Love of the Rockies:
From Peru, fan recalls his wife’s brave battle with cancer through Rockies’ 2007 run to the World Series. »
Kerry Gubits lives in Chachapoyas, an isolated city in northern Peru, snuggled in the mountains at 7,661 feet.
Thanks to the internet, Gubits watches every Rockies game online; rooting, reveling, chastising and secondguessing. He also remembers Wendy, his wife of 33 years.
They were original Rockies seasonticket holders, priority No. 1,500. Gubits attended the franchise’s first home game at the old Mile High Stadium on April 9, 1993. Eric Young hit a leadoff home run in the Rockies’ first atbat.
“Opening day, Section 126, Row 26, seats six through 10,” Gubits proudly recalled, then sheepishly adding: “But I missed E.Y.’S home run. I was out getting beers with a buddy. But we did snag a foul ball.”
When Coors Field was built, the Gubits family bought a commemorative brick for the fans’ pavilion. The brick is stamped with the parents’ names, well as the names of their two sons, Josh and Ben.
“We loved going to baseball games at Coors Field,” Gubits recalled. “Baseball was a big part of our family.”
And a big part of its bittersweet memories of a wife and mother.
In the fall of 2007, as the Rockies were making their improbable Rocktober run to the World Series, Wendy was battling ovarian cancer. The disease had been in remission, but it returned with the ugly vengeance that cancer brings.
Let Gubits’ own words tell that part of the story: “In 2007, the chemo stopped working. Wendy started going downhill and had to quit her job as the librarian at Thomas Jefferson High School (Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland’s alma mater). We went to all the playoff games that year and she thought (second baseman) Kaz Matsui had the best smile she’d ever seen. “But, by the time the World Series started, she was hospitalized. In seriously bad shape. We watched every Series game in the hospital, barely paying attention. Almost thankfully, we were saved from the anguish of the sweep because we had other (stuff) to think about. “She got out of the hospital in November and opened a package in the mail from her cousin, whose best friend is the sports agent, Arn Tellem. Inside was a personally autographed game jersey from Matsui. “She died the following February, a Rockies fan who never gave up.”
Wendy lived until age 54. She spent her career in Denver Public Schools. She was a teacher at Gust Elementary before becoming a librarian at Lake Middle School and Thomas Jefferson.
“Everyone who knew Wendy loved Wendy — everyone,” Gubits said.
Gubits, 64, has been living in Peru for almost five years after giving up his career in real estate.
“I needed a fresh start,” he said. “I kind of reinvented myself.”
Gubits was eager to talk about baseball, the Rockies and Wendy, just so long as his message got out.
“Ovarian cancer is a terrifically deadly disease,” he said. “It’s awful, and it doesn’t get as much attention as breast disease. But testing and early detection is so important.
“Wendy and I talked about that before she died. She thought it was really, really important to get the word out. She wanted people to know that if you catch the disease early, the prognosis can be good. If not, it can be very grim.”
Gubits’ memories of his wife are 180 degrees removed from grim. His voice lights up when he talks about Wendy.
“In 1995, when the Rockies were making that first run to the playoffs, she had a crush on (reliever) Curt Leskanic,” he recalled. “I mean, a massive crush. She would cheer for him in the stands so loudly, it was embarrassing. I guess she thought he was cute. I teased her unmercifully about it.”
Leskanic was originally from western Pennsylvania, as were the Gubits couple. That was part of his appeal. Wendy wasn’t a huge baseball fan, at least until the Rockies came to town well after she relocated to Colorado in 1975.
“She dated football players in high school. Don’t ask me why,” Gubits said.
Wendy, however, knew that her husband was a passionate Pittsburgh Pirates fan as a kid. In that regard, Gubits had two cherished possessions. One was a baseball card of Hall of Fame second baseman Bill Mazeroski, who beat the vaunted New York Yankees in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series with a walkoff home run at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field. The other was a ticket stub handed down from his father, who attended that game — one of the most famous games in baseball history.
“Some years ago, ‘Maz’ was in Denver for an event,” Gubits recalled. “I didn’t know that, but Wendy did. So, unbeknownst to me, she took our two sons with her downtown. She had Mazeroski sign the baseball card and the ticket.
“When I came home from work, they were sitting on the dining room table. She never said a word to me about it. I saw them on the table and I was blown away. But that was Wendy.”
Gubits now spends quiet days in Chachapoyas, flyfishing the headwaters of the mighty Amazon River. Hence, Rockies center fielder Charlie Blackmon, an avid flyfisherman himself, is Gubits’ favorite player. “How could he not be?” Gubits said. As for this year’s Rockies, who are back in Rocktober, he said: “I really like this team. I love how the guys play. Wendy would love them too.”