October 5, 2023//Memorial Park//AO-Futurama// Beautiful Morning, slight chill, slight overcast
Nugent Memorial Run
Pax: Spreadsheet, Blades of Glory, Wait Time, Big One, Sweet Sweet, Camper, Sparty, Stanglehold, Buns of Steel, Patton, Good Looking, Jeeves, Golden Pond, Larry the Legend, Doll Face, Polaroid, Demogorgon, Sister Act, Full Count (FNG), Biff, No Cry, Baskins, Brazilian, Hipster, Rocket, Brown Bag, Spock (FNG), Bloodshot, Touche’, Safe Ride, Spacebar, Doppler, Da Fridge, Swinger, Wentworth, Cyclone, Greasefire, Redacted, Flip Turn, Tater Tot, Uhaul, Othello, Stitches, Flying V, Blue Chip, Oompa, Stapler, Gunner, Tight Lip, Lansbury, Slow Pitch, Samples, Retweet, Icy Hot, Khakis, Folsom, Frosty
Q: 2021 Clydesdales
Intro: Today we remember Chris Gradoville, Nugent, a PAX who we lost 2 years ago on September 30, 2021. Nugent was a stand-out baseball player for Bryan High School and Creighton University before going on to a professional baseball career. It was his baseball ties that brought him to F3 where he became an outstanding teammate to so many, and in the early morning hours of the gloom, Nugent pre-ran with the “Clydesdales”.
This morning, the Clydesdales who ran with Nugent lead us in a string-of-pearls beatdown with a member of the Clydesdales sharing at each stop along with another PAX from Nugent’s history. The goal of the day is to remember our brother in a way that honors him and gives newer PAX an idea of who he was.
It was definitely one of those full heart mornings. The grief of this loss is heavy, but it is no match for the strength of the love generated by this group. F3 is such a blessing. Nugent was a blessing!
We were also blessed with the presence of Nugent’s father, Ron Gradoville, who walked with the ruckers and listened to all the stories. He stayed for coffee and shared some stories and I believe he was the last to leave the gloom that beautiful morning. As I drove away, Ron was taking a picture of the beautiful rainbow that appeared over Memorial park, right at the end of coffeteria.
The Thang: String of Pearls
Stop One Touche and Sweet Sweet:
Touche: “One of my favorite memories of Nugent was on a pre-run before Heavy Metal. I had never been able to complete the 2-mile loop without walking at some point. Several times during this run I wanted to stop and Nugent as well as others were so encouraging and even slowed their pace just a bit to make sure I wouldn’t stop. I was able to finish the run without stopping. This was the longest I had ever run nonstop in my life! I was so excited, but I think Nugent was as excited for me if not more. That’s a perfect example of who Nugent was. He wanted to see others succeed and he celebrated those successes.
Nugent, you are missed my friend”!
Sweet Sweet: “Grad loved the term Clydesdales and was excited to tell me
about the running group of slower big guys that fit him perfect.
Chris was a grinder – not much came easy to him and he
worked his tail off to keep improving. He loved to hunt, fish,
and play golf and would do whatever it took to allow those
things to happen. He’d work a 14 hour day to be able to go do
his fun activities the next day. He always found time to have
fun and always encouraged others to do the same. He took a
lot of pride in staying up late drinking and be the first one up
getting stuff done.
He was a bit overconfident at a young age so myself and his
buddies always put him in his spot letting him know he’s not
that good. That drove him to be great. He always wanted to
prove people wrong. I appreciate this F3 group for keeping his
memory and legacy going and to encourage others going
through tough times to lean on fellow PAX.
A quick funny story about Chris was he thought he was an
expert craftsman and he built steps on the front of his dads
house. They ended up being a little unlevel and my mom
tripped down them one time and fell into the bushes and Chris
said nothing is wrong with the steps and that my 72 year old
mom should be an athlete. He loved that phrase”.
Stop Two Spreadsheet and Stranglehold:
Spreadsheet: “Originally, when thinking about what story I was going to tell Ithought of the time I accidentally ghosted a text from Nugent when we were both at the airport and boy o boy did, he giveme some shit for it which was well deserved but deep down it wasn’t the right story for this. I was able to get to know Nugent, like many of these dumbasses (I mean guys) pre-running when it was zero degrees outside. Consistently, I’d drive in as a grouch questioning why we decided to prerun in the cold again at either Cornhusker or Heavy Metal and just as consistently as I’d complain Nugent would jump in with a “Come on man, let’s go, we going to bitch and moan or are we going to run?” And that would be the jumpstart I needed to get going and reconfigure my attitude.
