Remembering Ted Turner

I grew up in Atlanta and ran into Turner on multiple occasions. At a Hawks game, he showed up courtside, late, drunk and smelling of the stables he’d spent the day at. At a regatta I sailed in he won his class, drunk. Braves game, yep, drunk, but at least he showed up sober. Turner was known by many apt monikers, Captain Outrageous, The Mouth the South and Terrible Ted.
He was a visionary and a fierce competitor. That drove him to takes his daddy’s second rate sign company and create TBS, CNN and the modern sports dynasties in Atlanta. He was a phenomenal sailor. In an interview about his winning the America’s Cup, he was asked why he won so much, Turner responded, Why do you think my own racing yacht is named Tenacious, dummy?, the interviewer replied: I give up. Why?, Turner responded, “Because I never quit. I’ve got a bunch of flags on my boat, but there ain’t no white flags. I don’t surrender. That’s the story of my life.”
Ted also gave us Captain Planet and no end of climate bovine excreta but he genuinely believed the excreta and put his money where his ginormous mouth was. I’m sure there was very little we’d agree on beyond sailing but you still have to admire the tenacity of the Tenacious’ captain.
As an aside, Turner shared his love of sailing with his son Teddy and thanks to that, we have the tall ship South Carolina.