Sometimes you meet someone who is a slice of sunshine.
Not just a ray of likeable light, but a slice so big and warm the person always makes you smile and feel better about life.
That was Ed Jones.
To his friends, he was known as "Water Head," a nickname that may have come from Scott Hastings years ago and may or may not have had something to do with him perspiring while playing golf.
Or maybe it was Joe Kleine. Not that it matters. He was really close to both, and it had nothing to do with their basketball careers. He named his children, whom he adored, Joanna and Scott after his friends.
They liked him back.
In fact, it would be shocking if Ed had an enemy.
To be called "neighbor" by him was a true compliment.
The Arkansas Razorbacks and the state of Arkansas lost one of its most loyal and dedicated fans Tuesday. His final request was, in lieu of flowers, to make a donation to the Razorback Foundation.
Ed had been in the hospital for more than a week when he said goodbye, neighbor. No fanfare. No notice. That was just Ed, who was an introverted extrovert if there ever was one.
Ed may have been an athlete when he was growing up in Morrilton. Or maybe not. He rarely talked about himself, always asking about others instead.
To say he was fun was an understatement. He was more like the state fair on steroids times 100.
A few years ago Ed, Joe and yours truly went on a road trip to Starkville, Miss., for a basketball game. When they stopped in front of my house, Ed got out of Joe's car and started to get in the back seat.
No, no, he was told, stay in the front.
He smiled and said: "I'm really not feeling good. I have a fever and may need to lie down for a while."
We hadn't cleared my block when we heard the sound of a can opening.
It was a Miller Lite.
"I need fluids," Ed said.
While it has often been borrowed or stolen, he was the one who originated the line: "How can they make it so good and sell it so cheap."
He had several fluids between Little Rock and Tunica, where we were spending Friday and Saturday night. He had a few more fluids during dinner, but the next morning he was the first one in the lobby waiting to get to the game.
Ed once worked for a national company that sold insurance along with other services. Someone high up in the company, in another state, had the bright idea of firing him and making all his accounts company accounts.
Ed was depressed the day he received the news. It might have been the first time for him because jobs were like friends, you didn't lose them. Until two days later, when his phone started ringing and his clients -- all of them -- followed him to the new company he started.
Someone cared enough to make calls sharing why Ed was not there anymore.
He was never happier than when he was at a Razorbacks game with friends.
Football, basketball, baseball, track and women's basketball (with Jimmy Dykes as the coach), they could all count on Ed being there.
When Kleine became a basketball coach at UALR, Ed started driving down for games.
He was more loyal to his friends than he ever was to a team.
For the past few years, almost everyone playing in the Pleasant Valley Country Club Four-Ball knew Ed or at least knew who he was.
He and Joe probably never won the tournament, but Ed won friends every day.
Sometimes he would bring a date, but that's a story for a different time.
Ed went to heaven Tuesday and left behind legions of neighbors, but he was the original neighbor.
Sports on 08/20/2015