

[Inlearningmode]

Damn. This sucks. I had the pleasure of meeting Fred (along with Yeti and CubmanPi) in Pittsburgh in the beginning of the 2008 season. Although he didn't know it, that was a really low point in my life. In the year and a half before, my wife and I had bought a house, gotten married, she finished her associates degree and I started my Masters. Combined with that, we went thru a brutal custody battle with her ex and in the process had a miscarriage of our 1st child together. After the stress of everything, my wife had health issues and was forced to leave/lose her job. I was working for a dead-end company, passed over for promotions several times and struggling to make ends meet as the only one working in a then family of 4, with a mortgage, student loans, and medical bills stacking up.

 

Fred messaged me on here one day to let me know he was going to be here for the Cubs/Pirates series months before the game. I completely forgot. When the game time came, I was dead broke. He had already paid for the tickets, which he didn't ask for anything in return. I tried to back out of the game, but he insisted and even bought me food for the first game. I was able to scrounge up $20 so as to not look like a complete bum for the 2nd game.

 

My wife and I were down to 1 vehicle. I believe I made up a story about my car being in the shop to save myself some embarassment. My wife needed the car for those 2 days for a dr's appt and an interview. But Fred came and picked me up from work, drove us to the game and drove me all the way home when I refused to allow him to let me take his car home after the game.

 

But anyway, I never told him but I really appreciated everything he did and offered. I always wanted to return the favor if he ever came back out this way. And I know I wasn't myself or very fun when those guys were out here. But it says a lot about a person to be that kind to someone he didn't really know. So I can't imagine the heartbreak his family is feeling. God bless you, Cubman and family.

 

#horsefeathers #horsefeathers

 

Man, very moving. I'm a newbee to the forum, but this story and others above helped to bring Fred to life. Thank you for sharing.

[Bruce Miles]

I read about this on Twitter last night. Sad news. Fred was one of the nicest people I met online. He was always supportive of my work, and I enjoyed his posts.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

Damn. This sucks. I had the pleasure of meeting Fred (along with Yeti and CubmanPi) in Pittsburgh in the beginning of the 2008 season. Although he didn't know it, that was a really low point in my life. In the year and a half before, my wife and I had bought a house, gotten married, she finished her associates degree and I started my Masters. Combined with that, we went thru a brutal custody battle with her ex and in the process had a miscarriage of our 1st child together. After the stress of everything, my wife had health issues and was forced to leave/lose her job. I was working for a dead-end company, passed over for promotions several times and struggling to make ends meet as the only one working in a then family of 4, with a mortgage, student loans, and medical bills stacking up.

 

Fred messaged me on here one day to let me know he was going to be here for the Cubs/Pirates series months before the game. I completely forgot. When the game time came, I was dead broke. He had already paid for the tickets, which he didn't ask for anything in return. I tried to back out of the game, but he insisted and even bought me food for the first game. I was able to scrounge up $20 so as to not look like a complete bum for the 2nd game.

 

My wife and I were down to 1 vehicle. I believe I made up a story about my car being in the shop to save myself some embarassment. My wife needed the car for those 2 days for a dr's appt and an interview. But Fred came and picked me up from work, drove us to the game and drove me all the way home when I refused to allow him to let me take his car home after the game.

 

But anyway, I never told him but I really appreciated everything he did and offered. I always wanted to return the favor if he ever came back out this way. And I know I wasn't myself or very fun when those guys were out here. But it says a lot about a person to be that kind to someone he didn't really know. So I can't imagine the heartbreak his family is feeling. God bless you, Cubman and family.

 

#horsefeathers #horsefeathers

 

I never even really interacted with him even through the interwebs, but reading stories like these are great. Go CUBS.

[UMFan83]

I read about this on Twitter last night. Sad news. Fred was one of the nicest people I met online. He was always supportive of my work, and I enjoyed his posts.

 

Thanks for chiming in Bruce, glad to see Fred resonated in the Cubs universe well beyond the borders of this forum.

[Jake]

Hi all,

 

I know I haven't been around in a while. But wanted to offer my condolences.

 

Someplace in the archives here is a picture taken in Philadelphia eight years ago this fall at a Cubs Philiies game include Fred, me and a few others from here. Fred was coming through and reached out to me and the others and organized us all meeting up at the game. Lost touch over the past couple of years. Only good memories...

 

May his memory be for a blessing..

[DouglasDorsey]

Been on here a very long time. I have a couple accounts but cant ever remember the logins so had to create this new one. I have been around lurking in the forums almost since NSBB started.. I never really posted much but I always really enjoyed the game forums and especially the stats that Fred posted. I love stats but dont have the time to research them much and Fred always made it easy to find and understand. My condolences to the family. Im sure he will be missed and I will miss "lurking" over his posts.

[illiniguy]

I was watching the game last night on my phone at work, heard Len say it and, like many others here, it hit me way harder than I thought possible for someone I never actually met. Cancer really horsefeathering sucks and life can really be shitty. I really wish Fred could have held out for at least a few more months. I hope he has good seats now. Thoughts and prayers with you and your family CubmanPi.

