Just got back from taking grandkids, all 4 under age 7, to Lake Okoboji for 3 days. Clean family oriented place, crystal clear water. On the 2nd day we decide to rent a speedboat so the kids could get out on the lake. Went to Extreme Watersports, in Arnolds Park on the West lake. While getting life jackets on all the kids the owner saw my KSU visor, smiled and said, Coach Synder. I proceeded to tell him more about KSU and Coach then he probabaly wanted to hear. He said that he knew Coach. His family had been coming to Okoboji since their Iowa days. He said Coach had been with them 3 years straight up until recently. He laughed at the memory of Coach Synder's family always giving the Coach some grief about not parasailing. He said they, kids/grandkids were unrelenting. Finally on the last trip Coach gave in and said he would parasail. The owner said he thought to himself, great, what if something should go wrong, half of Kansas and Iowa would hate him. He mentioned there are still a lot of Iowans connnected to Bill and follow his program. Everything went great with the parasailing he said, and Coach really enjoyed showing the family what he can do at age 70 or so. Then came the most telling comment about our Coach. The owner said after Coach's 3 year stint of retirement was over, he has not seen Coach back at the Lake with family. We have all expressed complaints about our Coach in one way or another, but never his dedication. It is safe to say Coach Synder has devoted his life to his job, our team, our University and fans like no other coach. I am sure, or at least hope, his family understands this is where he wants to be, and hopefully there will still be time for leisure in LHCBS's future, after some unfinished business. Side note, many people greeted us as fellow Wildcats while in Iowa, people from Atchison, Wamego, Salina, KC, Topeka, Effingham, that I can remember.
