I got a chance to meet Wild Bill Holden. For those who missed my earlier post, Wild Bill is a Cub fan who is walking from Arizona to Wrigley Field and raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) along the way. He’s made it all the way to Illinois and through public events and donations over the web, he’s raised over $75,000.
Wild Bill’s stop on Friday was at a Culver’s Frozen Custard and Butterburgers Restaurant in Morton, Illinois. My buddy Brando and I were traveling through town so we made plans to stop. We got there around 6:30 and the only signs that anything special was happening were 1) Culvers’ workers were wearing Cubs hats, 2) there was a table with some items for auction and most evident 3) there was a line of (mostly) guys in (mostly) Cubs hats and shirts waiting patiently in line to have a few minutes with man dressed in Cub blue sitting at a table enoying a double cheeseburger and fries.
Here is Bill sitting with two reporters while trying to squeeze in a bite or two.
Wild Bill granted an interview to a local TV new station. Before the interview started, he spotted me in my Chicago Cubs 1908 World Championship T-shirt. “Hey, nice shirt!”, he said.
In the background, they have the This Old Cub video playing. This Old Cub is the story of former Cub thirdbaseman Ron Santo. Wild Bill says he was inspired to do his walk by this video.
Finally, I got a chance to spend a few minutes with Wild Bill. I found him to quite charming. He spoke of the Cub fans’ “ownership” of the team which he feels is unique to the team. He related a couple stories of Cub fans he has met throughout his journey.
I asked him how his knees were holding up. He said they were fine but I could tell by the way he moved that I bet he’s getting a bit sore.
At the end, he favored me with a photo which you see above.
Rumor has it that Wild Bill will be throwing out the ball at Wrigley Field on July 1 and will also be leading the crowd in Take Me Out to the Ballgame.
Finally, if you have any dollars left in your budget, please consider donating or purchasing the This Old Cub video which helps the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.