Don’t get me wrong, after the little pep talk and once, we started running there was plenty of bitching to go around, Nugent included, but it was doing it together that made all the difference. Nugent had a way of making the others around him better versions of themselves by just being. He brought light into the gloom and continues to do so every morning for the Omaha PAX. We are all privileged to have known Nugent either firsthand or through the memories being shared. He is a HIM worth emulating so it’s on us all to be the best HIM we can be because that’s all Nugent ever wanted for all of us”.
Stranglehold: “Junior year at Bryan. 4 of us were bored one night and wanted to raise a little hell. We had a red light and a blue light. We came up with the idea of acting like cops… we would pull people over on 48th and Harrison. Nugent had a little S-10 pickup. Myself and another buddy stood in the back of the pickup with the lights… flashed them on and off and held on like crazy as Nugent would tear out of Harper Park parking lot. We were all crying we were laughing so much. As people would pull over Nugent would pull up right next to them, flip them the bird (his middle finger was twice the size of the average humans) yell some expletives and speed off. We later found out that what we were doing is illegal which made it even funnier. Chris was just a big ass kid. That smile and laugh will always be with me.
Thank you Frosty and the Clydesdales for letting me share one of my many memories of Nugent. Love you all for keeping his legacy going”.
Stop Three Greasefire and Retweet:
Greasefire: “Chris Gradoville was a guy just like you and me. He came to F3 because his buddy told him how it changed his life. He found a team of men to walk with, who shared a common journey and allowed him to feel comfortable. Nugent as we know him connected with the Clydesdals, a group of guys who didn’t like running, this professional athlete was just a common man with likes, dislikes, family issues, things that didn’t go as planned. As he would flip and redo houses he spent more time than most pulling nails out of his own feet and hands, but he still showed up for others, asked for help as a way to connect, and did everything with passion”.
Retweet: “I first met Chris in 2001 when he was playing baseball for Bryan High. He had injured his arm and wasn’t able to play for a while. Chris will go down as one of my favorite patients of all time. Even though he was injured he was extremely positive and made a point to be friendly to everyone in the clinic.
While he was at Creighton I would go watch him play (I am a huge baseball fan and a proud CU Alum). On more than one occasion I would bring my kids by the dugout after the game and he would give them a ball.
In 2020 I was scrolling though Twitter one night. I was following Chris and saw him posting with F3. I thought it sounded interesting. When I was in the circle the first day, I was asked who brought me out. I said I follow Chris G on Twitter and that is how I heard about F3. So…I became Retweet. I didn’t really like the name. Now I love it. He was not there the first day I posted but I did run into him about a week later. He immediately came up to me with a big hug. He was so welcoming. I saw him several times that winter/spring and wish I had seen him more.
I think about Chris all the time and wear his hat almost every time I post”.
Stop Four Wentworth and Tater Tot:
Wentworth: “Nugent and I would usually talk about Creighton baseball during our pre-runs together and we also spoke about hitting and wooden bats as we both played in a wood bat league. I was telling him how hard it is to believe how much new wooden bats cost and how they could break right away. He asked me what size of a bat that I swung and I told him 34 inches. The next time I saw him, he gave me a brand new black 34 inch wooden bat that I used for a season before it broke. He told me not to tell anyone where I got it. I think we all know where he got it and that is the type of guy he was, modern day Robinhood! We were going to go to the batting cages together sometime and unfortunately that never happened. But I do appreciate the time that we had together.
He truly lived for others”.
Tater Tot: (audibled for the live show) Tater Tot told my absolute favorite story about getting into a game to pitch for Creighton when they had no chance of winning. Nugent was the catcher. Tot loaded the bases then promptly gave up a grand slam home run. Having spent hours of time in the bullpen with Nugent, Tater knew Nugent would have just the right words for him in this downtrodden moment. Nugent called time and ran to the pitchers mound, handed Tater Tot the ball, shook his head and all he could muster was, “You suck”, and headed back to the dish.
I’ll tell you why this is my favorite story. The way I interpret it, Nugent gave him a pretty good jab but he knew he wasn’t going far. Even back then he knew he wasn’t going to leave a man behind.
Stop Five Othello and Sparty:
Othello: “One of my favorite memories of Nugent is breakfast with Frosty at First Watch. It was one of those mornings when we had an “extended” cafeteria. It was a day when none of us had to work, so we decided to walk over after coffeeteria at Starbucks and have breakfast. One of our many conversations was about being disciplined and structured, two things I value. Nugent talked about how he naturally woke at 3:30 a.m. and was ready to tackle the day! I told him I admired his discipline, and without a beat, he replied, “I admire your heart,” and gave me a big, bright, affectionate smile. That smile made me want to tackle him and give him a big, non-sweaty hug. Nugent was a guy who radiated positive energy and possessed a generous soul. We are all fortunate to call him a brother”.
