The internet is viewed at times as a faceless place, where the many at times anonymous contacts made don’t create many real life connections. When I set out searching for what type of blogs I was going to cover this week, in searching for Toledo, I came across a blog that mentioned a huge fan of the Toledo Mud Hens, Lloyd Thaxton, sharing the news that he had recently passed away. Learning more about Lloyd and the impact he had on those who came to know him from his love of the Hens and other topics that Lloyd was known for inspired this column.

Mike McCann’s Engaging Images, “The visual delights of baseball… through the lens of a lifelong fan.” Is where this search journey started. It’s where we learn the first piece about Lloyd Thaxton, that he was a former Toledo area resident who not only co-authored a book “Stuff Happens” but also what type of a person Mike felt Lloyd was.

It’s also where we get the link to Lloyd’s blog Lloyd Thaxton with the last post sharing the information that Lloyd died in the arms of his wife, Barbara, some leaving their condolences to her and his family on his blog. Ironically one of Lloyd’s last posts was to share a cartoon about blogging because he had not blogged as much recently as he would have liked. This is where you also see exactly how many different projects Lloyd Thaxton was involved in and how he used that wealth of experience to try to help others.

Showing that the blogging world can be smaller than it sometimes appears, another blogger that was a friend of Lloyd’s is one that I’ve read in the past, by Ken Levine, “The World As Seen By a TV Comedy Writer.” Ken is an Emmy winning writer and was involved in a TV show with ties to Toledo, MASH. We also learn more about Lloyd, including this:

“He also broke the color barrier. When he had James Brown as his guest a number of affiliates refused to air the segment. Lloyd promptly dropped them from his roster. Motown and R&B acts were guests frequently. Only then did other shows follow.”

Even in the world of politics Lloyd gets a mention at Orange Punch where pondering could Lloyd have been a Libertarian is how Mark Landsbaum one of the blog writers segues into telling their readers about Lloyd.

Franklin Avenue has a post about Lloyd Thaxton, that includes a video clip from 1968 ABC game show “Funny You Should Ask” which he hosted.

Thanks to these blogs, we learn a bit more about a former Toledo resident who made this world a better place not just from his work in the world of the entertainment history, but through his life.

The more political side of Lisa Renee is shared daily at http://glasscityjungle.com/wordpress/

This entry was posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog It! Toledo, Exclusively Online.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.