On A Pale Horse

A little known wired fact about Happy Days is that the character played by Al Molinaro 'Alfred 'Al' Delvecchio' was named after Red Wing great Alex Delvecchio. I can't remember where I heard that from, it just seems to be one of those useless knowledge items that I can't seem to drop out of my head. I always thought that Arnolds was named after Al, it wasn't until I looked it up on imdb that I saw Matsuo 'Arnold' Takahashi character came first. I guess that's why I would bomb the '70's sitcom' portion of Jeopardy.

Mr. Morita's had a pretty crappy start in life. He was diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis that left him in body casts and immobile until he was 11, at which time he had to learn how to walk all over again. Shortly after he got back on his feet World War 2 started and he was shipped off to a Japanese interment camp for the duration of the war.

He started his acting career by becoming a stand up comedian and working with the LA Group the Groundlings.

I'm not a huge Miyagi fan - I liked Mr. Morita more as Captian Sam Pak, but I guess that just a personal thing.

Mr. Morita passed away on Thanksgiving Day from natural causes, surrounded by his wife, ex-wife and his children.

June 28, 1932 - November 24, 2005
RIP

Labels: 1932 births, 2005 November deaths, actor, natural causes

Back in grade school one of my friends bragged that her dad was on pit crew. She was pretty excited about it, I on the other hand, had absolutely no clue what a pit crew was and why that was important. I spent the night at her house once and she asked her dad to tell some stories and show off the trophies and pictures. I was still baffled.
Many, many, many years later I marry a NASCAR fan. He knows what a pit crew is, he knows what a spotter is, he knows all this crap about racing and now I do too.
Clifton "Coo Coo" Marlin, father of Sterling Martin, raced NASCAR from 1966 to 1980. He never won a race in his 165 races but finished in the top 10 in nearly a third of the races he started.

He passed away after battling lung cancer in his home town of Columbia, Tennessee, 300 Miles from Bristol.

RIP
January 3, 1932 - August 14, 2005

Labels: 1932 births, 2005 August deaths, cancer, related to someone famous, sports