Pat O'Rourke

[Adam Ryan 🤝 @AdamRy_n]

Aldon Smith passed away this weekend. Most people are talking about his incredible ability, potential, and performance as a football player.

Even though that is all true. He was so much more than that. He was a great friend and his kindness changed my life forever.

I met Aldon our freshman year at Mizzou. He was redshirted and relatively unknown as an athlete. His giveaway was the biggest hands you'll ever see and his ability to dunk at 250lbs, but his size in many ways didn't match his personality. He was relatively quiet and in most scenarios would try to shrink into the room vs stand out in it.

Over the course of the next year, we became close. We were very different people, from different places, but we both connected on the feeling of being a bit lost in the beginnings of adulthood. That year, I never really thought about him as a football player. He was just this gentle giant who loved to play video games and talk about life.

His sophmore year he broke the single season sack record at Mizzou, became an All American, and his life changed forever.

He became a celebrity on campus. He became a household name in Missouri. He became a top NFL draft prospect.

I remember how crazy his life became, and how quickly. ESPN doing interviews. Fancy cars being "loaned" to him. And people everywhere inserting themselves into his life.

Despite the craziness, my friend was always a text away.

My junior of college, I decided to take my first stab at entrepreneurship. I wanted to launch a chapter of Camp Kesem.

Kesem is a summer camp for children whose parents have been affected by cancer. The camp would be totally free and be a chance for a kid to experience the magic of being a kid again. As a son of a breast cancer survivor the idea of being able to create this camp in Missouri meant the world to me.

The Livestrong Foundation was hosting a nation wide contest to win $10,000 as seed capital to get started. To win, you had to have the most votes.

I tried really freaking hard to win that competition. I was going up against some really influential people at huge schools. As a somewhat awkward kid in Columbia, MO I had no chance.

So I asked my friend Aldon for a favor. I asked him if he would help me out and promote the link to vote.

He did more than just posting about Kesem on Facebook, skyrocketing us into the top place in the country. He kept supporting me the next 3 years while I was working on building Kesem.

He showed up to have fun with the kids. He helped me fundraise. He helped me get Kesem to become an official organization sponsored by the NFLPA so he could publicly endorse us as as a player.

Since then Torry Holt, Larry Fitzegerald, and many others have supported Kesem. But Aldon was the first.

Kesem led me to move to Austin to work for the Livestrong Foundation. Kesem is how I met my wife. Kesem gave me the confidence to start Workweek and continue the path of building something from scratch.

But in reality, Aldon enabled all those things.

Throughout the years we had many amazing memories together. Having my wife and I vacation to his house in San Jose. Going to New Orleans for the Super Bowl and seeing his entire family make the trip. Meeting his son and watching him be a dad. The hilarious night we met Derek Jeter. Having the most intellectual conversations about life while playing Call of Duty.

I also saw him struggle. There's no doubt he was a complicated person. Truthfully, I don't know if he ever really figured out who he wanted to be. I know just because your'e 6'4, 250lbs, and get 5.5 sacks in a single NFL game doesn't necessarily mean you want to be a football player. No matter the reasons, he made many bad decisions in his life. Some of those mistakes made it hard for me to stay as close as we'd once been.

One day, not too long ago, I just decided to text him. It had been years since we really chatted. I just wanted to say thank you for all that he had done for me and that I was sorry I wasn't there for him more through his struggles. We FaceTimed after that, and it was like the old days all over again.

Aldon was more than the headlines, the mistakes. He was a generous, gentle soul, a kid at heart, someone who was endlessly curious about life... all in the body of a world class NFL player, bearing the weight of professional pressure and personal circumstances that most of us can't even imagine.

People are complex. People who make bad decisions can also do great things. A person can be hated by almost everyone and, yet, there are people in that person's life who still love them deeply.

I learned many of these lesson due to Aldon, and I'll carry them with me forever.

Rest in peace, Aldon. You won't be forgotten.

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@JomboyMedia @SBRadio Completely turned the game around

[𝙫𝙤𝙣 ⚡️ @offballthirty]

sga will never be better than steph curry, imagine if curry had sga whistle

[Brian Rosenworcel @Bri_Rosenworcel]

My friend Steve ran into Dominique Wilkins at a pizza place in Georgia, went home to show him the sneakers ‘Nique gave him forty years ago, and it was just as meaningful a moment for Wilkins as it was for Steve.

Beautiful.

[Andy Bailey @AndrewDBailey]

The ones this obvious need to result in suspensions. The problem would go away within weeks.

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@warriorsworld Could also say two decades. He even hated on the We Believe team after every win over the Mavs, saying they had no chance to win that series

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@HousefromDC You guys forget Adam Silver hates the Warriors. First fan base to boo him mercilessly because he rigged the CBA to end their dynasty

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

Hilarious considering Reaves entire career has been because of the benefit of the refs whistle. Reaves is mad because he realizes someone (SGA) is better at grifting the game than him

[Bleacher Report @BleacherReport]

Lakers had a meeting with the refs after Game 2 😳

[Eric Stephens @IcemanAthletic]

With two weeks to go, the Sharks are in a playoff spot. They weren't supposed to be anywhere near one. Macklin Celebrini has carried them in a season for the ages. On why the 19-year-old has a deserving Hart Trophy case. #TheFutureIsTeal

https://t.co/tWeKacSIxM

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@Clevta You have any good survival picks today? Think I’m taking Tennessee

[Albert Breer @AlbertBreer]

This is the other thing. It’s insane that Mike Shanahan is not in. No coach has had a greater influence on what the NFL is today than Shanahan, and that’s before even getting to the Lombardi Trophies.

[Bill Simmons @BillSimmons]

This is ridiculous. It’s literally his job to decide on stuff like this.

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@FOS @sportsrapport Absurd to call this a national title game when California, Florida and Texas are not involved. Also, these academy schools typically have more 19 and 20 year olds than normal high schools

[NFL Memes @NFLMemes]

Rashee Rice finally understand what it feels like to get unexpectedly hit at a high rate of speed and have the man responsible leave the scene

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@sportsrapport I feel like you’ve said this for decades

[Dr. Richard Roberts @DrRichRoberts]

This is a letter from Congressman Chris Smith to US Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting a criminal investigation of @StubHub.

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@AndyKHLiu Need to trade him to Dallas for cowboys 1st round pick. Jerry might be that dumb

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@sportsrapport Crowned? Even with the awful ownership situations with A’s, Pirates, and Rockies?

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@AndyKHLiu Monk looked really bad last season. I’ve always liked him but worried he may be cooked

[Pat O'Rourke @BayAreaBias]

@Romi_Bean He’s a great story
https://t.co/892v3rtWrg

I think I speak for most Niners fans saying Geeenlaw was the toughest loss of all the team turnover. He’s the one guy we wanted back