The View From Wisconsin

There are times in life when you run into people who end up touching you more than you realize.

Tom Price was such a man.

I didn't know him from Adam for most of his life; it wasn't until about five years ago that I met the man in person.

To most people, they'd see this big hulk of a man who was a trucker, and automatically think, "This guy's a redneck."

They'd be partially right. Tom worked for the company he liked to call "F'ed-Up-Ex" for a good chunk of his career before becoming an owner-operator.

But a "redneck"? Well, he'd probably have no problem with that designation - as much as it really didn't fit him.

He was a true Southern Gentleman. If you ever wondered why, you just needed to look at his relationship with his wife, Brenda.

Now, I know you're thinking, "How did a guy from Wisconsin end up becoming friends with a trucker from the Tennessee Hills?"

This is the most ironic part: through the game of hockey. Ice hockey that is.

Tom was a season-ticket-holder for the Nashville Predators, camped out in section 302 with his most notable feature: a red flashing light grafted to a hockey helmet, powered by a battery that he had rigged together. Whenever the Predators scored a goal in Nashville, he "lit his lamp" and celebrated with the rest of his fellow fans.

He was a bit of a celebrity, making the Daily Tennesseean several times with a photo of his big ol' self and his helmet. Fans who regularly came to the GEC knew him at least as "the helmet light guy". He even managed to make it on to ESPN.com's website as one of the many photos for their season preview.

He had some interesting hobbies - the traditional "man of the arts", so to speak. He knew all about radios and how to intercept a radio signal. He was a breeder of "wolf-hybrids" - dogs that weren't quite wolves, and wolves that weren't quite dogs. He was a semi-regular poster on the Nashville Predators message boards - which is where I first met him.

It is because of him, and how he and his fellow Predators fans treated me while I was down there, that I've really come to think of the others in the Predators Nation as family.

Here's a photo of him (on the far right), along with his wife, myself and another great Predator fan, Mark Hollingsworth:



That photo was taken about five years ago, back in December of 2001. Since then, we've all gone through the roller coaster that is the Nashville Predators - the March "Purge" of 2002, the trading of Dunham, the rise of Tomas Vokoun, the first playoff berth... and the "L-word" (where, at least, I got to see him during an Admirals game at the GEC).

Tom usually went by his CB-handle, "Swamprat", when he was online. Most people didn't know his full name, or where he lived.

I never got a chance to see his spread in the Tennessee hills, but I knew the man.

Swampy fell ill last week Thursday (May 4), while on a run over to his native Memphis. He ended up in the hospital there, at St. Thomas, where he apparently collapsed and went into a coma.

He never woke up.

I am going to miss that old teddy bear of a guy. It won't be the same going to Preds games without him.