Bob Ferguson Memorial

[Applause] I'm normally never watch those things because the worst thing in the world is to try to speak after you watch something like that I'm sitting over there and I'm like uh crying so finally I just put my head down I'm like I'm going to pray for these people but uh welcome thank you so much on just behalf of the family thank you for being here to celebrate his life to celebrate uh a man in a lot of ways all of us I promise you all of us have a bob story in here at least one I know you do amen come on preach you probably have a lot don't you I'll pray for you right now but man what a great day to come and let me let me tell you three things I think this is what's so important about today one is this is that like I said all of us have a story of Bob because Bob was truly a gift there are so many mornings he and I would have coffee before before he would do cans and we would talk life about all kinds of things most most times I I couldn't tell we were going all the time but I loved it I loved it I loved it the second thing about it is is this and I think you probably caught it from watching the video Bob loved Jesus and I think loving Jesus is the most important thing that any human being can do and because he loved Jesus let me just say this and that's why I don't really like the term celebration of life I don't like it and here's why because for Bob because he loved Jesus today's a worship service amen we get a worship Jesus because Bob loved Jesus and I think the other part that's cool about it is is we get to slow down long enough and I think like today the thing I hope all of us leave with is a reminder what's really important like my last memory with Bob was this last Sunday and he I'm kind of going around I'm hugging everybody and and and I obviously Sandy hugged you first and and anybody knows me knows I hate hugs I grew up in Wyoming you don't do that and so I go to hug Bob and as I hug him he all a sudden like pulled me tighter and I'm like whoa Bob like we're a church but then he said this to me really quietly he goes you know you're not the worst Pastor oh gosh and it was like of all the things that are the last words from Bob me thank you Lord I'll take that one I know there's somebody worse than me I don't know who it is but could we just could you join me could we stand in just honor of his life and who Bob is in the honor of of Jesus and let's Commit This Time time to the Lord father thank you so much for Bob oh even just sitting here in this gym right now I remember that voice booming across this whole floor and it's almost weird to be in this gym without that voice but yet to every one of us sitting here right now maybe to some of us that have known him his whole life to those of us that maybe have known him more recently thank you for choosing to gift us each in our own unique way with the life of Bob we didn't deserve it it was completely of your grace and so we acknowledge that today I pray for everybody that's about ready to speak uh father would this not be a a speaking engagement but an opportunity to worship you through how we talk about this man would you be pleased would you as our father look down when we're done and just find pleasure in the way that we celebrated Jesus by how we celebrated Bob and so father would you through the power of your Holy Spirit just enable us to do that today we love you we take today as a true gift in your precious name we pray amen all right you may be seated Kelly came and I don't know what she there she is she's going to be come up and singing you were you lived across the street from them is there any like terrible stories you want to tell before you sing no we'll save those for later okay than if you know this song I would love for you to join me in singing as we worship be thou my vision oh lord of my heart not be all else to me save that thou art thou my best thought by day or by Night waking for sleeping thou presence my light be thou my wisdom and thou my true words I ever with thee and thou with me Lord thou my great father and by thy true son thou in me dwelling and I with the [Music] one I King Of Heaven my victory won may I reach heaven Joys oh bright heav heav son Heart of My Own Heart what ever before still be my Vis oh ruler of all [Applause] and Travis's son come up next for the all right first I want to thank everyone for coming today to honor The Life and Legacy of my father Bob Frank Ferguson Jr a big thanks to my mom for putting her foot down and not letting me be Bob theii it's so incredibly fitting that we should all gather on this campus in this gym that meant so much to him to my family his players his students and his colleagues my sister and I basically grew up in this gym where we had the incredible unique experience of playing for both of our parents this place is home second I should begin with the disclaimer like so many historical movies this accounting my father's life should say based on actual events as most of these memories are based on his recounting of the events and my dad comes from a long line of exuberant storytellers that feel no obligation to stick strictly to the facts when they have an audience that being said Bob was born on June 29th 1947 in Englewood California his parents Bob and jeie and His Four siblings older sister Sally and younger brother Scott Chris and Larry were the foundation of his existence the lens through which he understood and explained the world to others my dad grew up in Hawthorne carousing the neighborhood parks with his brothers tormenting Sally singing in the pews at the Westchester Church of Christ and exasperating his mother my sister and I grew up on tales that usually ended with and when your grandpa came home we the boys would all take a hiding for that day's Adventures hidings that ended abruptly one day when Bob's dad snapped a prize yard stick over his backside and the era of spankings had ended as a kid he played nearly ev Everything but fell in love with basketball never the biggest strongest or fastest Bob wed himself to Greatness eventually playing point guard at Pepperdine University his claim to fame was playing against the legendary UCLA freshman of 1965 during that game my dad passed the ball between Kareem's then Lou Al andor's legs a slight that was met with heart's retribution later in the game with on a breakaway layup he was high lowed by a couple of Bruins as The Story Goes Bob got to the line and saw three baskets looming in front of him he asked the coach what do I do and was instructed duh shoot for the one in the middle he met the love of his life Sandra Marie sacket on the legendary beach volleyball courts at Marine Street in 1967 earlier Bob had been encouraged by MiraCosta High School boys volleyball coach Mike Co Mike cook to take up beach volleyball and on this particular day he was combing the courts for a CO partner That Could set his absurdly small hitting window thankfully Sandy was not only the best looking girl with the best hands on the beach she was also the toughest and the most patient from the moment they met they spent every day together playing doubles at marine by day and more volleyball under the lights at the park by night before they met Bob had already signed up for and his parents had paid for a year abroad program through Pepperdine to study in heidleberg Germany I can't share the bulk of my father's outrageous Tales of heidleberg as there are children present but he would want me to share that he swam across the necer river on a dare after the year studying in which I'm pretty sure the only thing he learned how to say was Bob returned home to his Sandy he took her to her senior prom proposed at her high school graduation and married her on August 11th 196 68 at 18 she promptly went to work and put him through his last two years of school Bob then returned the favor and honored my grandpa sackett's ultimatum that his daughter get her her degree before I came into the picture dad worked while my mom earned a degree from Long Beach