He was. He was also ridiculously funny and a loud mouth. He liked to joke about how big of a celebrity he was and carried around a special "autograph pen" that he would show you as often as he could. He didn't want people to know he had cancer but now it is news. Great, great man.
A few years ago I went to Europe (England and France) with a group that was part of HBU's Master of Liberal Arts program. I was with my mom and my sister and we had nothing to do with the program but my mom new someone on the trip so they let us go (I'm guessing because the more people the less it cost?). As it happened Ron Stone was on that trip as well because he was in that class. This trip was mostly full of really old ladies (55+). The only men on the trip were like two husbands, an HBU Professor, Ron Stone and me (who was 27 or so at the time). All the bad "kids" would sit at the back of the tour bus (including Ron) as we traveld from our hotel to various sites and cut up. One of the places we stayed at was a working farm that had been partially turned into a hotel in Crepon, France. After our daily tours we would all eat together as a group (pre-arranged dinners) and at one meal I was sitting next to him. During the salad portion of our meal I noticed this clear bug/worm thing crawling around in my dish and started to laugh. I pointed it out to Ron who started cracking up which made me laugh so hard I had to actually get up and leave the room. At the time I was working for a local Classic Rock radio station, KZFX 1075 and Craig Roberts phoned in sports. At some event I mentioned going to Europe with Ron and Craig asked me if Ron was "good" on the trip. According to Craig he had quite the reputation. He was a perfect gentlemen among the 55 year old plus ladies on the trip nor, as far as I know, did he hit on my 27 year old sister. As far as I know....
me too....we grew up on 13 so i know dave ward and shara fryer really well. but as a Houstonian, i did know who ron stone was. sad news....
The trip was in June of 1993. I remember him being charming and funny. It was Craig Roberts who implied that he had a reputation when I told him of the trip. He (Craig Roberts) may have just been teasing as well.
Que En Paz Descanse Mr. Stone. I recall hearing he was retiring from the news room, yet I still saw him on The Eyes of Texas. He will be sorely missed in advertisements. Dude... ... how old are you...? I mean, if you saw him as a kid and now HE's 70... that makes you like... 70... no?
The trip, overall, was fantastic. I wasn't in the class so I didn't have to do any note-taking or write any reports after the fact so I was able to simply enjoy it for what it was. Having said that, the class was on Medieval History so most of the sites we visited (Bayoux tapestry, various castles and churches, etc..) were geared towards that sort of thing. We had two professors with us plus tour guides at most sites who were very knowledgeable and since I like historic stuff I really enjoyed it. We did stop at the American Cemetery in Normandy. I remember the main tour guide we had (the girl who was with us the whole two weeks) asking if it was okay to skip it as we were crunched for time and Ron was adamant that we didn't. He clearly had an affection for WWII stuff. If I recall correctly, didn't he go back to that cemetery for the 50th anniversary of D-Day and do some reporting? When we went to Dover castle he and I and my mom decided to tour the tunnels carved in the White Cliffs of Dover where the British had command offices hidden during the war. After we would get back to the hotel from a day of sightseeing, the crowd would generally meet in the bar before dinner to chat and drink wine. I remember this one lady coming up to me (she was probably in her late 50's or early 60's) and telling me that there was a good possibility of the school calling us and asking if we drank any alcohol during the trip. She was very insistent that, if the school called me, to deny that there was ANY drinking going on or else they would put an end to the trips. It was pretty much grandma asking me not to bust her for drinking! (I guess I just busted you...). The trip ended in Paris and my sister, this one other girl (the only other person on the trip near our age) and I went to see U2 at the Hippodrome de Vincennes. What was cool was the Velvet Underground opened. We also got stuck after the show because the subway stops running around 1AM or so but that is another story!
RIP. I remember watching him as I grew up. He was the reason I watched ch. 2 news. Seemed real genuine.
