Lions say goodbye to a life-long fan

Jolly beer salesman Homer Beatty would have been 90 next month but instead of helping blow out candles on his birthday cake, an SRO crowd gathered recently at Valley View Funeral Home to celebrate his life.

There were beer guys sprinkled throughout the audience, but better still, a bunch of former BC Lions’ players and coaches were on hand to say goodbye to Homer too.

You see, Homer was a Lions season ticket holder from Season No. One in 1954 until a few years ago when illness began taking its toll.

The most celebrated Lion of all-time, Lui Passaglia, punter/place kicker extraordinaire, offensive linemen Jamie Taras, Jim Mills and Dan Payne, defensive lineman Frank Landy joined longtime equipment manager Kenny (Kato) Kasuya, short-time head coach Larry Donovan and game-day operations coordinator Tyler Gammon, and friends and family of the Beattys were there to hear and laugh at the multitude of Homer Beatty stories.

Homer loved his Lions and his special interest in the goings-on of the team was returned by the veteran Canadian players.  It didn’t hurt that Homer sold beer for a living.

There were some great tales told at Homer’s day. One in particular spoke of what kind of sense of humour Homer had. He was stopped by the police in downtown Vancouver one night and the officer asked him his name: “Homer Beatty” was the response. Where do you live the officer asked: “Between Homer and Beatty” came the reply.

Homer sold beer for more than 30 years, most of them for Labatts and he was the perfect guy for the job. He had a great big grin, loved talking to people and buying a round or two. He was always enthusiastic about his job.

Well perhaps not always. One winter Sunday he was at a curling club because Labatts sponsored the Brier and the provincial men’s playdowns. He was there to hand out the zone representative patches at the end of the competition. However, his favourite television show, Murder She Wrote, conflicted with the closing ends of the game.

Football, after all, was his game. Not curling, but he stuck it out and bought the winners and the losers a few pitchers after their curling games. And he did it with a grin, because that was his job.