State graduating Magnum kumani that part of this story is verifiable by the certificate that she hung proudly on the wall of our home rest assured this Gathering would look very different without their Union because quite frankly that man we are celebrating today simply does not exist without my mom Bob and Sandy first lived in gardinia before moving to an apartment in Van eyes the entire complex in Van eyes would later burn to the ground taking with it their prize green BW bug the dad had stashed all of his team's basketballs inside on the bright side they used the insurance money from the car to put it down pay payment on the second cheapest house on the market in SEI Valley in 1975 even so it was still a stretch for them to afford that $22,000 dream home together they raised my sister Heidi and I instilling in us the values of Faith love selflessness resilience and a passion for hard work Heidi and I knew from a very young age that we had to share our dad with the world that our dad belonged to everyone the man love to talk never met a stranger and as kids we became very accustomed to knowing that when danad left the house there was no telling when he'd come home because he would invariably meet someone or make a new friend and talk and talk and talk my dad's first teaching and coaching job was at the San Fernando Valley Christian School where he served as teacher coach groundskeeper yard supervisor janitor bus driver and Lord only knows what else he wants drove one of his basketball players back to the young man's home in downtown Los Angeles where his player demanded that my dad only slow down to about 10 m an hour rather than stop the car because quote coach I love you and we need you and I can't have your ly white butt getting shot in my neighborhood tonight after six years at San Fernando he took a job in the SEI Valley Unified School District teaching P at Calo junior high for a year then transferring to seoa for two years before moving to Hillside where he taught PE and coached basketball for six at Hillside he still holds the record for the most freshman tackled on the asphalt for flipping off the PE coaches through the oneway mirror glass of their office it was a different time people Bob started coaching in the gures volleyball program at Royal High School in 1982 he took over his head coach in 84 and proceeded to helm The Varsity while Sandy coached the JB teams for over two decades as head coach Bob led the girls to CIF of championships in 1989 and 1998 and I cannot begin to calculate the amount of toilet paper that my sister and I cleaned off our house on Willowbrook over the years as his teams expressed their Love by teing our house in the middle of the night uh-huh my dad taught history at Royal with the same passion that he coached after church we rarely saw my dad because he was up at school meticulously writing his notes for the week on his whiteboards so many whiteboards there are many many teachers currently in classrooms today that were inspired to join the profession after being in Mr Ferguson's US history class in 1988 a group of boys that included Dean bour Craig Parker and Ethan Weiss approached my dad and asked him to start a boys volleyball team at Royal after discussing it with my mom he agreed and the rest his history in the program's second year they dominated the Frontier League and won CIF in their second year they won CIF he led the program to 12 consecutive marman League titles between 1990 and 2001 he earned 101 consecutive victories from 1994 to 2001 his Highlanders were CIF champions in 1989 1990 1992 and 1994 his boys were mere C CIA finalists in 1991 1993 1997 2001 and his championship team of 1992 was designated California state champions by volleyball magazine coach Ferguson was inducted into the Ventura County Hall of Fame in 1995 and thanks to the efforts of Coach Bor you'll be inducted into the CIF Hall of Fame this upcoming October [Applause] through it all and years after stepping off the court my dad always deferred credit to my mom our JB coach saying she taught them all how to play volleyball that's the hard part I just taught him how to win just what an understatement my dad's Faith was Central to who he was he and my mom raised us in the church taught us about Jesus and lived a life fiercely consistent with their beliefs he was so proud to be part of Cornerstone Church to have been there with Francis Cham when they were meeting at caloa and then next to chuckecheese and on and on and on proud to have crushed and recycled cans for the Lord you didn't think I was going to forget the cans proud to have helped organize and supply the food bank proud to have hosted Community gr groups and led Bible studies anyone that knew my dad knew he was a man of great faith after retirement in 2010 Bob spent many many hours with his friends at the caloa golf course anytime I spoke with my dad in the past 20 years I was regaled with Tales of Leon and the guys sweating it out over a putt here and a chip there a competitor and a friend to the very end he loved that place I'd like to leave you with this in 1998 I was teaching my very first English class it was summer school at se Valley High School school and we were using some ratty retired Green Princeton textbooks there was this obscure poem published in there titled the funeral that had been written by a career photographer named Gordon Parks I taught the poem to my class of miscreant and knew even then that I'd be sharing this poem with you today after many snows I was home again time had whittel down to Mir Hills the great mountains of my childhood the Raging Rivers that I once swam now trickled like gentle streams and the wide Road curving on to China or Kansas City or perhaps Kolkata had withered to a crooked path of dust ending abruptly at the county burying ground only the giant that was my father remained the same a hundred strong men strained beneath his coffin when they bore him to his grave my father coach Ferguson stature far exceeded his 6'1 in frame he was truly a giant and I thank you all [Applause] all right next we're going to have uh both Heidi his daughter and Rick are G to come up and share you're gonna what would your dad say to you right now do your job just do your job say don't be a panty waste yes okay um we can totally do this you guys my dad went to go be with Jesus on Monday you guys are all here on Saturday I have always known how special my dad that is to different groups of people in different seasons of his life but to see so many seasons of his life in one room is so overwhelming and so sweet thank you for being here thank you for those that couldn't be here and wanted to be here thank you for every word you have spoken to my mom and my brother and I every hug we had two home games this week you guys this is like our third Memorial because people just showed up to love on our family which is overwhelming and unbelievable and then I stop and slow down and think about who my dad was and it makes perfect sense it makes perfect sense that the the players on his team that GRE grew up in my home during volleyball season would want to be here to honor him and his church friends that he loved so much would want to be here to honor him [Music] okay you hear stories of the guy who tackled the kid that was real it was real that's how we handed up at Royal High School you guys they're like we need to get this guy away from middle school but he's also the man who would tell us stories at night using our names as the superheroes We Know Who We Are because of who he was and how he followed Christ's example of love he loved in a way that was so unconditional while yelling at you [Music] Baseline you knew he wanted the very best for you at all times and sometimes what he thought was the best for you was more than you thought for yourself and he was so proud he was so proud of his players he was so proud of his grandkids he was so proud to be a part of so many different lives my mom has asked me to read a couple of notes from people because