Wow.
As one of the "second" batch of "miscreants" that came over when we had like 12 members, I got to know Steve very well.
Him and I worked together with a potential sponsor early on, and I got to know his philosophy pretty well..."they pay US not the other way around...we will GROW this thing bigger than anybody can imagine!"
Which is a pretty GUTSY philosophy when we have like a few hundred members, compared to some other boards, and the guy talking to us has a pretty decent sized growing business...ever since the guy backed out I wonder if he has ever checked back in and saw how big we GOT...
I remember the times we "passed the hat," to keep it going too..
He called me after my heart attack last year, and admonished me to "eat more venison.."
The last time I talked to him on the phone he was looking at a '97 Trench Gun that had been converted back to a riot, and was trying to decide if it was a good deal, and decided to ask me since he said he consodered me "the resident '97 Winchester expert on TFF" (I was HUMBLED that he thought of me that way....) (I just hope my experience with mine and what I read from Canfield's book on US Combat Shotguns gave him enough help on that one....
)
When he offered me my moderator's "powers" back on that last call, and I declined, explaining that not only is my schedule erratic, but also because as I got older and crotchedier I felt a certain "freedom" expressing my own opinions, and not wanting it to reflect on the board if I stepped on some toes, he told me he understood completely, he said he "lurked" on a lot of our wild discussions under a "secret" name a few times, and got fired up and wanted to get involved with the arguments, but refrained, for that same reason.
He wanted NOTHING to reflect badly on this forum.
RIP Steve, from an old friend.
Polish