Slam Dunk judge, email flub, 30 games 30 night tour 2002
In 1988, Bill graciously accepted our invitation to judge our first Slam Dunk contest held at Harbison Point. It was part of the Cities corporate challenge. Bill was always willing to give his support to the sports community and to Sports San Diego. We ran a 3 on 3 Hoops at the Beach tournament and for the following 4-5 years, he allowed us to borrow his high end portable hoop that was strong enough for us to have the slam dunk contest during the tournament.
Bill was given a Toshiba laptop in the early 90s. This was an amber screen DOS based system. Along with the computer he was also gifted a software program that was Nueral Network based financial analysis software that he was interested in running to help with his investments. He asked if I could come over and help set it up. I did and if you know anything about Vaporware, this program was basically just that. Nice graphics, but getting access to the internet through a 28 baud modem and Prodigy was a bit of a challenge. But that wasn’t the DOH! Of this story. He also asked me to upgrade his email. Picasso was his live in assistant kept care of the grounds, help with household chores and cook. He also set up Bill’s computer and his current email. When you opened his email, the interface looked like an excellent spreadsheet. Top menu, left menu options and all other interface options were hidden. I set up the email to include the menu options and the inbox, outbox, trash etc. Interface that made up the email client experience. Proud of my accomplishments, I left and soon got a call from Bill. “What did you do to my email!” I quickly returned and I have to confess, I had no idea how to turn the interface back to his spreadsheet setup. It took me a few hour to figure it out. To this day, I’m not sure how he ever sent email. I think at the time he just received email and had someone else reply. I cherished and always respected my interaction with Bill. He always introduced me as a friend and a community activist.
Memory 3
When Bill went on the road tour love it or leave it, 2002, 30 nights in 30 dates, the NBA designed a tye dyed t- shirt. I reached out to Bill and asked to purchase a dozen t-shirts for my 3 on 3 volunteers. He had them send 48 t-shirts no charge.
Much respect to you Bill. And for our last email, my response to Bill, Ditto.