Ryan Hartman

My Father is an amazing person. He has always loved sports and ever since retiring from General Motors early at age 55 he has recorded an amazing number of rounds of golf. I remember when he and my mother used to take us to Baltimore Oriole baseball games when I was a young kid. That was a great memory of mine. I remember when the Orioles where really good and Eddie Murray was popular first baseman and I remember the crowd chanting Eddie, Eddie, Eddie whenever he would hit a home run or do something good.

My dad worked 30 plus years at the General Motors plant in Martinsburg, WV as a general employee. He worked hard for our family and I remember that he worked a lot of first shift but throughout his career he had to work various shifts including the graveyard shift. He definitely helped instill hard work into his kids and showed us how to take care of ourselves properly.

Another good memory when growing up was trips to the beach. In particular we really enjoyed Myrtle Beach. Dad and the other men would go golfing in the morning while the kids and mothers would head to the beach in the morning, and we were joined with our father’s presence in the afternoon and evening. Those vacations were very memorable because we had a humble up bringing and we knew we were lucky if we could go on vacation on any particular year.

Also, my dad loved coaching and he coached me and my brother at all kinds of sports from football to baseball to soccer to golf. He wanted to be there and that is really special. I am not sure why he enjoyed coaching so much. He won athlete of the year in high school so I am assuming that he knew that he had lots to share and give back to his kids and community. Anyhow, that is a little about my dad, there is so much more to him this is just and introductory to him.