Monday, January 11, 2016 - This post is about my dear friend, Bill Haecker, that passed away on October 13, 2015. Sadly, this was just three days after his 66th birthday. He was on a trip from Texas back to his hometown of Muncie, IN with his beautiful wife Connie, when he had an unfortunate accident.
Bill, affectionally known as Fred, was one of the most genuine and caring human beings I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. He was larger than life and never took on a task, trivial or monumental, at less than 100%. He had voracious appetite for knowledge and sports as well as an undying loyalty to friendship. Heck, Fred was the epitome of "not an expert in one thing but rather knows a little bit about a lot of things".
Fred was not only inspirational, he was an extremely positive influence on my life and many others. I recognized this unshakeable and positive quality the moment I met him. His personality had its own gravitational pull and you couldn't help but to feel great about yourself after spending a few minutes with him. I feel confident in saying that they broke the mold with Fred and my life is certainly better for knowing him.
So how do I honor such a legendary person? An Ironman 70.3 of course! I felt the only appropriate way to honor Fred is through a little blood, sweat, and tears...namely the Muncie 70.3 Ironman on July 9th. While this will not be my first Ironman 70.3 or most likely my last, but it will be the one that means the most to me personally. My journey for Fred, (aka training), began Monday, January 4th, and will end on Saturday, July 9th when I cross the finish line.
