I watched Matt Suhey play for the Bears from
my freshman year in high school into my early twenties.
Eventually, he became a colleague of
mine on the trading floor.
We
had mutual friends and would occasionally run into each other. Funny how an eight-year
age gap narrows with time.
When I was fourteen, Suhey was the fullback
blocking for my boyhood idol, Walter Payton. He wore number twenty-six for the
Chicago Bears, and I watched him every Sunday. When I was thirty, he was one of
the guys on the trading floor.
Last month, I chalked that when Dolly
Parton died, I felt like I had lost another little piece of my mom.
I'm not exactly sure how I feel about
number twenty-six moving up to heaven. I lost a member of my favorite football
team from when I was a boy. The man who scored the Bears' first touchdown in Twenty. He is now the seventh player we have lost from that 1985 squad.
I
also lost a guy who wore a trading coat and shared the same arena I walked
every day. Another Board of Trade alumnus who died too damn early.
Matt Suhey was a fierce competitor on the
football field and in the trading pit. He was also one of the nicest and
funniest guys around. His personality fit perfectly with the cast of characters
who inhabited the trading floor.
Maybe that is why this one feels a little
different. He belongs to two chapters of my life that I thought were separate,
but it turns out they weren't.
Life moves on.
Football seasons come and go quickly.
Opening bells ring, prices react, markets close, and before you know it,
another year is gone.
People come into our lives from a distance.
Some eventually stand right beside us. Some are there for a moment or a month.
Some appear for a couple of paragraphs. Others somehow find their way into
several chapters.
Then life moves on, and people
leave.
The Bears will pay tribute to their warrior.
Penn State will honor one of their own, and somewhere among the remnants of the
old Chicago Board of Trade, stories will be told about Suhey in a trading coat
instead of a football uniform.
Out of all of it, there is one thought
that makes me smile. Walter Payton has his fullback back. Not just his blocker
or his teammate, but his dear friend.
The Bears moved from Wrigley Field to
Soldier Field and may someday wind up in Alsip, Illinois, but eventually, Bear
fans and Bear players all end up together in heaven.
Unfortunately, like an ex-wife, Vince
Lombardi and Packer fans are up there as well. What the hell does it matter
anyway? Jesus is a Saints fan.
Bear Down, Twenty-Six.
