KPL tournament

(left to right: Tom (Dad’s friend), my brother Kev, me & my Dad)

One of the reasons I came home to Buffalo this week was for the KPL tournament. It’s a tournament (which is part of many things the KPL Society does) for Kevin Lalley, who passed away in 2002 at the very young age of 32. He was a bartender for the majority of his life, so knew many people. He bartended at the BlackThorn for many years. I was a barback/busboy at the Blackthorn during highschool. My older brother did the same, then started bartending there with Kev.

Of course I’m going to say he was a great guy, but he truly was. He’d never say no…if you needed something, he was there. There are a lot of people who greatly miss Kev, which is why the KPL tournament is a huge success every year.

I typically play with my brother, my father and my father’s friend (that he’s known since highschool). For a couple of years, a friend of mine from NC flew up to Buffalo to play too. We always have a blast. Sometimes, we’ll go up the day before and play a round of golf, have some dinner, drink some beers, play some cards, sometimes not sleep & then the tournament that day (always on the last Monday in July).  This year, my mom volunteered to help, so she got to see us in action … HA!

I’m sure this tournament will last for a long time, Kev’s legacy forever. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it next year, as I’ll be in Beijing. I have to come home to Buffalo in May for my brother’s wedding, so a trip back two months later doesn’t seem like it will work out. I’ll miss it, but will have to be sure to send back a hat for Hugger (Kev’s brother-in-law), he steals my hat every year. As you can see, I had a cool lid for this year’s round.

Speaking of hats… as I was drinking some Miller High Lifes back at the Blackthorn with my Dad & Tom on Monday after the tournament, he was telling me about a haberdashery that was in Buffalo a long time ago. I said “huh?” I think I may have heard the word before, but didn’t know what it meant. Cool word.