FanPost

Outcast: A Remembrance

I was inspired to write this fanpost after I read the Pens-Habs game thread last night. I'm very sorry I missed it as many of our long-time members whom we haven't talked to in a while visited again. Good to see you around again CGNC, Katie, Taavi, NoVaBurgher, and Newf Down Under (and congrats on your new baby!).

I wanted to mark the sad first anniversary of the passing of one of our long-time members, Outcast, who died on October 22, 2014. Most of you who've been reading Pensburgh for a while would know him, but our new(er) members would not, so I wanted to just remember him again.

Outcast's name was Jorge Frágola. He was originally from Argentina, and he and his wife, an artist, moved to Pittsburgh in the 1970s and lived there for 35 years. Like most people from Argentina, Jorge's first passion was soccer, but upon moving to Pittsburgh he discovered hockey and became a huge Pens fan, nurturing that passion until the end of his life. One of his favorite players was Kevin Stevens.

Jorge was a physician specializing in nephrology (kidney diseases). He worked at Allegheny General Hospital and several other medical centers. He and his wife had three children and six grandchildren. They moved to Florida in 2009, but sadly would not enjoy good health in their retirement. His wife fought cancer first, and it was during her illness that Jorge reached out to me, because the company I worked for publishes most of the top medicine and surgery content in the world. He was looking for information on new clinical trials that he hoped to find for her, but it was not to be as she passed away in late 2013. We corresponded pretty frequently then, as he really took her loss very hard. On top of that, he became ill himself, and eventually moved to the Chicago area to live with his oldest daughter and her family while receiving treatment. For a while things were looking up, and he and I made plans to meet up in Chicago and catch a Pens-Blackhawks game. Suddenly, however, his condition took an unexpected and serious turn for the worse, and he passed away in October 2014.

We never had a chance to cheer on the Penguins together, but I remember him fondly as a great person, husband, father and grandfather, and a great Pens fan. His avatar was Hugh Laurie's curmudgeonly Dr. House, and I'm sure most of us who've been here for a while remember his sharp criticisms when things were not going well on the ice, and some of his legendary back-and-forths with a few people, ahem.

Here's to you, Outcast. Gone but not forgotten.

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