Our horde’s third Papa is perhaps one of the most unfairly overlooked in our horde’s history. He was never as high-profile and loud-mouthed as our other Papas. He never brought ego into the equation. He just quietly went about his job and made certain that RRF would survive post-Petro. He was so humble that he liked being slapped around by a clone of himself (as the above video shows).
When Pat was made Papa, the RRF was in a malaise. Most of the truly old-guard was gone. Many of our members at the time were indistinguishable from the Big Bash. The Blackmore Building was in the hands of the harmanz. And the horde still had not gotten over the loss of Petro. He was the one who oversaw the transition of the RRF from a few months long mega-horde to the permanent presence it is today. We won Blackmore under him. We brushed aside the original 5th of November raid under his leadership. We had representatives at the first fall of Caiger under him. We went on Excursion II: Son of Excursion under him (and tore through Malton with reckless abandon until real life intervened and took him away from the horde). While Pat was one of the first Ridleys, he ushered in a new generation of players who would continue the horde such as Goolina, Talunex, Silent Sister and yours truly. He was more vital in making sure that the horde Petro founded stuck around for the long-haul than anyone else.
His no-nonsense and fun-first approach lead to some controversy as he allowed death cultists into the RRF. While this bold decision did not sit well with some, the Gore Corps grew into the vital part of the horde it is today under his blessing. Additionally, his always level-head kept the horde together through stormy waters, as old members revolted in the name of Barhah Fundamentalism, and a certain young hothead threatened to tear the horde apart (bottom of the page, you can’t directly link to old ridleybank.org posts, just pages).
As a personal testament, Pat talked me off the edge during the infamous “What is Barhah?” Drama Llama episode of January ‘07. He showed me what it meant to be Papa. I couldn’t have been the zombie I was or am today without his example. I had more fun under his command than I have had ever since he set up shop here at Moggridge.
Pat still shambles around these parts in a tattered old Brett Favre jersey. I know he’s inside Moggridge now, chasing off those who dare to besmirch the home our horde. Pat, if you can here me now, this one’s for you. [Takes another swig of bourbon]
Barhah!
