For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Final Farewell to Leader of Our Band

Where to begin?

I would like to open with the laughter, but I suppose I had better go with the tears. I would not want my old sports editor to scold me for burying the lede.

John Cressy lost his courageous battle with metastatic cancer last Sunday. He was, of course, too young. He barely made it, by two months, to the Beatles song, “When I’m 64.”

John was the Paul McCartney of our band in the sports department of The Star back when it was The Star-Free Press. From 1987 to 1993 he was our leader, our editor, our “O Captain! My Captain!”

Or perhaps he was our John Lennon, for he similarly possessed a wry and acerbic wit. “Cressyman,” as I called him because he always called me “Woodman,” never met deadline pressure he could not pierce with humor.

I was John’s first hire after he became sports editor. If he ever regretted it, he was kind enough never to tell me so.

He actually had reason for second thoughts early on when a couple other editors complained to him that my writing was embellished with too many metaphors, similes and hyperbole.

Similar criticisms had been voiced at my three previous newspapers. But something different happened now. John had my back. He told the naysayer editors he liked my writing style and that so did the readers.

Most important, he took me aside and told me to keep doing it my way.

This is not to say John didn’t try to help me grow as a writer. For one thing, he made me realize less can be more – that an 850-word column could be improved if I whittled it down to 750 words.

Long after John left the Star, I continued to check with him whenever I used the word “whom” to make sure my grammar was correct. He kept trying to teach me how to figure it out on my own, but I honestly didn’t pay close attention because it was always a good excuse to touch bases with him.

John was not only an invaluable grammar reference, he was a human sports trivia almanac. Before the Internet, instead of Googling a question we would just ask John. He once won a few episodes on a sports trivia TV show. Local bars would even call the sports desk and ask for John to settle trivia bets between two patrons.

My experience of having my sports editor also be my friend was the rule, not the exception, with John. Former Star colleague Doug Thompson succinctly summed it up well for all of us: “I am grateful to have known him as a friend.”

When news got out that John was in the ICU at Community Memorial Hospital, his former writers rushed to see him. Those who could not make it to Ventura sent messages of their friendship and love.

Walking into the ICU, I at first did not recognize John, so frail had he become. Whispering required great effort on his part – and leaning in close to his lips on my part to hear.

Saying hello when my heart was telling me this was also a final farewell was suffocatingly somber. And yet John, with some trademark acerbic quips, made me laugh. When he called me “Woodman” it made me smile.

Most dear of all, the thing I will hold on to from that heartrending visit was how Cressyman asked about my daughter and son, and wife. Nor was he content with brief updates, he wanted details in full.

After leaving his bedside I couldn’t find the elevator at first, my vision too clouded by tears.

But tears are not what John – who had a great laugh, a cackle really, and did not conserve it – would want. He would prefer me to end this column on a lighter note. I’ll try.

It’s funny the things you think of at a time like this. Like, who/whom the heck am I now going to ask about who/whom?

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Wisdom From Pinch-Hitting Typewriters

            From time to time I turn this space over to my readers, but today I am having some writers pinch hit with their words of wisdom and inspiration.

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“Love is friendship set on fire,” wrote 17th century author Jeremy Taylor.

My two cents: Set your own world ablaze!

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From the great A. A. Milne, author of the classic Winnie-the-Pooh series: “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”

My two cents: Enjoy your un-rushed journey towards your goals.

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“We find our path by walking it,” advised poet Maya Angelou.

Me: Be an explorer!

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Me again: The more you give, the more you receive – unless your motivation for giving is to receive.

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From author Bill Bryson: “You always have your whole life ahead of you.”

Two cents from Hall of Fame pitcher/philosopher Satchel Paige: “Don’t look back – something might be gaining on you.”

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“The world is a book,” philosopher Saint Augustine wrote around 400 AD, “and those who do not travel read only a page.”

My two cents: “Read” as many pages as you can, as often as you can, and as widely as possible.

*

From Stephen King, the maestro of scary: “The scariest moment is always just before you start.”
Me: Start!

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Similarly, from Jack London: “You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.”
My two cents: Grab a club.

*

From my all-time favorite author, Dallas Woodburn McAuley: “True coolness isn’t about following someone else’s list of rules. It’s about being happy in your own skin and being joyful in your own life. That is what gives you the sparkle.”

Two cents from Dallas’ dad: Find your sparkle and share it with the world.

*

From author Alex Frazen: “You can make excuses or you can make yourself proud. You can make excuses or you can make progress. Every day, it’s your choice.”

Me: Choose wisely. Better yet, choose boldly.

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From Giotto di Bondone, a painter – which is a cousin to being a writer: “The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights.”

Or, as John Wooden consistently advised, “make friendship a fine art” today.

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Speaking of fine art, Vincent van Gogh said: “The more I think about it, the more I realize there is nothing more artistic than to love others.”

My two cents: Be an artist!

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From Leonardo da Vinci: “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them – they went out and happened to things.”

Me: Go happen to something that matters to you today.

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Me again: Embrace Mondays instead of greeting them with antipathy or else you will wind up dreading one-seventh of your life.

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“It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive,” Miguel de Cervantes famously noted.

With apologies to the late, great poet, following two recent journeys I took I have to disagree. I think arriving into a bear hug from my son in New York City, and then into a big hug from my daughter in San Francisco, were far better than my hopeful travels there.

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Speaking of my son, a talented writer and painter, this nugget is from him: “Giving compliments does much more good than taking out the trash, and thus should be done more than once each week.”

Speaking of trash, legendary Buena High basketball coach – and one of my longtime role models – Joe Vaughan likes to say: “Take pride in everything you do. When you take the trashcans to the curb, be the best trashcan taker-outter in the neighborhood.”

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Let me close with this wisdom from Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

Those who know me well, or read me often, can guess how I am going to translate Waldo’s wisdom: Make today your masterpiece!

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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