Boots Erb...

x
I met Boots Erb in 1983, when I was living in Vacaville. He was looking for somebody to move into his house near Winters, and rebuild it.

Twenty-five plus years later, I am still in Winters, and I have been closer to Boots than I was to my own father.

In the early years, Boots would tell me stories that I would take with a grain of salt.

That ended one day, the grain of salt part, that is, when a helicopter, a Bell Jet Ranger, hovered over the house, and landed on the driveway. An old guy, dresses in overalls and a denim shirt got out, walked up to me, stuck out his hand, and said "Hi, I'm Ken Hoffman. Is Boots here?"

Ken Hoffman. Hoffman Homes.

Then I started going to dinners with Boots. He and Karal decided I needed to be spruced up some, and they bought me a Cal-blue jacket one year for Christmas, so I could go in style.

I quickly realized at these dinners that Boots and I did not get up to go see the "celebrities", that they came to see us.

Mike White. Joe Kapp. George Seifert. Bill Walsh. Ronnie Lott. John Madden. Et cetera...

When he had told me that he took care of all these guys when they were just starting out, there was no exaggeration at all- he did just that. He would feed them at his Bow & Bell Restaurant in Jack London Square, the same place where Clint Eastwood used to play the piano for meals before he became famous.

Mike White told me last summer about the buses Boots would rent to take fans to the Big Games at Stanford, and how afterward they would go to Mike's house in Los Altos Hills to party.

Boots' dad, Charley Erb, played quarterback at Cal on the Wonder Team, going undefeated over 3 years, and passing on the Rose Bowl just because they wanted to be home for the Holidays. He went on to be one of those guys who were responsible for talking the Japanese out of the caves after the war was lost for them.

I moved in with Boots and Karal a couple of times, after I split (twice) with my first wife. It's always been a home for me, where I could go without question, with no doubt about how I would be received.

I spent most of today helping move Boots into a Convalescent Home in Vacaville. He had just become too much for Karal. The girls, Kelly and Anneliese, were there, and it was awful for all four of us- but at the same time we knew it was the right thing to do.

When my time comes, just take me to Soda Springs in the middle of winter, and leave me lying in the snow.

I have had better days, and few worse...