along with being an awesome coach and Grandpa and Dad he was such a good teacher you guys to go to high school to go to high school and have your dad as a teacher what a blessing it is to have him be a good teacher I love your dad your dad was the best people would literally drive down our street on Willowbrook and wave and go hey is Mr Ferguson live here I was going to drop out of high school until I was in his class it's the first time anyone in my life ever believed in me and that was my dad so over the years my mom has kept letters from A few different students and she highlighted a couple that I'm a do my very best to read to you from 1990 a student said when you told me that I had a gift for writing I was so proud it was and still is the greatest compliment I've ever received I have been writing a ton of poetry since short stories and the beginning of a book without your encouragement and praise I might have never taken in it seriously another student wrote Dear Mr fer which you [Music] guys my dad came back and coached with me when I was coaching in the early 2000s and they called him Ferg which those of you that played before me know would have gotten you killed but they got Grandpa coach which is so sweet also this student said I had to write and thank you for all that you taught me I'm doing very well in my history class we are going over the Constitution I know almost all the material another one I'm going to put these out there the writing is so great it's like a history lesson thank you for sharing with us your knowledge and being concerned for our well-being you are an excellent teacher possessing the qualities of organization endurance thoughtfulness humor encouragement and the ability to motivate stubborn students like [Music] ourselves another one said since the first day I started Royal you have made me feel comfortable your warm sense of humor seemed to lighten any person's mood it's great to wake up in the morning and come to a first period class that I actually enjoy over my threey year period here at Royal High School you have been one of my most inspirational teachers you have shown me what it takes takes to succeed in a high level class and what I need to do in order to prepare for anything that is asked of in a class like yours I thank you for all your hard work and dedication this was from a volleyball player student thank you for giving one of the best giving me one of the best years of my life I'm truly glad you did push me otherwise I would have gone nowhere you taught me how to grow up and how to be my own person the last one says you are a truly gifted teacher and more importantly a true man of God I hope you will continue to bring joy and laughter to the lives of others as you have mine these notes are from the 80s and the '90s and boy did he ever continue those of you that came to volleyball game in the last few years as a couple of my kids are playing in the volleyball program know that he brought a lot of spice almost got kicked out of a tournament for yelling at a ref three weeks [Applause] ago but they called them [Laughter] back but he also brought so much joy and so much support and this young generation of kids who never had the opportunity to play for him got to hear from him and he would never know a single one of their names but he could tell you how they played and he followed the rules that he wrote for all the parents and he told them the one thing they did write on the court so coach Ferguson Mr Ferguson Bob dad Uncle Bob Grandpa papa no matter what name you called him by and no matter if he remembered your name or not you knew he cared about you he loved people in a way that only someone who knows the sacrificial love of Jesus can he had so much love to give because he was so filled with the Holy Spirit whether you were the bar at Starbucks a stubborn teenager facing consequences of your own actions or a beloved member of his family there was no doubt that he genuinely cared for you and wanted the absolute best for you his love was unconditional his stories were exaggerated and his love of life was contagious I'm glad to see that the Legacy will continue on in no world ever was my dad 6 feet 1 in 6 feet at best 510 as of a couple weeks ago he was a man of God who put all of himself into all that he was called to do we grew up not knowing how to do things halfway because if he was coaching he did it with all of him if he was teaching he did it with all of them hosting a Bible study it was always prepared and to the best of his ability recycling cans all of him he might have dug through some of your trash cans in your backyards golfing his golf game God was so gracious to him in the last two weeks he said my golf game is the best it's ever been loving his wife of 56 years parenting grandparenting he put everything of himself into all that he did his presence was always felt and his memories will be too thank you guys for coming this is my husband Rick and he's going to try to talk [Applause] [Applause] my wife encouraged me to print this on large font so I can read it thank you all for being here this is this is incredible uh my name is Rick bero it starts sorry I'm I'm Bob's son-in-law um my son asked me after the accident dad why are you so sad Papa's chilling in heaven right now and I thought about it for a second and I said well I didn't get to say goodbye I would have had a few things to say to Bob if I had the chance so Bob it's big enough a font and I brought my glasses but I can't it through my tears I will never forget when I asked to marry Heidi and you sternly replied this was supposed to be a happy moment and he said what makes you good enough to marry my daughter I was not ready for that when you tried to help me install that window in our first house and you and I both realized then that we were too stubborn and too independent to work together ever all our time in Hawaii especially playing peanuckle when you baptized me at Lake new malonis and when you and I almost missed our flight to Texas when Heidi's car and and the rest of the family broke down and our hotel got cancelled it was this huge Fiasco and I I still I still feel you being proud of me after how I handled the situation and you just you just watched that was I I think you and I were both unsure about purchasing a home together two years ago and it took some adjusting like when you ate my donut right out of the pink box sitting on my kitchen counter but we got there and it became a beautiful thing on Sunday our last day together we had such good conversations the usual razing each other I had walked one green trash can down to the street which was your job you gave me a hard time for taking your job but then when you went to go get the second green can you came back and said you're not as dumb as you let on you left me the heavy one that conversation ended with a high five at the end Bob I will miss you deeply we had a good thing going and it ended too soon there is an emptiness at home without your car parked in front without the sound of your booming voice in our house checking on the kids after each game and offering to take them to breakfast or without you pulling weeds from every corner of our yard every time I looked into the yard this week I expected and wanted to see you there and I'm so sad I won't ever again it has been an honor to marry to marry into the Bob Fon family with such a Godly example of Love Bob you will be deeply missed you did [Applause] it all right next up we're going to have his brothers Scott Chris and they're going to come up and not only read some scripture but share a little bit about about B well I'm over here okay all right I'm I'm actually upst here for moral support yes he told me I had to be here but I while I we were getting ready this morning I came up with something that hopefully uh kind of epitomizes how I feel close enough uh how I felt about Bob and Sandy both only Bob and Sandy would be bold enough to take take on the opening weekend of college [Applause] football and I