Scott Hinman was the soundtrack of my college experience. Yes there was plenty of music that was good, bad, forgettable and ground breaking, but this one guy to think of takes me back to those good old times when I refined my skills of not taking myself too seriously. I did so with a group of guys that were from varied pasts and upbringings, but we all shared a pretty common interest in not caring a whole lot. Guppy was my soundtrack of that group and that time. A soundtrack is what helps pass the time, set the mood and bring dramatic purpose to certain scenes and moments in a movie. In that concept I believe that people that come in and out of your life are like songs. Some are loud and make an impression, others are soft and sweet and make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sometimes there are the scores full of the ambient background noise that you don’t even know until later how the song or the person has affected you.
Scott Hinman, we called him Guppy – It was a silly fraternity name but then we were silly fraternity boys. that worked together to not take anything too seriously. Fraternity’s can conjure many negative connotations and I say proudly that we were not the typical fraternity. In our case it was slow and steady wins the race. We weren’t underachiever, we weren’t overachievers, we were too busy just being ourselves and not for the sake of being different either. Many of us were very different. At the end of the day we were brothers, in a truer sense of the word than many. Guppy was my brother. I was shocked when I found out that he died of a heart attack at the age of 38. I admit I was not immediately taken aback, I was of course sad, and I felt for those other brothers who were even closer to him than me. I have lost some people in my life but this was the first time that I felt like it was a delayed onset of grieving . Guppy didn’t do one specific thing that I will always remember him for. Its not like he introduced me to my wife, or was the one to bail me out of a bad situation, or had that one crazy night just me and him. No he didn’t do one thing but was always there in the background of my entire college career. Just a ‘what’s up’, or a little comic relief , usually at his own expense, manning the grill at the BBQ, stealing a slice of pizza when I didn’t want to give it to him.
He was ALWAYS there supporting the story of my college life. What a great soundtrack. My life is richer having known him.
