Brush With Greatness

I was watching Stephen King’s “The Stand” on TV. One of the characters is played by California-born actor Bill Fagerbakke. Bill is better known as Michael “Dauber” Dybinski, a fictitious assisstant football coach under Head Coach Hayden Fox played by actor Craig T Nelson.

The ABC sitcom “Coach” ran from 1989 to 1997. Dauber coached at the non-existent Minnesota State University, known as the Screaming Eagles.

Anyway, watching Fagerbakke play Tom Cullen in The Stand reminded me of the off-season in 1990-’91 when i skied at the Big Mountain Ski Resort in Whitefish, Montana. I was there to support and raise money for former Miami Dolphins DE Doug Betters charity benefit that raised money to provide health care for the children of the loggers up in the Northwest. A number of pro football players and Hollywood types were there too. Bill, being one of those Hollwood-types was also there to help raise money.

I was a Coach fan, and found Fagerbakke to be totally unlike his Dauber character. Standing 6’6″, Bill was an extremely intelligent, soft spoken individual and a real nice guy. He was also a decent skier from what i remember.

But the real story is that he is also the voice of the cartoon character Patrick in the Nictoon “Spongebob Squarepants.” One of my two young boys favorite cartoons. Which made dad an instant hit with his boys.

Just think, i’m a hero to my boys, not  because I played with Terry Bradshaw, Mean Joe Greene or Jack Lambert. Nope, dad’s great ’cause he “skied with Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants.” My brush with greatness.