Aside from Accurator, I probably knew SWC better than most others on this forum. Twenty-five years ago, when I started this place with Temery and Fishy (two UConn fans, long story), it was my job to find some SU fans to help administer and moderate it. This involved contacting people I knew only by their handles and their posts, and inviting them to a dinner at the erstwhile Sheraton Hotel. SWC was among the people I contacted. He graciously declined my invitation, saying he did not think he would be good at it. Among those who accepted my invitation were Bees, Tomcat, Jake and Cheriehoops...all of whom became mods/admins.
A few years later, when I got the idea of having tailgates prior to football games (before Texas Mark and others significantly upgraded them to what the Fine Mess is today), we held them in the Waverly and Q-l parking lots. Each week, I would urge SWC to attend. Each week he would decline ... until one week when he showed up in the Q-1 lot with a Hooper puppet.
He stood by himself off to the side. Several of us tried to engage him in conversation and to urge him to join the rest of the group. He politely declined and continued to stand off to the side and to communicate with those who approached him by using the puppet.
In sharp contrast to his persona on call-in radio and on this forum, he was incredibly shy when it came to in-person interactions with others.
I tried a few more times to encourage him to attend tailgates, but he always politely declined, saying he would rather communicate on the radio and on this forum. After a while i gave up.
He clearly had wonderful communication skills, but he chose to use them his way ... and not the way many others did. To paraphrase Frank Sinatra, he did it "his way."
The early Romans had two Latin words for him: "Sui Generis." It means "one of a kind" or "unique." I think that is a perfect way to describe Steve Chappell, better known to us as SWC. He will be missed more than he could have imagined. May he rest in peace.
