Chicago
Cubs fans Bill Holden talks to Jeff Smith about being in the heart of
St. Louis Cardinal country Friday night at Applebee's restaurant.
Holden is walking 2,100 miles from Camp Verde, Ariz., to Chicago
raising awareness and money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation. LDR photo/ Eric Adams
Cubs fan stops here on 2,100- mile trip to Wrigley Field... on foot
By Eric Adams
Why is a Chicago Cub's fan walking through the hart of St. Louis Cardinal's country?
Bill
Holden, 56, is walking 2,100 miles from Camp Verde, Ariz., to Chicago,
raising awareness and money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation in honor of his diabetic students and former Cubs third
baseman Ron Santo. He hopes to reach Wrigley Field in time for the
Chicago Cubs game July 1 where he has been invited to throw out the
first pitch and sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."
"I'm going
through the heart of the Cardinal nation and the people have been
fantastic," Holden said as he propped his feet up after a 15-mile walk
from Conway to Lebanon on Friday in the rain.
Holden spent
Thursday night in Conway and ate a good meal the Rocking Chair
Restaurant. He said former C-4 Joel E. Barber Principal Don Sexton
picked him up 200 feet west of Lebanon on Route 66 Friday when he was
soaked to the skin from rain.
"It was so frustrating getting
rained on the whole stinking day," Holden said. "He (Sexton) knew I was
hurting, bought me a cup of coffee at the Waffle House to warm me up.
He had me laughing when I was so miserable."
Holden was a school
teacher at an Indian reservation and got to knew several students with
juvenile diabetes. He said several of the students were sluggish and
had to wear thick eye glasses. At the same time he was teaching
diabetic students Santo was getting his second leg amputated due to
diabetes.
"I thought of him (Santo) the entire time I was
teaching," Holden said. "I taught kids that would black out in class or
I wouldn't see a kid for four-or-five days because they had an
(diabetic) attack."
Holden said his students and the documentary
"This Old Cub" about Santo inspired him to walk across America. His
goal is to raise a quarter of a million dollars for the Juvenile
Diabetes Research Foundation.
"I've seen the best of the
American people on this trip," Holden said. "Nobody has been negative,
nobody has rousted me around, nobody has been rude to me."
Holden's
planned to stay at Lebanon's Econo Lodge Friday night and Saturday then
head west on Route 66 to Hazlegreen or St. Robert on Sunday. By May 15
he plans to get to St. Louis to meet up with his son, Josh Holden, who
is attending St. Louis Community College at Forest Park and pitches for
its baseball team.
"I can almost see the sky scrappers of Chicago," Holden said. "I know that I'm going to make it."
