Some mornings are worse than others. This morning I awakened to the news that we lost my friend Shawn Simpson in the overnight. I’ve been super busy with work and planning “A Cup Of Soup Or Bowl” next week and doing all of the pre Radio Row interviews with all sorts of amazing guests this week talking football and The Big Game – and this one kinda stopped me in my tracks at 6 a.m. because this is a lifer friend of mine and the first professional athlete I befriended in sports and kept all of our lives. And he was a kid who might’ve been the nicest, kindest, most affable Canadian gem I’ve ever known. And, as you know, I love a lot of Canadians.
“Simmer” – I’m not sure anyone I ever knew called him Shawn – left us this morning and all I can hear is the tone of his voice and his gentleness and polite Canadian demeanor. And my mind is mired in my adolescence in the 1980s, covering hockey and these special players who were all my age, trying to make it just like I was trying to be a sports journalist.
We were 18 year-old kids when we met.
Simpson was born on August 10, 1968; I was born on 10/14/68. Eight weeks apart and friends for 39 years, ever since he was the 60th pick of the 1986 NHL Draft, selected by the Washington Capitals and coached on the Baltimore Skipjacks by Barry Trotz, who is going to Hall of Fame.
Three years ago, when Trotz was transitioning out of coaching, he asked for my address and sent me a stack of old Baltimore Skipjacks programs and pictures. They sure came in handy this morning. Kenny Albert and I have been going back and forth all morning because Simmer became his radio broadcast partner at WITH-AM 1230 when his career ended prematurely because of injury in 1991, right when mine started. Simmer loved hockey and became a scout and a personnel man and eventually made a life in his hometown of Ottawa doing what I have done since he left the ice in 1992 – talking about sports on the radio.
As I looked through these amazing memories and texted with mutual friends, I realized that I only really keep in touch with one player from that whole era: Simmer. He called me three times a year to come on his beloved Ottawa radio show and talk Ravens and Orioles. He texted me all the time about sports and checked in on Facebook.
I was in Ottawa three summers ago for Pearl Jam and we communicated several times, including a few hours before the show and made big plans – but they fell through. He even gave me his Canadian credit card to buy last minute incredible seats that my American credit card wouldn’t let me purchase! We spent 20 minutes on the phone that day of the concert but that night he never responded to texts and told me the next day that he never made it to the show. I spent two days in Ottawa and, sadly, never gave him a hug.
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Soon thereafter it became clear that he was going through some very serious mental health challenges and spent some time away and came back and was very open in his thoughts and his heart.
Today, he left us.
And this one really hurts…
If you are struggling with mental health challenges, help is always a reach away at 988.
