Oh my god. I am in shock. Im not a newspaper reader, and have been busy this week.
You see I met Joe "FF1" Hardy in 2001 while we were working on the same project. He was an electrical contractor. Once he had mentioned online racing, we became friends rather quickly. I enjoyed working with him, not only because he was a good guy and easy to work with, but we could pass the time discussing our online gaming exploits as we worked.
I talked about flying online (both in AW and AH at the time) enough that he finally decided to give it a try. I got a laugh out of his comment next day. He pointed at me and said to my helper"Hey Troy is famous, he got on aces high, and about 20 people started saying hi to him." From then on I think we talked more about how to fly than about work. Of course I recruited him into the 38 Specials, and tried to give him a crash course in the finer points of tactics and maneuvers.
He invited me and my kids to his christmas party that year. I took him up on it thinking the kids would enjoy it, but also thinking I would feel a little out of place. He was 13 years older than me and lived 4 towns away, so I was unlikely to see mutual aquaintances there. He was a great host though, and I had a great time meeting his family and friends and in no way felt 'left out'.
I was able to visit him a few times after that, and we would wing up in AH while sitting side by side on 2 of his 3 system home network. We went to the reading ww2 airshow and caught up with
Tony "%tazz/TheTazz" (former Special and Raider) there in 2003.
Murdr, Tazz, FF1
FF1 in radio/nav position on the memphis belle knockoff
(now that I think of it FF1 took my mugshot thats posted on look-at-ewe)
Eventually I went out on my own as an independent contractor, and we didnt cross paths as much. Still I used him as an electrical contractor most of the times I needed one. Also around that time the core squad guys, who were relaxed realism AW fliers started losing intrest in the realism of aces high. I had little time for flying anyways so I disolved the squad and Joe went to the 81st.
This spring I got to bring him in as a sub on a project. As always he was great to work and do business with. And in June we managed to hook up for the airshow again. This time he brought his son and his father-in-law.
FF1 Jr, Murdr, Murdr Jr
One thing I can tell you about Joe is he thought the world of his 2 kids. He always had stories to tell about them. It was obvious he was especially proud of his boy Joey, and if we weren't talking business, Joey's latest exploits were shure to come up. Some daytime players may recognize the name, but likely it was little boy Joey flying the mossie Joe had set up for him before going to work.
Another thing that comes to mind is that if he wasnt an electrician, he should have been a politician. He could easily meet a person for the first time and carry on an hour long conversation. In fact the only annoyance I had with him in the professional realm was that at times he would start chatting with guys working for me and then they weren't getting any work done
.
I remember once he came on the job complaining that he got a message that he was banned from AH. I told him to give HTC a call, it was probably an anti-cheat filter that tagged him for something (thinking of the problems cable users had in AW). The next day he came in
"I talked to Mr HiTech. He's a pretty good guy. He said it was a bug that flagged me for hacking. He took care of it. Talked to him for a good half hour or so."
"You talked about it (the game) for a half hour?" I asked.
"No. We talked about fishin'"
Lol, that was easy to believe.
Joe also was an avid bass angler. He and his partner went to tornements, and they had a guide business on the side. He proudly showed visitors a lifestyles article out of the Baltimore paper. The reporter that hired them just for leisure had such a good time during their outing he did a feature on them. Joe told me they got calls for a year from that article.
I was trying to think of how Id describe his personality, and Steve Martin comes to mind. He was a really smart, outgoing guy, that loved to be goofy. Most of the times I called or ran into him he gave me the kind of greeting norm got walking into cheers "Murdr!" (man if felt weird being called that ouside the game)
Well I think Ive lost a good nights sleep recalling my friend Joe with a few grins, and a few tears for his family.
Joe
Joseph A. Hardy
1947-2004