Sparty: “I want to talk about the Impact and Legacy of Grad. Something a lot of us somewhat knew but weren’t entirely sure about Grad that we learned after he passed, he had a shit ton of close friends. Somehow, over all those years, he managed to keep all of those relationships strong, but separate.
Shortly after Sept 30, there was a gathering at one of Grad’s favorite places in Omaha, Beer City. There was an opportunity for people to grab the mic and say a few words. There was a friend of Chris’ from Colorado that not many people knew that had something to say and the point of his message was this, “God knows that Chris will have a bigger impact on the world in Heaven than he could on Earth.” I don’t think this entirely sat well with some people considering the timing of the message, but it completely resonated with me and it made me look forward to the months ahead to see how this would play out.
Here is what happened:
– Through some crazy osmosis, Grad’s multitude of friend groups somehow came together and became great friends. Nikki and Chris’ families became family with all his friends.
– The Graditude youth baseball camp in our community was created as a way to share Chris’ love for the game, and the love of teaching young baseball players the game. This camp also brings in current and former college baseball players, high school and college coaches, and former professional baseball players who all volunteer their time in Chris’ honor. Each attendee is given a Graditude Tee Shirt along with a CG20 sticker which can be seen all over town on kids’ helmets.
– The Chris Gradoville Memorial Baseball tournament was created here in Omaha. The story of who Chris was and what he stood for is shared with all of the parents, players, and coaches. The winning teams all received CG20 hats as their trophy. So if you see a kid wearing one of those hats around town, there is a good chance he won that at Chris’ tournament.
– The money raised from this camp and baseball tournament combine with the efforts of Creighton University’s Athletic department to create an Endowment Scholarship to a young man in the baseball program in Chris’ name.
– The PAX of F3, along with local companies in our community have raised $96,000 that has been awarded to 8 young men from our community to go to college.
– Every single morning, a Nugent Flag gets planted in the ground in Omaha and we celebrate the life of Chris by sharing his stories and Impact with all the PAX.
This is how we are a part of carrying out his Legacy. It’s through all his friends and family coming together. It’s the young boys learning his story and the type of person and teammate he was. It’s the young men going to college who will forever be tied to his name.
It’s through F3 Omaha honoring and celebrating him each and every day!
We are all better men for knowing him. We are responsible for carrying his Legacy together.
He is not heavy, he is my Brother!
FNG; Spock and Full Count were named
Acknowledgements: Special thanks to the other eight OG Clydesdales who helped Q this special morning. Othello, Uhaul, Spacebar, Patton, Touche’, Spreadsheet, Greasefire and Wentworth.
Thank you to Polaroid, Gunner, Mary Young for the burritos, Tater Tot, all the speakers and as always, Wait Time.
COT:
Patton: “My friend Nugent
I met Nugent at Cornhusker. I noticed his large frame but it
was his even larger smile that caught me from the start. As we
kept running into each other at beatdowns I began to learn
that we had a lot in common. We would talk about our dislike
for running but we did it because of the love for the guy next
to us. A group of us started a text string to give support and
accountability for this challenge. We would plan to meet for
pre runs we called them Clydesdale runs. On our many runs
together we discussed remodeling homes, going hunting,
fishing, playing golf, old fashions (I have his recipe if you want
it), different wines we liked, and of course our M’s.
You see Nugent and I are both very passionate people. We are
passionate about our family and friends, and from what I saw
of him, we are just as passionate about our dislikes. Which
sounds great until we get agitated with some one or some
thing and then our passion turns into something else.
There was no off switch for Nugent. I don’t think he ever slept.
He would send a text at all times of the day and always
responded within two hours if he needed to reply, many of
which were a bit of a smart ass response which I loved.
In February of 2021 I injured me back after going to top golf in
February and not stretching properly. He saw me moving
slowly and in pain when I arrived for his VQ at Futurama. I
followed him around as he set up and we discussed my pain
where and how it was affecting my movement and what my
plan was for recovery, which was to power through. His VQ
was awesome and as we know it’s hard to focus on anything
else shortly after our VQ. Well not Nugent, he sent me a
stretching and recovery plan less than three hours after his VQ.
It included pictures, reps, and videos of the exercises. Which
by the way was exactly what I needed.
Nugent is a man that I (at 52 years young) am still learning
from and aspiring to be. A great man, friend, brother, husband,
and human being. We both have our faults and often have no
f’s to give but if we are in we are all in. I miss your smile and
your hugs and can’t wait to see you again. I love you my
friend!
UHAUL took us out in prayer
Aye- Frosty