don't get it that hasn't changed well I am Scott my little brother Chris um we're the survivors of this family I can't do it either Travis sorry Rick you know the men in this family are the criers I don't know how a women do such a good job and we come up here and belly ache and my dad said real men don't cry so we cried all the time too yeah so anyway Bob was named after my amazing dad Bob not Robert B but B forward or backwards b but we always know him as Bobby even to this day he's still Bobby Mom and Dad married shortly after World War II it didn't take him but seven and a half years to produce five children yeah that was busy Sally our only sister she was the oldest then Bob then me Scott and then Chris and Larry one of my earliest memories as a child was to go into the uh the kitchen of our small three-bedroom one bath house now wait we had two women in that house one bath house just saying in hawthor California about 700 p.m. about oh 6 or 8 months out of the year I sit with my big brother Bobby and tune tune our trans our sister's light blue transistor radio to KFI 640 there was a new team in town they were called the Dodgers I remember listening to the two announcers one was Jerry dogget but the other was the legendary Vin Scully almost most nightly during the baseball season we would listen to the Dodgers play and about 3/4 of the way through the game we would fall asleep only to wake up several hours later to the hum of the radio station that had always already gone off the air occasionally we were privileged to go down to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to watch this new team play there was a guy named Wally Moon that would hit pop flies to field and the ball would just sail over the uh the the the left field screen and I'm getting off text here okay got to get back here he would hit these pop flies to left field and the ball would sail over for a home run this became known as the moonshot we had the we we got to witness the great pitchers such as Sandy kofax and Don Dale we also saw myy Wills the Duke Snider and many others after the Dodgers moved to Shadow's Ravine as they called it back in the day we could get seats in the left field Pavilion for 50 cents with a coupon that was stapled to potato chip to a potato chip bag needless to say one of our uh one of the uh Staples in our diet were lots of potato chips in our household in 1960 the the Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles and we as a family especially Bobby became huge basketball fans going through high school and a couple of years in college Our Big Brother played a lot of basketball now I know this story is always vary because it's from the Ferguson family please know it's probably not [Applause] true so uh at youil um at UCLA there was a new freshman named Lou alsandor Who later became kareim Abdul Jabar at that time Bobby was playing for the freshman team at Pepperdine Pepperdine University as you can imagine Bobby had his hands full competing with his towering giant Bobby was still still able to score 15 points in this game way to go Bobby it wasn't probably 15 points but I just 13 I didn't see I didn't know what to put in there let's make it 15 we'll make it 15 15 sounds B okay another thing that played a major role in our lives is that we attended church consistently as we grew up one Sunday morning we went back to the church house on Sunday night and on Wednesday night that was the norm in our house household our Christian faith and values were instilled in us at a very young age we were always taught that we needed to live our lives worthy worthy to of the calling of Jesus throughout Bobby's life I can say he strived to be the best as he could be as a Christian individual Bobby's wife Sandy has requested that re read a script a passage from the Bible and I have selected the text that tells about the victory we see through Christ Christ Jesus I'll be reading now from 1 Corinthians 15:55 to the end of the chapter where o death is your Victory where oh death is your Sting the sting of death is the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law but thanks be to God that he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ therefore my dear brothers and sisters sisters stand firm let nothing move you always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord because you know that your label labor in the Lord is not vain I have one more thing one more thing about four or five years ago I retired one of the first things brother Bob did is he called me up and he says you know I golf about three times a week you want to come join us and and I said H I don't know I haven't golfed in a long time and I'll probably just uh hold you guys up no no no come on down and we'll golf well we started golfing by ourselves at 6:30 in the morning caloa golf course and we've done that for about four years and uh but Bob was always the teacher he was always he really was when we were in school when we were kids at home we were playing basketball we were playing volleyball he was a teacher so you guys I got to have him as a teacher long before you guys did so but the point is um I'm going to really miss going down at 74 years old I'm going to really miss going down to salola golf course and have him beat the pants off of me time after time however however a week ago Thursday the wallet came out of his pocket and went into my pocket I beat him woo and truly ladies and gentlemen we we so appreciate you showing up for for this memorial service thank [Applause] you I'm not sure what's true and what's not true like Welcome to our yeah I can see why maybe as a child it was confusing like no I love it we're going to next just have a song called my Jesus and I think it was your girls that sang this right but it would be really really hard to sing a song like this on a day like today and so instead of them singing it though we're going to have the opportunity to hear these amazing words so if you could listen just kidding we're going to have the grand come up inste cuz we didn't get that ready go ahead D you got it you I'm not going to sing I want to honor your dad not dishonor you he'd love it yeah he well then I wouldn't be at least the worst Pastor I would be the worst Pastor so we're going to have the grandkids come up and they are going to share a little bit about uh about their grandpa [Applause] we're going to go in age order and uh none of us inherited the good speech Jean I used to look better I came here with makeup on and then you played that dumb slideshow and now I'm a mess so thanks a lot I love you I don't know uh we moved away when I was really young so I didn't get to see him as much as I would have liked to and once I became an adult didn't have enough money to see him much as I would have wanted to but um the other day I was on the bergenstock website and I found myself trying to find a pair of inside birken stocks and I thought oh my gosh I'm Bob ferbus so I've been thinking of things that I do that remind me of him I'm not a big Sports person um like I think I'm the only one that's not a big Sports person I played literally a month with volleyball yeah um but every time I watch a game I feel myself wanting to scream at everyone [Applause] playing it's really fun I never know what's going on but I'm mad at everyone um I guess uh the only story I can think of that kind of really brings him up to me I don't even know what I'm saying at this point was our last trip to Hawaii together um this is really funny and it's about our whole family it's not just him but my grandma wanted us to go on a hike and um we had packed three water bottles and five Cliff Bars I don't know if you know grandpa um he does have the diabetes um she told us she was like it's so flat it's so easy it's so short and like 10 minutes in to the rockiest hilliest hike I have ever been on I look behind me okay the heill was like this by the way and Grandpa this is when I was 16 so it wasn't he wasn't he had all of his fingers at this point but sorry all of