George Ferguson Column: Year after year, Fat was always there

Legion Field is one of the busiest places in Havre in the summer. It’s the mecca for competitive, high-level baseball in these parts. Each summer, it’s where the community gathers to watch our oldest kids play what has always been America’s favorite past time.

But, this summer, Legion Field, and Havre North Stars home games are missing something, or rather someone. It’s missing Leland “Fat” Slonaker.

You see, Fat absolutely loved to come to the grand old ballpark perched high above Havre, year-after-year, summer-after-summer. For those of you who have been frequenting Legion Field in recent years yourselves, you may have known Fat as one of a group of gentlemen, including his good friend Cy and the late Wells Lamey, among others. Together, they would sit and watch the North Stars play, game-after-game, summer, after hot summer.

Yes, while baseball may be American’s favorite pastime, watching baseball at Legion Field was one of Fat’s.

Fat, who is my wife’s, and by the beauty of marriage, my grandpa, passed away earlier this spring, at the young and tender age of 98. And with his passing, a legacy at Legion Field, and in the sports community of Havre, passed with it, whether those of you who go to North Star games knew it or not.

And chances are, you may not have known Fat in the stands. While he loves the game of baseball, he wasn’t the type to scream at the umpires for bad calls, or a poor strike zone. He wasn’t the type of man who stood and cheered and hollered at games. He didn’t need to draw attention to himself. It was always about the games, the sports, the kids. No, Fat, was a quiet, reserved, gentleman, and that’s why some of you reading this may not have known he was even there.

But being reserved doesn’t disqualify his passion, passion for the game of baseball, the North Stars, and Hi-Line sports as a whole.

Like many of his good buddies he would sit with at Legion Field all those summers, Fat was a fixture at just about everything that was played with a ball in Havre, and often times on the Hi-Line.

I married my wife 16 years ago this August, but, as I reiterated at Fat’s memorial service last Friday, I probably was around Fat more often than I realized, and long before I met my wife Amy, Fat’s beautiful granddaughter, and one of his 21 grandchildren. But, some 16 years later, having gotten to know, and gotten to experience the great man, and great fan that Fat was, I realized, he was there all right. For as long as I’ve been attending Havre sports, and as long as I’ve worked at the Havre Daily News, Fat was right there with me.

Fat wasn’t just a sports fan though. He was, as many of his family members called him, a jack of all trades, from working on farms in both Blaine and Hill counties, to working on his own automobiles, to hunting and, especially fishing with his family and buddies, Fat did it all. He lived an amazing life, for 98 years. He lived a historical life, through all of the important times in the history of our country, and the great state of Montana. Fat did and saw things, saw the world, and country and the Hi-Line change in so many ways, ways that we (my generation) only know about from talking to great men like Fat, or, taking Mr. Magera’s local history class.

But, as much as Fat lived life, and he lived it to the fullest, sports were a big part of that. In particular, sports like Havre High football and basketball, and MSU-Northern men’s and women’s basketball. No, Fat went to more than just those sports, and he did so because, not only did he love sports, but because he loved Havre, and Chinook, and the Hi-Line, and he was proud to be from here. And he showed that pride by supporting the sport's culture at Havre High, Chinook, Northern, the Montana Grizzlies, the District 9C, and everything in between. And, even, though it pains me to say, the Montana State Bobcats, too. Yes, the fact that most of Fat’s family are diehard Griz fans didn’t matter. Fat loves Montana sports, and, so much so, he didn’t seem to mind the Bobcats even.

That’s the kind of sport’s fan Fat was. Just like his unwavering and unconditional support and admiration for all of his family, he loved the local sports scene the same way. If he was there at a game, of any kind, he was there to proudly support, the Blue Ponies, the Sugarbeeters, the Lights, the Skylights, or whoever else he was watching on that particular day or night.

And that kind of passion for sports, and more specifically, local sports, is one of the many, many reasons, I instantly felt a closeness to Fat. I felt, in a way, though separated by many years, we were sort of kindred spirits. Sports, local history and the weather, that’s what we often talked about, and, listening to Fat, I always tried to soak up as much knowledge as I could.

So, that brings me back to Legion Field this summer. The first North Star game I watched this summer, it really hit me hard that Fat wasn’t there. For me, it wasn’t the same as the summer before. At Fat’s memorial last week, I told the throngs of people who were there to celebrate his amazing life, that, for years, when I would come home from a game, my wife would ask me if her grandpa was there. After a while, I thought, she doesn’t need to ask me that question because the answer was always … yes.

When it came to sports in Havre, Fat was always there. And while I will always cherish the 16 or 17-plus years that I was lucky enough to truly know Fat, every time I climb the bleachers at Legion Field, for as many summers as I continue to do so, I will always notice that he’s not there any more.

And though that brings me some sadness, I will always remember that, for much longer than I have been covering sports in this town, and in this area, Fat was always, and passionately, there, supporting all of you who have played just about anything with a ball over the years.

He was always there, and just like I was so lucky to have Fat in my life for as long as I did, all of you were lucky to have that type of support and appreciation from such a great, great man, and someone I will always consider a true sports fan in our great community.