 

It is fitting that we beat the Cardinals for him last night though, I am sure he would have liked that.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

I horsefeathering love all the horsefeathers

[CubinNY]

One of the greatest things about Fred was his dedication to the game threads. During those lean years there would be some game threads where nearly every post was fred updating the innings with his "useless stats". He was so dedicated and I think he kept the threads going for posterity so we would have an archive of every game. That's just the kind of person he was. Like I wrote a few pages back, he is missed and he will be missed every time I post in a game thread.

[Careless]

I never met the man, but already miss his presence here.

 

All the great stories in this thread tell a lot about how great a man he was.

[Careless]

By the way, with all the "Fred is old" jokes, how did we never know that he used Lotus?

[kujay]

I never met Fred and never really interacted with him in too meaningful of a way here. Still, ever since I heard Len's words last night, I just have a nagging sadness that comes over me for a few minutes at a time.

 

Like so many of us I appreciate the dedication he had to this site and the team. The stories shared by everyone here show his dedication ran a lot deeper than that. Bums me out to no end that he won't see this season play out.

 

Deepest condolences to his family and all here who knew him. He is already deeply missed.

[Derwood]

I [expletive] love all the horsefeathers

 

It's messing with my brain. Whenever I read [expletive], my mind would just insert the proper word in there, but when I read "horsefeathers", it can only be horsefeathers.

[CubmanPi]

Made it to town for the service, and I'm showing off the horsefeathering horsefeathers filter to my family who couldn't horsefeathering believe that horsefeathers.

 

ETA - f-bomb plus ing at the end hasn't been changed yet. The more horsefeathers you know

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Made it to town for the service, and I'm showing off the [expletive] horsefeathers filter to my family who couldn't [expletive] believe that horsefeathers.

 

ETA - f-bomb plus ing at the end hasn't been changed yet. The more horsefeathers you know

 

I'll work on the rest of them this weekend. Tim has set up a lot of variants of the filtered words and I thought I got most of the big ones.

[TruffleShuffle]

Made it to town for the service, and I'm showing off the [expletive] horsefeathers filter to my family who couldn't [expletive] believe that horsefeathers.

 

ETA - f-bomb plus ing at the end hasn't been changed yet. The more horsefeathers you know

 

i hope you showed them the mention of fred at the end of the cards game.

[UMFan83]

Made it to town for the service, and I'm showing off the [expletive] horsefeathers filter to my family who couldn't [expletive] believe that horsefeathers.

 

ETA - f-bomb plus ing at the end hasn't been changed yet. The more horsefeathers you know

 

Awesome. I also saw that his daughter posted this thread on facebook, which I think is awesome that family and friends can see how beloved he was in the virtual world (which of course spilled out into his personal life as several stories here elude to).

[jiml60]

I heard Len mention his passing on the game Monday. I remember meeting him, with Laura (and a couple of people we knew from WhatIf Sports) at a bar on Sheffield, a couple blocks north of Wrigley. As has been mentioned by everyone, just a nice, funny guy who loved the Cubs.

 

Sorry for your loss CubmanPi, and NSBB.

[imb]

Another Fred-note - perhaps his greatest accomplishment in life is that he was that mod that banned Da Bum. That should put to rest any desire to see Da Bum return -- he should be banned forever, just how Fred wanted it.

[Derwood]

He also banned me from the Game Threads for awhile earlier this season. He was the only mod who I felt bad for pissing off

[Fredsbigsis]

Fred and I came home from school every day to watch the cartoons. When the Cubs game ran late I would get annoyed. Fred discovered his life long love of baseball and the Cubs, at age 5. He started collecting baseball cards and memorizing stats at age 6. At 8, Mom would drop us off at the park with money for $3 box seats, a program and snacks. Fred taught me how to keep the box score. When the game was over Mom would head to Wrigley, Fred and I would start walking home, and we'd meet part way on Addison St. Imagine doing that today. I can never hear about the Cubs without thinking of him.

[UMFan83]

Fred and I came home from school every day to watch the cartoons. When the Cubs game ran late I would get annoyed. Fred discovered his life long love of baseball and the Cubs, at age 5. He started collecting baseball cards and memorizing stats at age 6. At 8, Mom would drop us off at the park with money for $3 box seats, a program and snacks. Fred taught me how to keep the box score. When the game was over Mom would head to Wrigley, Fred and I would start walking home, and we'd meet part way on Addison St. Imagine doing that today. I can never hear about the Cubs without thinking of him.

 

Thanks for sharing a great story about how Fred got his love for the Cubs, and sorry for your loss.

[Mark Priors Calves]

Fred and I came home from school every day to watch the cartoons. When the Cubs game ran late I would get annoyed. Fred discovered his life long love of baseball and the Cubs, at age 5. He started collecting baseball cards and memorizing stats at age 6. At 8, Mom would drop us off at the park with money for $3 box seats, a program and snacks. Fred taught me how to keep the box score. When the game was over Mom would head to Wrigley, Fred and I would start walking home, and we'd meet part way on Addison St. Imagine doing that today. I can never hear about the Cubs without thinking of him.

 

Thank you. Sorry for your loss.