his toes so sorry he had a full hand grip that's what I meant um he was climbing like this up the thing and it was so funny and then I remember I had to give my Cliff bar to him and that was fine because I ended up getting food poisoning and I didn't get to see the waterfall but he said it was great he did not give up so I the 16-year-old couldn't make it to the waterfall but but him the man who was crawling almost the entire way braved it to the waterfall and back and said he was fine the whole time even though he knew he was not that's my grandpa [Applause] okay I totally forgot about that J he just kept saying I'm fine I was like walking on rocks wet rocks the time in water shoes and not sticking five miles oh yeah very far so like we're standing in this gym and I never got to play for Grandpa in anything never really had him as a coach like a lot of you guys have um especially with us leaving as when we were so young but and that that didn't stop him uh you guys talking about how great a volleyball coach he is and clearly he's a champion but he had had to have been the worst golf coach in of all time he had the worst advice and it was really just telling you what you did wrong which like if you golf you're always doing stuff wrong it like a sport is awful but it's so fun to go with Grandpa and just listen to him talk trash and putut from 50 feet out maybe 3 feet from the cup and go oh yeah that's what I do looking at him limp around like what what the heck man what are you doing but yeah the the dude was crazy he super consistent getting up in the hill picking weeds all the time and you know I see in my dad like just outside working all the time like I mean this sound like my dad had elbow surgery and three days later he's up on the roof blowing out the gutters like a Prett crazy person that was I reminded me of grandpa just outside picking the weeds like this is just what I do uh digging through trashes and doing stuff like that but he he was great um yeah that's all I got so I also don't really know what to say but I it was always fun going to play at Calo with him whenever we'd come out over Christmas and summer and if you asked me whenever we were out over Christmas and summer I would not have said it was so much fun because every time we he'd ask if we want to go play golf yeah sure Grandpa let's go what time oh we tea off around 6:30 in the morning like oh man vacation starting early here we go and it was always hard but it was always funny cuz on the first hole if you've been to caloa holes going this way T's that way and he's facing Madera this way and sure sure enough every time he'd play into the slice and that ball would shoot right where right where it wanted to go and it always hurt my ego a lot to lose to that it it it hurt but man sucks that sucks that he got out before I was able to beat him one time on that but was always fun it was always fun going to play with him and started coaching started helping my aunt coach at Royal the last two years with the frost and JV team and it always felt it always felt special to be able to be in here coaching in the gym that my grandpa my grandma my aunt and my dad coached and some of them played and it was always really fun to see my grandma and grandpa sitting right there across the gym it was a was a special feeling coaching in here and it'll continue to be a special feeling but it's just just not going to be the same not having him over there yelling at Heidi and I who to put in who to take out where we should serve how they should play but yeah it was fun it was great that's all I've [Applause] got okay I'm gonna tell a story from a couple weeks ago so I had a volleyball game and I was having a bit of a moment I couldn't serve in the court and I come home and papa goes Ella what happened you can't serve the ball in the court to save your life I go I know and I got annoyed because I couldn't serve in the course and he spends the whole next week making it up to me after every game tells me how great I did he says can I come to the next game come yeah yeah and then a week ago I was sitting in the dining room table and he comes in after a tournament he's talking to me about about the game and he asks about every little thing and I break it down it's just going to miss out I'm going to miss how much you cared about everything I had to say yeah I'm going to [Applause] miss I don't know how anyone expects me to talk after that I was G to I was going to try to tell the story [Music] can't there's a little card up here that's telling me to breathe and take time I'm trying right okay so um I like to do nails and I would always do people's Nails in our kitchen and uh Papa would always come in and stay like oh show me the nails um I'm next you got to squeeze me in I want pain and I never got to do his pink but one day when I see him again I'm going to paint his nails right pain on his perfectly functioning hands and I'm going to be able to high five him and look go like this not like this [Applause] love him I'm going to miss him and I can't I can't wait to see him [Applause] again back to follow um um um so he um I wanted to share first memory and my last memory so my first memory with him um I was um at um their old house and I was going to bed and um Papa came in and he came in and he would always tell these stories and he would tell these stories and we were it was me and Austin he was telling them to and I was s batty and he was Austin the Austin and there were always these big bullies and we were beating up beating up and I um I was really little and that he was telling one of those stories and I he left and I was supposed to go to bed and all of a sudden I got really sad cuz I was like oh I'm going to miss him and I wrote down in my notes have and I was like writing it out and it's was hard looking at that now [Music] because yeah anyway I don't know where I'm going with this yeah and then um my most recent memory with him um he took Austin and I had to Red Robin and he can't hear and we just found out that he can read lips apparently cuz Austin and I were sitting there and we thought it would be so funny to just mouth things and not say anything and we were like mouthing like so what are you going to get Papa but he couldn't hear us cuz we were mouthing it and he just fully responded like we were talking and Austin and I were like wait what he can read lips um and honestly I can't remember if that was my last memory or um we went to church and um he was having me dig through the trash can piing out bottles and he's like did you get any Sadie um I'm like no and then he's like showing me all around and we went into the kitchen and he's like he's smuggling me a Diet Coke and he's taking one out for himself and then he's like drink it now so that we can put it in the pile of f and then he showed me um he said don't tell Granny this is where sorry but this is where I smuggle my ice cream see that ice cream back there that's my ice cream they smuggling just for me um and it's hard because I'm not going to be able to get those moments anymore he was just so happy all the time and I loved his laugh so much and it's hard because I still will replay his laugh in my head it's not the same and I was so sad that I didn't get to um that I didn't get to say goodbye to him but um I read through back in my notes app when I was talking about the story he wrote and I said um I even wrote down in my don't s way back when I was little if you don't get to say goodbye just remember you get to say hello [Applause] someday we're wasting time okay um so the memories I have of him was at his house watching Dodger games and we would I would ask whatever Grammy was at like doing her job St doing something I'd be like hey Papa can I have an ice cream so I would go over grab an ice cream and just eat you ask for some that mean that's my ice cream apparently he had his own stack so now I don't get that and um ah I think that's [Applause] it is it great he so good well just you know we found the song oh oh you