Manbeck on fatty4ksu

I never personally met Shwan, but I always felt like I knew him, which I think is part of his charm. If I had to guess, there are thousands of people who felt like they knew him just through his posts on the message boards. Honestly, his posts were some of the funniest things I’ve ever read. Anytime I saw a post from him, I’d click on it because I knew I was in for a laugh. Someone that can bring laughter to so many is a special character trait, and I really can’t imagine not having those posts anymore — the ones where he would set up hypothetical situations with the announcer calling a moment in a K-State game days before the game actually occurred — to him constantly talking about winning the Dr. Pepper (loved how he referred to the championship game as that).

I remember back when I was in college, I was on the way home from a Royals game and we stopped late at IHOP. I had a fascination with who this “fatty” character was on the message boards, so I was talking about him with them. Then one of my friends says she knows him — she went to high school with him at MHS, and I was fascinated to find out about what he was like. From then on, I would involve him with personal messages about topics I thought he might care about. He was always very kind in his responses, and often times funny.

The best recollection I have — and I say I never met Shwan — but a couple years ago I was in my first few months at The Mercury. I was out jogging on a summer evening, and apparently I ran by Shwan. Later on, I was cruising the message boards (I think it was ksufans) at the time, and I see a post from Shwan talking about how I had run by him and he told me I looked good after losing weight. Some people may have been creeped out by that, but I thought it was hilarious. I told him next time he sees me, make sure to stop me and say hi and I’d love to talk K-State sports with him. Unfortunately, I never ran past him ever again — I really wish I would have.

Reading all the accounts and personal recollections from those of you who personally knew him on goemaw, it’s kind of a nauseous feeling to know he’s gone at such a young age. There will be a lot less laughs around K-State nation and Big 12 country with his passing.

Aside from everything he did on the message boards, the K-State videos, etc., to know what he was doing for his brother in California, that speaks volumes to the type of human being he was as well.

I would say this about him: If there was a separate heaven for K-Staters, Shwan might just be the God of it.

-Cole