posted on November 4, 2002 03:17:16 PM new
The following is a 1st person comemtary by Ken Hoffman a columnist for the Houston (TX) Chronicle. He was the brother in law of Jake Young killed in Bali by a terrorist bomb.
Oct. 16, 2002, 6:52PM
He was a big man in every good way
By KEN HOFFMAN
Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
For his college-graduation present in 1990, I took Jake Young to Europe for a couple
of weeks.
It wasn't what you'd call a luxury trip. We were just two knuckleheads with a few
hundred dollars' spending money and a Eurail pass in our pockets. Europe is more fun
that way.
We slept in cheap hotels and on overnight trains between Paris and Monte Carlo and
Rome. Bedtime was easier for me. Bunks on European trains are squeezably tight
quarters. I'm normal size. I fit.
Jake was 6 feet 5 and weighed 300 pounds. He overflowed. I remember waking up
one morning with his foot dangling in my face from above.
A few years earlier, on our first date, my wife asked, "Do you follow college
football?"
I said, "You mean besides betting on it? Yeah, I'm a big fan."
She said, "My brother plays. He's pretty good. He's like an all-star or something."
The next day I went into the sports department at work and asked, "You guys ever
hear of a player named Jake Young? I went out with his sister last night."
The college football writer said, "He's the center for Nebraska. He's first-team
All-America."
In my closet now, I have Jake's jerseys from the 1989 Fiesta Bowl and Japan Bowl.
The University of Nebraska is known for great centers. Cornhusker coaches say Jake
was the greatest of them all. He was Academic All-America, too.
One day during our trip to Europe, we took a bus in Rome. It was Sunday, and we
were going to the Vatican to watch the pope in St. Peter's Square. The bus was
jammed. It was hard to even breathe. Passengers' noses were touching -- that kind of
packed.
Suddenly the bus stopped short. A scruffy Italian guy in a denim jacket, who looked
like Al Pacino circa Serpico, took a pistol out of his pants, poked it in Jake's chest,
then waved it at me and shouted (in Italian, so I'm guessing), "Get off the bus!"
Tell the pope to start without us.
A Gypsy woman had picked Jake's pocket. She had his wallet concealed somewhere
on her body, which was covered with a bulky winter coat and a blanket. She was not
daisy-fresh.
A van took all of us, Gypsy included, to the police station. We waited there for hours
because the pickpocket demanded to have a lawyer present. Where are you going to
find a lawyer in Rome on Sunday morning?
Finally we said, keep the wallet (and all of Jake's money). We've got a train to Naples
to catch.
Now even shorter on cash, we stayed that night in a hotel room in a crummy part of
Naples. I had never seen a room like this. There was a hole in the wall big enough for
a person to crawl out to the street.
Or worse, someone could crawl from the street into our room.
"Jake, you're sleeping next to the hole."
That way, if a burglar sneaked into our room, they'd both be surprised.
A year later, Jake was the best man at my wedding. He flew in the night before from
Nebraska. He remembered to pack a dark suit and tie. But not his shoes.
The next morning, the ceremony had to wait for Jake. Where are you going to find a
pair of size 13 extra-wide black shoes in Midland on a Saturday morning?
He could laugh at himself, too. Once I took him to the wrestling matches at Compaq
Center. Hulk Hogan was in the main event.
The Hulkster did this bit where he'd prance around the ring, tearing off his T-shirt and
flexing his muscles.
We were sitting in the upper level. When Hulk made his entrance, Jake stood up and
ripped off his shirt, too. Everybody turned to look upstairs. Even Hulk stopped flexing
to see what the commotion was.
Jake was bigger than Hulk.
Jake got his law degree, got married, had a baby and moved to Hong Kong. He took a
job as an attorney for a London-based law firm.
Recently, Jake, his wife, Laura, and 2-year-old son, Will, decided to come home to
America. Jake found a new job in Kansas City, where the couple first met, and they
bought a house.
Laura and Will flew back last week. Jake stayed behind because he played rugby for
a team in Hong Kong and the guys had entered a tournament in Bali.
Last Saturday, after their game, Jake and his teammates went to a nightclub near the
beach.