want it it's fine maybe at the end give Che we'll play it at the end all right hey so if you're in the back there people behind the the curtain yeah so coming up next we're going to have uh just some friends uh and some family that have been designated to share also about Bob so come on up [Music] hi everybody um my name is John Downey and I'm going to call some others in fact they're already coming on up which is good um and I'm honored to be able to be here I'm honored to be able to say that uh that I I knew Bob and have known Bob for the last 26 years but what I want to share with you is that if I know any of you it is because of Bob because um I was a peine university student 26 years ago I needed a place to come and student teach somebody whose name I don't remember but she was in the program I was in and she said because I didn't know anybody around here at all not being from here she says you really need to go to Royal High School and you need to work with Bob Ferguson so I called up the principal he got me into contact with Bob Bob uh I think maybe just because I was coming from Pepperdine as you've heard the name of the University a couple of times said yes and uh and that's why I'm here and and am I grateful and I feel like uh I couldn't I can't tell you how grateful I am I mean my wife is in the audience right now my daughters go to school here now and I know so many lovely people and it's because of something that um you all understand we're brought together by Bob and by Bob's lovely family and something we saw in the slideshow a moment ago which was that if you know you know the family your family right we're not friends we're we're we're family brought together by a beautiful family and that beautiful family is no doubt a beautiful family because Bob lived a beautiful life it's a mistake to give teachers a microphone um so I think when I was asked to step up and and start this part of the the event I I think um I was in I asked to do it in part because I could be trusted to help with making sure that this doesn't get out of control and so Dean B's going to come up here next and so Dean good luck my friend um but there are a lot of people here who also have stories that need to be heard and so I when we visit right your story needs to be heard make sure you you get a chance to tell that story as we visit as this day goes on but right now Dean Bor come on up please [Applause] Heidi knows I lied to her when I said I was going to do this in two minutes um first thing I just want to start off with I Travis I I know you know how much I I care and love you care for you and I know that you know that when it comes to volleyball uh I finally swallowed enough of my ego and and told you just how an amazing player and and coach and those kind of things I think you are and uh I I then witnessed stuff that that I had forgotten about the with from the one year that we taught together uh here at Royal High School uh you were damn good in front of people and um I am I am in awe uh of you and and so many different ways um and I thought I was supposed to be the older one and those kind of things so um thank you for giving me so much more uh to strive to be like uh members of your family um Bob Ferguson uh for those of you that know me know my I'm not going to get too deeply into my relationship with Coach um uh because I want you guys to be able to get home tonight and uh Bob Ferguson my junior year in high school we were able to start a a a boys volleyball program um uh Dave Jackson is back there uh he was principal of the time uh yellow yellow [Applause] uh I I I went to Hillside and and there was a there was a in nth grade we had a volleyball unit and there was coach Ferguson and Coach Matt suda after after period uh class one day and they were trying to matsa was trying to set coach Berg to hit the ball and I didn't think it was very good my grandfather started me playing volleyball a few years ago and I I the most Bolden Brash thing I've ever done in my life I walk up and I say hey coach F you want me to you want me to set you well and uh he's like ohy you think you can pretty good right Chris God okay I know I know we some Ferguson and yeah I I I was able to put up a pretty nice two ball he was hitting on a girl's net and he crushed it and he told me years later he goes that got the wheels turning on something and uh I was starting to get a bunch of my friends to play and when we got told in in our junior year Craig Parker right there is one of our the ogs that is here today uh one of many um it was it was special uh I I was a girls volleyball manager that 1987 888 school year and I got to witness coach every single day in practice and then at the games uh there were several times that I had to run uh in an emergency to his uh his Ford Aerostar to get him to get him something for for his blood sugar and stuff and the Thousand Oaks High School coach who's not going to be mentioned here because we don't like that guy um had the exact same forward Aerostar and Coach sent me out with his keys and I kept trying I was ready to break into the Aerostar worried about Coach turns out it was the other guys um so that's that first year he sat all of us knucklehead heads down uh and I was the biggest knucklehead of all and if you if you know you know and he asked us to write down our goals standard stuff right team goals individual goals then he asked us to do something that he said guys is going to be hard you're all young and not very bright and but I want you guys to write down your life goals and just be detailed and in a very immature naive time of my life I I I had already figured one thing out and that was how to answer this question very easily and I very quickly wrote down and I'm going to quote because I've never forgotten I wrote down when I grow up I want to be like Bob Ferguson and if I could do it at Royal all the better and John was right this is family and there were times that I needed that man way more than he needed me and when I got the opportunity to be a teacher here at Royal High School and I was on the campus with with coach and Travis and it was like man and Travis said you're you're coaching and I had coached at that other High School here in town um and I tried to try to copy and emulate things and I'm not going to embarrass you about my the one set Victory we have I'm not going to do it to you that being said I did it to everybody in breakfast this morning that was there all the ogs that got there so there you go [Music] uh I said okay fine let's do that and then for whatever reason Travis Ferguson dropped a bombshell on me in the middle of volleyball season that year and said we're moving to Texas and then I'll never forget how the story goes but he said you're coaching the team and I said no there's no way that someone not named Ferguson is going to coach this team and uh Travis said if someone is going to coach this team is not his last name is not feron it better be bor no pressure [Applause] on the first day of school the next year my second year as a teacher at Royal High School first year as a head coach at Royal couple other coaching stints here and there but one of my lifelong dreams had come [Music] true the coach came to my door in my classroom he popped his head in with that sidey that side grin he would have every once in a while he's like hey do know finally made it yes sir I did [Music] uh when I wrote down and I'm not even reading it because it changed a thousand times when I wrote down what I was going to say I wanted to use one word and that word is impact and when you talk about the impact of Coach Ferguson uh Bob Ferguson the teacher uh Bob Ferguson The Family Man Bob Ferguson the community uh icon uh member of his church strong faith strong sense of kindness Duty and and and the the idea of giving back and I've been up and down all week uh mostly good mostly good especially when I was busy sometimes when I wasn't it wasn't that easy and you know tra was talking about growing up in this gym and my own