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Issue 1561 November 25, 2012
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Father's Day 2017 -- My Top Five Famous Dads

June 18, 2017       Leave a Comment
By: O. J. Cunningham

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Famous Fathers For $200, Alex.

Sounds like a great Jeopardy category.

Father's Day, a holiday which honors fathers worldwide, is celebrated in the United States every year on the third Sunday of June.

Google research gives credit for originating the holiday to Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, whose father, a Civil War veteran, raised her and her five siblings after their mother died in childbirth.

According to www.history.com, Father's Day originated in the United States as recently as 1910, a few years after the country began celebrating Mother's Day.

Father's Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1972 -- Lyndon Johnson signed the holiday into law that year.

In the early 1900's, many in the USA observed the Father's Day custom of wearing a red rose to indicate that one's father was living or a white rose to indicate that he was deceased.

As a youngster, growing up in the South End of Bay City, most things I learned about being a dad, I picked up from Father Knows Best, an American television comedy series which portrayed middle-class family life in the Midwest. Jim & Margaret, along with (children) Bud and Betty were my parenting and family model.

So here's my "TOP FIVE" list of "Famous Fathers." My own dad should be on this list and there were at least two votes today for yours truly. But for the sake of this column, let the countdown begin.


Top to Bottom:
Simpson, Bundy, Vader,
Corleone and Foreman
5 -- Homer Simpson -- Homer & wife Marge have three children: Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. As the family's provider, Homer worked at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Homer embodied every American working class stereotypes: he was crude, overweight, incompetent, clumsy, lazy and ignorant; however, he is essentially a decent man and fiercely devoted to his family. My Hero!

4 -- Al Bundy -- Al, a shoe salesman was married to the red-haired Peg and has two children -- Kelly, a promiscuous and dumb (albeit gorgeous) blonde, and Bud, an intelligent but perpetually horny and unpopular scamp named after a brand of beer.

Even today, when I hand money to my kids (who are fully grown and only visit on holidays) I hand it to them over my head facing away from them -- just as Al Bundy did almost every week from his living room couch. I loved Al Bundy -- My Hero!

3 -- Darth Vader -- Vader never knew that Padmé had given birth to twins. Obi-Wan Kenobi hid the children from Vader. Vader somehow discovered that he had a son, Luke Skywalker, but never suspected he had a daughter, Leia, who was secretly taken to be raised by Bail Organa.

Vader makes the list . . . mostly for his voice . . . say it with me . . . LUUUUUUUUUUKKKKKKKKEEEEEEE.

2 -- Don Vito Corleone -- Marlon Brando was great as the "DAD" in the Godfather. If any father deserves recognition, it's "The Don." Corleone gets high marks for keeping the kids (Michael, Sonny & Frederico) in line while running the family business -- Corleone just edged out Tony Soprano to get on my Famous Fathers' List.

1 -- George Foreman -- Last but certainly not least -- There's George Foreman. George Foreman makes the top of the list for naming five children in a row the same name -- He named them all George. There was George Edward Foreman Jr, George Edward Foreman III, George Edward Foreman IV, George Edward Foreman V, and George Edward Foreman VI.

Foreman's next kid was a girl and he named her Georgetta.

The reason Foreman comes in at #1 is that I (like all those Georges) could likewise have been O.J. the "V" or the fifth. And that means that son Christopher could have been the sixth or VI.

It's like this . . .

  • Me -- I'm Owen James Cunningham Jr
  • My Dad -- was Owen James
  • Grandfather -- was Owen Stephen
  • Great Grandfather -- was Owen James Cunningham Jr
  • Great Great Grandfather was Owen James

    If it hadn't been for that little Owen "Stephen" glitch . . . I would have no doubt been Owen James Cunningham V . . . Which would have left little choice but to name Christopher . . . O.J. the VI . . .

    Remembering back . . . I actually refused to name Chris as "Owen J. the III" even though my Mom lobbied hard for it.

    Happy Father's Day to one and all . . . And if there's ever any chores to do around the Foreman house . . . I'm sure they just say . . . "Let George Do It."

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    O. J. Cunningham

    O. J. Cunningham is the Publisher of MyBayCity.com. Cunningham previously published Sports Page & Bay City Enterprise. He is the President/CEO of OJ Advertising, Inc.

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