A personal post this week from my newspaper column…

On Monday, April 20, I finally met a goal: Completing 18 holes at Edmunds Park averaging a bogey or better. I texted my buddy Ron Byrd and then looked around for Bill Shortt to tell him. I would often see him at the park: working during the day or playing evenings and weekends. I kept looking for Bill all that week but didn’t find him.

On Saturday I went to play again. That’s when I heard the news from Ron, who was told on the course: Bill had died suddenly. 

A shock. Bill and I were the same age both with May birthdays. I knew he was contemplating retirement at 65 and have since learned he planned to step down in June without fanfare.

Bill was the recreation director for Halifax County. Like any highly visible government job, you deal with a lot of opinions regarding what should be done. My Pickleball group often talked with  him about the availability of the Bethune gym, and he was very good about letting us know about holidays and other scheduling conflicts.

I’ve since learned that Bill was a mentor for many young people over the years. I was told one story of him encouraging a young volleyball player by telling her mother what a good player and person her daughter was.

But I mainly knew about Bill’s true passion: disc golf. He loved to be at Edmunds. During the week I would often see him mowing. He told me it was his favorite part of the job—getting away from it all.

Several times he returned a disc to me because they are complicated things. We put our contact info on the back because once you get a disc with the right feel you might never be able to replace it. The last time I saw Bill he stopped to give me a disc he found.

Bill’s skill as a player was far beyond mine. I’ve since learned the local players knew him as Dog Faced Boy. He would mutter that name to himself after hitting a tree or making another bad shot.

A friend told me he was the first person in the state of Virginia to install a disc golf course within the state park system (Staunton River State Park) and also with the Corps of Engineers in Virginia (North Bend Park).

He also played a role in modernizing and expanding the course at Edmunds. Designing a hole takes a lot of thought with three tee locations involved for different levels of skills. He told me that one day his dog gave him the idea of how to design hole 17. The dog just stood there and looked one day, and then Bill knew that was the path for the blue (pro) tee.

Edmunds has lots of elevation changes and can be very slippery, especially when there are leaves on the ground and the Sweetgum balls come down. Hole 7 has a downhill slope to the basket. Bill told me how he was playing alone one day and about 50-70 feet away from the basket. He did a jump putt—a long-distance putt where both feet leave the ground. He slipped and face planted, breaking his leg in the process. With a twinkle in his eye Bill ended the story with the important part: “I made the putt.”

The main subject Bill and I discussed was Ron, who is 94 years old in “disc golf years” (meaning he turns 94 this year). Bill told me how much he admired Ron for keeping at it. Whenever I was playing alone, he would ask how Ron was doing. One day, Ron and I did play a few holes with Bill. The last one was number 13 with an elevated basket which makes it harder. Sure enough, Bill made a very long jump putt, this time without any broken bones!

That elevated basket has the letters “FORT SHORTT” on the border, placed in his honor without him knowing about it. The letters are now falling apart, but I’m absolutely sure that Bill would not want them replaced. He did not seek attention.

He had other priorities for the expanding park overall, and a few were related to disc golf. Fourteen of the holes now have white alternate baskets, which makes the course more fun. He wanted to get the remaining four installed. Next on the list was improving the blue “pro” teepads to make the course tournament worthy. Bill told me how a tournament can draw in 70–100 players and each of those people would need lodging and food for six to seven nights, since many scout the course in advance. A great vision for our county.

He also had plans to improve the directional signage on the course, leading players from one hole to the next. Edmunds is a great course, but the one criticism in reviews is about difficulty in finding the next hole.

Bill’s sudden death makes those of us who know him pause and consider the frailty of life. On the same day we heard of Bill’s death, I had seen Ron’s car at the course, but I couldn’t find him. I scanned the holes we played the most but to no avail. I was surprised when his car was still there when I was done, and began to wonder if I should walk the entire course. I told Ron that day I wished he would call me to play because I worried about finding a body on the course. All he said was, “What a way to go!”

A service for Bill will be held June 27. Most appropriately, there will a reception afterwards at Edmunds Park…with disc golf. Come join us as we remember Dog Faced Boy doing what he loved the most.