son son have grown up in this gym and and one has played and graduated here and the other is entering a senior year or is in a senior year he's going to enter a senior in last season here at Royal High School and I think about just the impact and then when all of you guys start walking up today and people coming up to me and me seeing you and I want to hug each and every one of the players uh and I'm going to you if you play for ball par and stand up please [Applause] [Applause] thanks for doing that when you think about impact the impact a man had on my life the impact that my that man had on each and every one of our Lives you know I was going to use love because he loved hard he loved tough he loved gently he loved kindly he loved unquestionably it was not difficult for him to do that Heidi when you were talking about like we we knew we had to share my dad and he would we never know when he was going to come home because he might talk to somebody never and and I looked at my wife and my son was sitting next to me and he's like oh man that's true and Lord knows I have I've been trying to be just like Bob Ferguson and one thing that I'm going to end on and it's still not as long as I could talk is that Bob Ferguson and I shared a great admiration for Coach John Wooden and if you know me you know I use a lot of John Wooden in my classroom by the way I teach you US History because of Bob Ferguson um [Applause] I have lots of books and and and I use it and I've got a book that's not written by John Wooden but it's about John Wooden and it say the name of the book is how to be like John Wooden and one of the early parts of the book it says how do you be like John Wooden you can't but you should try and I feel the same way about how do you be like you can't but damn it you should [Applause] try um I'll do my best um for those who don't know me my name is Dan Rizzo um for those that can't recognize we're all kind of doing our Bob Ferguson bergus sock with socks only he could pull that off so we're doing our best uh I'm going to get this right out of the way quickly um I I knew I knew him by two names and two names only and that was coach and Sir so um if I don't refer to him as Bob that much it's no disrespect um I've known the Ferguson for 40 years I know with uh how young I look it's kind of hard to imagine but um I met them in this gym coming to the little camps eating otter poops out there as a matter of fact um Dean Bor who's significantly older than me he was one of my counselors um it's kind of an understatement to say uh coach won a lot I mean you can see the Legacy he left here and I just want to say to put the dominance in perspective um in the Years coach boys volleyball here uh he lost one League match ever and uh that was my junior year sorry but we won CIF that year so that's right yes we did um truly a coaching Legend um what was it like to play for Coach ferus um I I thought about this one for a while and I and I wrote down the one word you you don't start with is fun so I it was a different era it was a different different way of coaching um I would always tell everyone Sandy taught us how to play volleyball coach taught us how to compete how to be disciplined how to work harder than everybody else else how to win how how to win um he was a master at pushing you mentally physically showing you what you can and can't handle he was known for making his practices so much harder than most any game you would ever played to the point where the fun came from just destroying other teams and doing what we did um I want to tell you guys a story that embodies coach Ferguson um it's beginning of my junior year I walk in this gym walk into the team room back there he walks out what are you doing here practice you're off the team you missed the lunch meeting I'm sorry what I mean I was okay at this point I was starting out as a hitter I handle my own you're off the team uh sir I'm sorry I I didn't know I didn't know about it back then there was no texting so it was like it was announced over the PA you missed it yes sir so I go sit in that Foy right there nothing come back the next day nothing sat in that fo day three I come back he walks out just Stone Face the guys had a meeting they want you back on the team yes sir right in the eye yes sir those three days so many thoughts went through my head you know the blame game it was his fault for this it was the teammates fault for this uh this isn't fair I it came down to realize one thing I broke his rule he had rules I broke his rule how was I going to handle it and uh a few years later I came back to coach here with Trav and I I brought it up and uh he stuck out that bent hand and he said uh Dan I can't express how much respect I have for you hearing that from a a mentor and a person like coach Ferguson is a something you'll never forget um a lot of you said you're not weren't able to say goodbye well um fortunately I I wasn't that I um my wife and I uh went on a walk last week and we went a different way and we just see we see Coach and he's with the two little ones and they see sees me walk up to coach and the little ones just turn and walk back home because they know it's going to be about a 40-minute conversation and uh and it was just amazing because we got to talk about life coaching grandkids kids Trav um the fact that he got to see my son play here and uh classic coach he said uh he's pretty good he's probably going to be better than [Applause] you he said yes sir but it what's interesting is um for as long as I've known I I always look him in the eye give him a good handshake we ended up just having a long hug and uh he said I don't know how you got a wife so beautiful and he hug Lisa and that was last week um just wanted to thank you sir for the Memories the lessons for teaching me and so many others how to be successful men women coaches husbands wives fathers and mothers I love you sir [Applause] [Applause] um since I was 15 virgan told me to do something I did it um without question so Heidi I got you two minutes um so when we were doing the sound check my husband one of the speakers wasn't working and my husband was like What if someone gets really quiet and then you can't hear them and I was like are you kidding me I go there's no one who knows coach Ferguson that would ever get up in front of a mic in this gym and be quiet so I was like we're going to be fine um I also thought about getting market stocks uh for today um but I'm sure many of us can relate because I hear the sound of them and it like triggers this automatic physical response and being this close to the Baseline I think I would have like Broken Out In a set of lines or something so I decided to avoid wearing boken socks today um but for the past 30 years of my life I have been lucky enough to have the Ferguson in it um it started playing volleyball when Heidi was a senior and I was a silly sophomore Setter um and wanted to be just as cool as her um it turned into being manager of the boys volleyball team um and then I got to sit lucky enough to be a student in his US history class in fact it would probably be easy to say that a good portion of my life here at Royal High School when I was a student was spent with him in a bus in this gym or in a classroom who knew that that would transform into getting the honor of teaching with both coach and Travis getting to coach freshman girls with his own kids and so many other of his former players I even get the honor of saying that my kids and his grandkids were raised in this gym together and now I even get to be their teacher it's not lost on me what a special and unique thing it is to be able to say he was my coach teacher colleague and Mentor what a gift for all of us to be able to say that he created a family a program and a legacy that has been a significant part of who I am who all of us are as people Educators coaches and parents at the heart of Royal High School is tradition family and loyalty and there's no better representation of that than [Applause] coach I'm not Dean Bor we get that since I was in school to everything there's a season and I didn't play a season volleyball with Bob but I had Seasons with him too I was in his class as a student I'm not going to talk about the first test we moving off he was on the committee that hired me he gave me a chance to be a teacher here he was a mentor to me after church when we were driving home as a family I look in the parking lot and I'd see his car after church because he was busy during the week and what he taught me as a teacher is how to be a be better teacher is like everything in life is work hard try harder and I was inspired by that later when we were colleagues together and um one time I asked who was parked in the red parking spot in the staff lot you can't park there one of my co-workers said well that's F Ferguson okay well he needed to get to his uh next commitment so it made sense and the next season I'm teaching his Grand kids and they were so much like him that was an honor and I was so excited to run out and tell them myself about that first volley you I held together in the gym this morning till I sat down the home section and then it got to me in the last season I had with him my daughter's playing volleyball and he comes up to me he Praises I she did and the confidence he had in her those are his last words to me during all the seasons he was kind honorable and funny and we're going to remember [Applause] him all right the last group of people are going to be speaking upcoming is 1992 right 92 CIF team was that the ones old are you guys 9 92 oh know you're super old super old okay Heidi said that I didn't so I'm G let you off [Applause] sorry yeah he uh it's a trip to be back here uh thank you to the Ferguson family um you've given all of us the best years of our life we were talking about it and he said these were the best years of our life and why because of this family this family gave us their best they did and and expressed I had uh Bob as a teacher and he was awesome awesome I didn't I didn't really like many of my classes I have a couple teachers here uh that I know and I love very much and but uh but Bob was not only a coach but he was an excellent teacher so I just want to say that thank you thank you for all all of us all these we have different Generations here and all of us just want to say thank you to the Ferguson family and I thought of the verse that for Bob and for the family and it's Matthew 5:116 and it says let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and they glorify the Lord Jesus Christ announce a verse when I think of Bob and this family I can stand on it wins losses they come and go even people come and go but that remains that remains I'm so grateful I'm grateful for the opportunity to have played here I'm grateful for the opportunity to know this family and I think that's from all of us so thank you we had to represent girls I just didn't know be here she just did that on the FL that's awesome well here's what we're going to do this we're actually not coming to an end we're transitioning okay so let me let me just help us transition from the gym we're about ready to go outside there's going to be a microphone out there for people to have the opportunity to share about Bob but I think it's super super important especially off what just got said to make sure you understand what was behind everything that took place see you may not know it or not but on Monday night when Bob reads his last he actually began to hear in a way that he do it for a while his hand was know like this when you shake his hand and you're always trying to figure out how to get into it you know as he was shaking it his toes his heart was there anything else I mean it was like he sprained his pancreas a terrible but just understand this that while we talk about Bob in the past understand this when we go out there Bob is fine he is absolutely 100% fine in 2 Corinthians 5 it talks about the fact to be absent from the body as a follower of Jesus is to be present with the Lord so when we talk about him he's fine as you encountered him right he you encountered a man that had experienced Jesus the reason he treated you the way that he did the reason that he worked like he did the reason that he ate ice cream when he shouldn't well that that was not because of Jesus [Applause] was cuz he counted Jesus he was a man that knew him and loved him and followed him with his heart and so when you encountered him just understand this actually who you were encountering was you were encountering Jesus we had a talk one time right after I had my hip replacement surgery and I said dude he was asking me how I'm doing I'm like dude I had like my hip cut off but you don't have I don't know do you have any toes left like I you started laughing he never answered the question by the way but he goes you know the things about these bodies is that they're they're wearing away and then he quoted to me a passage out of 2 Corinthians 4 he said well this body is wearing away he goes we're but we're being renewed inside every single day he was a man that was becoming more and more like Jesus and on Monday night the Fulfillment of his hope came true he saw the king and so while we sit here today and we talk about accolades which man as you recounted uh him being a coach I'm so thankful for each of you having him I wish I would have had him as a coach well sometimes maybe but not all the time just understand this though that the most important thing were not those championships the most important thing was even not US History the most important thing was not all the things that sometimes get talked about the most important thing to him was Jesus Christ and because Jesus Christ is important you were what was important to him you all he did what he did because he loved God and he loved people and today because of that love of God and that love of people despite living in a fallen world that death came in that because Jesus Christ rose from the dead I'm standing here assuring all of you for all of you who are in Christ Jesus who follow him by faith one day you will hear that booming voice he will hear you he will reach out a hand that doesn't look like this and you will see his toes and so to all of you in here we don't leave as a group of people that have no hope we are going over to another area because we do have hope Bob is great because Bob is in the presence of King Jesus and I need a little church in here so all God's people said amen will try again all God's people said amen let me pray for us if you could stand in honor of Bob most importantly in honor of Jesus Christ and we'll go celebrate a little bit more father as we go out to the quad I pray that today you've been honored in the Stories the stories of a man who worked hard the stories of a Man Who Loved even when it meant tough love the stories of a man who as a as a kid was rambunctious with his brothers all the way to a grandpa that was rambunctious with his grandchildren and everything in between I pray you were honored because father I know each and every story each and every facet of what was talked about is a story of your work through Bob through the power of your Holy Spirit and so we know that when we encountered those moments as flawed maybe as the each of us are we were encountering the work of your son Jesus in his life and so we say thank you thank you so much for calling him home we all wish we maybe could have said goodbye but father we believe you know the day that we come in and you know the day that we leave and we know therefore that it wasn't halfhazard but you did it because you love B and so it's to him that we entrust to you knowing that you as God and King and creator of all things loved him and continues to love him more than any one of us in this room father I pray that all of us as we exit here would we see King Jesus like Bob s King Jesus and we ask all these things in your son's precious name amen amen God bless you all as we go share more stories out in the quad by